For more than three decades before the FBI began to investigate whether there was collusion between members of the team of Donald trump and the Russian government, James Comey, recently dismissed the Director of the Bureau predicted the conquest of America by Russia. Then he was a senior student of the College of William and Mary in Virginia and a columnist for the student newspaper, the Flat Hat. His column ridiculed everything from corrupt politicians to fellow students, concerned with how they will live after graduation.
In the column, published on 4 December 1981, he parodied the peacekeepers, calling to end the cold war. “It’s time to stop and think about the nuclear Holocaust, he wrote. — I doubt that many of the students took the time to think about the consequences of nuclear conflict”. He warned that the University gym is probably closed, interrupted student basketball tournament, stop shooting new films about life on campus. “The stakes are too high, the time has us cornered. We should go for unilateral disarmament”. President Ronald Reagan, wrote in Komi Republic, should send to the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev “a note on unconditional surrender.”
Liberals, he wrote, will be satisfied with the Soviet occupation: “the National rifle Association will wash away in the drain, crime rates will fall, the Pentagon will arrange a shopping center, and Jerry Falwell (conservative TV preacher, founder of the popular in the 1980-ies of the organization “Moral majority” — approx.ed.) subjected to sophisticated torture.”
Komi is now 56 years old. On Thursday appointed his performance in Senate testimony about the Russian intervention in elections in 2016. Most likely, he will be asked questions on several personal conversations with Donald trump, which occurred may 9, when trump fired him. The attitude of the Komi to trump last year was varied. Last July he made a disparaging remark about “fake investigations” against Hillary Clinton, when she decided not to press charges. In October, trump praised Komi for “courage” when he decided to reopen the investigation. This spring, the President was angry with him — partly because of a few uncomfortable conversations, in which Komi refused to confirm his loyalty.
On February 14, after a briefing in the oval office on the topic of terrorism, trump tried to push Komi to the wall. On the eve of the trump adviser for national security, Michael Flynn resigned, and the President wanted to Komi dismissed the case against Flynn. “I hope you see that now you can leave Flynn alone,” said trump, according to Komi in remarks published on the eve of Senate hearings. However, Komi did not closed the case. Of course, due to the fact that trump has continued to meet with him to discuss connected with the Russian investigation, Komi has become not only a representative of the office, but also a kind of witness. Komi said that after the January meeting at trump Tower in new York, he immediately sat in the car, recorded in his notebook the content of the conversation. “From this day every time I recorded our conversations eye to eye with trump”, he added.
Komi told colleagues that never tried to lure trump the recognition of any violations. “To go to a meeting with a mob boss with concealed microphones and try to get recognition is absolutely not in the style of Jim,” said I one of them. But from the point of view of Komi, trump, communicating with him constantly crossed the line beyond which begins the obstruction. Judging by the previously published notes Komi, his testimony in the Senate will be the basis for legal claims, albeit without a public charge.
Komi is likely to represent a solid confirmation of his testimony. A senior intelligence official said about Komi: “He loves public speaking. It shares the politicians with their questions to the nines. He likes to know that he is smarter than them.”
In October 2003, at the hearing on confirmation of appointment by the Deputy General Prosecutor of Komi asked how he would act if faced with a politically charged case, which will be the focus of the attorney General and will not take rejection. “I’m not interested in politics, he said. — I’m interested in the observance of the law”. In the article on Komi Republic, published in December in the journal New York, he speaks very vaguely about his political views. In his youth, says Komi, he was a Communist, and supporter of Reagan. “I don’t even know how I describe myself politically, he continues. — Maybe someday I will have to decide”.
In the last year of Komi detractors questioned his actions and decisions from the point of view of the law. Whether he had the right to hold a press conference and announce that the FBI found in the case of e-mail, Hillary Clinton? Whether it was a few days before the election to send a letter to Congress informing that he resumes the investigation? Before the election why he did not notify voters that the investigation is ongoing about the possible collusion of the electoral headquarters of the trump with a hostile foreign government? At the same time, the moral and intellectual propensities of Komi have paid little attention.
Despite the claims of Komi that he is not interested in politics, for many years he gave to understand that it always was important. His University thesis called “Christianity in politics”, it is dedicated to the issues of power and integrity, and in its center there is a comparison of the political philosophy of Reinhold Niebuhr (American Protestant theologian, ecumenist, a supporter of the ideas of Christian socialism — approx.ed.) and Jerry Falwell. Komi came to the conclusion that Falwell — covetous, tend “to violate the constitutional separation of Church and state, and to abuse the liberation of the Church from taxes.” Komi pushed Golubovska hypocritical “defense of virtue”. Niebuhr he considered an intellectual giant, “one of the greatest moral and political theologians of the world.” He agreed with Niebuhr that Christianity is “the basis of political order,” that a life spent in imitation of Christ, is the life that defines “the incredible Norma love,” and that this “gives political institutions tremendous opportunities.”
At the same time, noted Komi, Niebuhr was aware that for a politician it is dangerous to assume a moral standard. “Claim to virtue as revolting to God as claims on the government,” said Niebuhr. In the beginning of this year in Komi Republic, speaking at the University of Texas, repeated the warning of Niebuhr, saying, “John Adams once in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in this great correspondence, said, “Power always thinks she has a great soul.” This is a huge danger — to fall in love with its own virtue.”
After graduating from University, Komi Republic continued to Express their opinions on political issues. In may 1982 he published in The New York Times letter, which criticized the editors for what she denounced supporters of the movement “Right to life” (the movement of opponents of abortion — approx.ed.) and offered the Federal government “to pay for abortions through the health insurance system”. Komi did not Express his personal attitude to abortion, but emphasized that in the historic US Supreme court decision on ROE V. Wade (the 1973 decision that a woman has the right to terminate a pregnancy up to the moment when the fetus becomes able to live outside the mother’s body — approx.ed.) “openly said that abortion are in the interests of the state and therefore the state has the right to control the actions of pregnant women”. Komi continued:
“The Supreme court decision in 1973 on ROE V. Wade gives all women the right to abortion, but does not guarantee realization of this right. Many rights that the Americans do not include such a guarantee. We have a right to travel, but not everyone can afford to travel. Why did you not criticize the government for what it discriminare poor, not giving them free tickets? The same can be said of many optional medical procedures. And abortion — it is an optional procedure.”
Two years later, when the Wall Street Journal equated the rights of smokers to the right of pregnant women to take medication against nausea, Komi said, “We can be tolerant of cigarette smoke because he’s threatening only to the smoker, but the potential danger of the funds from the nausea concerns not only pregnant.” He was sent to The New York Times another letter, criticized submitted to the legislature of the state of new York a proposal to require stores in the state to sell local wine. Such a law, he insisted, would create undue benefit to the local economy. In 1980, the Komi Republic voted for Jimmy Carter, but his evolution from Democrat to Republican, supporter of Reagan, is obvious.
After graduating in 1985, faculty of law, University of Chicago, Komi worked as a court clerk in the southern district of new York under judge John Walker Jr., cousin of future President George H. W. Bush. Then he became a Republican. However, he publicly stated that is not a supporter of any party. In 1996, he became the managing assistant attorney General for the Eastern district of Richmond, Virginia. Soon he carried out a program in which the city managed to get rid of illegal weapons. He stressed that his initiative is “completely apolitical”.
Komi Republic remained conservative, but the next two presidents maintained a certain aura of political independence. In March 2004, he became acting attorney General at the time of illness of John Ashcroft. When Komi learned that the NSA has launched a program listening on US soil without a court decision — the legality of this program was in doubt, he said to President George Bush that his advisors “bad work”. Getting ready to file in resignation, he quoted Martin Luther: “here I stand I can do no other”. Resignation not required: Bush listened to his advice. In the same year, Komi criticized the Prosecutor of Maryland, Thomas Dibiagio, which before the election were forced subordinates to make such indictments against Democrats who would fall on the front pages of Newspapers. In the words of Komi, Dibiagio allowed policy “tarnish” the work of the Ministry of justice. Before Komi in 2005, resigned from the Bush administration, he appointed a special Prosecutor to investigate leaks of information, which, ultimately, led to the conviction of Scooter Libby, the chief of staff of Vice-President dick Cheney (in 2003, several editions were published, which reveals the name of the secret CIA agent Valerie Plame; it was considered as the vengeance of the administration for the position her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who sharply criticized the US policy against Iran — approx.ed.).
Four years later, reportedly, Barack Obama considered the Komi Republic’s candidacy for the vacant seat on the Supreme court. After Komi in may 2013, he became Director of the FBI, he was several times publicly objected to the administration. He told Congress that he sees no reasons why the survivors of the terrorist attack in the Libyan city of Benghazi are unable to testify on Capitol hill. This was at odds with the position of the justice Ministry, which claimed that public discussion would jeopardize a criminal investigation, which was conducted by the FBI. Senator Lindsey Graham, who actively promoted the proposal to hold hearings on Benghazi at a high level, said: “I was very pleased with these comments of the Director of the FBI.”
At the 2014 forum at the law faculty of the University of Chicago Komi protested Obama and attorney General Eric Holder, endorsing the idea of a “Ferguson effect”. According to this idea, the crime rate in America is increasing partly due to the fact that the ability of the police to limit activist groups such as Black Lives Matter, which by means of video recordings document the cases of violence against citizens. “In different places across America is something that deeply bothers me,’ said Komi. — In many American cities killing more and more people, many of them dark-skinned, and do it not the police”. He continued: “this is Partly due to the icy wind that blows in the direction of law enforcement in the last year, and this wind, of course, change their behavior. Except in the current world YouTube police are not afraid to leave their machines to do their work to curb violent crime?” Amnesty International called the statement of Komi “outrageous.”
This was not the first time Komi had hit a wall, dealing with racial politics. In 1980, the College of William and Mary, he provoked a heated debate on campus, when published in the student newspaper a series of articles about how the College is trying to increase the number of students from ethnic minorities. The articles were mostly balanced, but at the beginning of the series, he said: “In College there are those who believe that there is no need to attract more black students that he is actually pursuing a “large-scale reverse racial discrimination.” Then Komi Republic quoted Professor of sociology Vernon Edmonds, who was named “representative of the group of sociologists who believe in the possibility of genetically determined intellectual gap between races. Edmonds, wrote in Komi Republic, believed that “support for groups who suffer from discrimination, it is a fruitless effort, which is tolerated only because the social feelings are dominant over science.” The newspaper received a lot of letters with protests. Professor of the faculty of sociology disown the views of Edmonds: “We believe the statement of Professor Edmonds based on nothing, rash and tactless”. Komi in response said that the article was strictly impartial: “I do not agree with the views of Professor Edmonds. But he expressed them in a reasonable manner, and they relate to the key question regarding support of minorities. Such opinions, although their speakers are in College, very few exist and should be represented in any balanced material.”
Claim Komi Republic on the status of a person, free from political inclinations, were subjected to the strongest test in the case with e-mail, Hillary Clinton. When two senior advisers to the Komi Republic for the first time told him that classified material was jeopardized by the disclosure, Komi realized that this puts the Bureau in a precarious situation. If the agent finds enough evidence to indict Clinton charge, half of the country will be furious, and if anything is not freaking out is the other half of the country.
Komi knew about some of the scandals associated with the Clintons. In the 1990s, he briefly worked as an adviser to the Senate Committee that investigated Whitewater (trial of bill Clinton, then Governor of Arkansas, to obtain illegal tax benefits subsequently closed for lack of evidence — approx.ed.). In 2002, working as a Manhattan Prosecutor, Komi headed the investigation in connection with pardon by President Clinton, fugitive businessman Marc rich, whose wife in 1998-2000 have donated to the Library of the Clintons 450 thousand dollars. Komi took this pardon as a personal insult. In 1992, he flew to Moscow and Zurich, trying to lure the rich in the USA where it was waited by court. When he learned that Clinton pardoned rich, perhaps, for donations to his campaign, he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “just breathtaking”.
During the year the case of a mail server Clinton FBI agents concluded that the evidence that would prove criminal intent, is unlikely to find. Comey has held a press-conference on which has informed that the case against Clinton is closed, but — perhaps clumsily, trying to look impartial — chided her for “extremely sloppy” handling of electronic mail. Louis Digregorio, at that time, the FBI agent who worked in new York, was struck by this press conference, feeling that it puts the FBI in an awkward position. “I don’t care about the Washington politicians, he said. We seldom made any public statements about the status of our investigations. We can call the subject of the investigation or his / her lawyer and say “we don’t work”, but always leave the door open. If you stray from the path, back will not return, and for all the consequences will have to pay.”
After the press conference, publication Breitbart News was behind the attack Komi, calling it “disguised liberal”. Prior to his appointment with the FBI Komi worked as chief legal adviser to the company Lockheed Martin. In one article in Breitbart said he earned $ 6 million in the year, when Lockheed Martin made a donation to the Clinton Foundation. This, as argued by the author, means that the Komi Republic is part of the Washington “friendly circle money bags”.
During the election campaign it was obvious that the political split in the country concerned and the new York office of the FBI. “There’s just hated Hillary Clinton”, — said the employee of Federal law enforcement (FBI, more than 80% of white employees and workers are mostly men). Televisions in offices have often been included on Fox News. Digregorio called the new York office of the FBI in General, “very conservative” and added: “You don’t want to be engaged in the work Abbie Hoffman (known in 1960-1970-ies ultralevel activist, famous for provocative behavior — approx.ed.). A former FBI agent from new York James källström, speaking on radio, mocked Clinton as a “criminal family”, and their Foundation called “a cesspool” (källström was an ex — marine, his Foundation “The Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation” received from trump’s check for a million dollars — approx.ed.).
In October, Komi learned that agents from the new York office found thousands of e-mails Hillary Clinton in a laptop seized from former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the husband of Vice-President of the headquarters of the Clinton Huma Abedin. Komi held a meeting with his assistants. In normal circumstances the FBI would conduct such an investigation secret; life force Bureau secrets, once said Komi. But, how to tell colleagues and friends in Komi Republic, he was troubled by the possibility of leaks to the press from the new York office.
As in July, Komi Republic declared the case closed, he felt obliged to state on his resume. He was afraid that if I didn’t do this, but the news leaks to the press from someone of the numerous opponents of Clinton in office, it may seem that Komi is trying to protect her. Komi assistant for national security Michael Steinbach told The New York Times: “In my opinion, then all went to victory Clinton. It is quite obvious. But what would happen after the election, in November or December? As we would say to the Americans “we found some things that can create a problem, but we never spoke about it before the election”? Damage to our organization could be irreparable”. Komi is clearly not so bothered by the fact that the liberals in office could leak like that against the headquarters of the trump was the investigation in connection with possible collusion with the Russian government.
Senate hearings of James Comey June 8, 2017
October 28, Komi Republic sent a letter to Congress stating that he was resuming the case on the server. The document is almost instantly published. Former new York mayor Rudy Giuliani on Fox News suggested that internal threat, which is felt Komi, real. “If I had heard about this?— said Giuliani about the discovery in the laptop Weiner. — Of course I did.” He added that former agents of the Bureau told him that “the FBI is undergoing a revolution, everything is in full swing.”
Nine days after Komi sent a letter to Congress, the Bureau announced that the e-mails found in the computer Weiner, nothing. But this time, the American press had to pounce on this subject, and the advantage of Clinton, according to national opinion polls, is substantially — perhaps fatally — diminished.
Komi said that no regrets about the investigation. His testimony on Thursday, no doubt, to emphasize its conviction that it is, regardless of what they say about him, impartial and fair. In April, the cable television channel USA Network showed the first episode of the documentary in six parts, “Inside the FBI: new York”. Komi, which allowed the crew to work in the new York office during the year, in several episodes he appears on the screen. In the scene embedded of shows a TV version, he says: “We are never on the side. In a polarized world, people sometimes find it difficult even to imagine it.”
