1) If you read the tweet below, you'll see that at the time I posted it (yesterday) I believed Comey's words to bragging about a crime he committed. It has been pointed out to me that what he did was completely legal. I'll explain more, below...
2) I've recently been discussing a problem of asymmetry where defendants have vastly less power and resources, or even protections when facing prosecution and the prosecutors have vast resources too great to measure. Well surprise to me, it is actually a legal principle.
3) Some people have termed this the "right of asymmetrical power." Law enforcement is empowered with the legal right - among many others - to lie. Now, I knew that they do often lie in the course of their endeavor, but I didn't know it was deemed a legal right they enjoy.
4) A new friend of mine who utterly disagrees with my support of Trump and of Flynn, pointed out my error. I'll say more about how he did that in a moment, but first, let's look at the actual error itself. I used the word "crime" but did not bother to identify the law broken.
5) For what it's worth, I promise I will never make that mistake again. Should I ever alege a crime, I will specify the law by code that I believe was broken, and quote the pertinent section. It was this failure that my friend gently pointed out, and here's how he did...
6) He simply asked, "what law?" I'll quote him exactly: "What crime are you referring to? What law do you allege he broke?"
I must be clear, I deeply appreciate this question. I am inspired to improve my methods of analysis and comment.
7) Relative to the question at hand, I have just two rather inadequate links to offer for the moment, one of which I'll quote extensively. The first is a very poor wiki article on the topic. Its benefit is just that it lays out some related areas:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enfor…
8) The second is a 9-year old question from Yahoo. Here's the question: "If you lie to the FBI you can be arrested but the FBI are allowed to lie to you to get information. Is that OK?"
9) And here's the short answer:
"> The FBI are legally allowed to lie to the public to gather information.
"> In America it is ILLEGAL to KNOWINGLY lie to the FBI. (under oath or not)"
10) I'll quote a longer answer below, but first I'll pause to consider the implications of this profound question. I'll say again, I knew that law enforcement officers often lie in the prosecution of their work from policing, to investigation, to prosecution of crime. I get that.
11) What I didn't know was that there might be actual law written specifically to ensure that this is legally protected and is, in fact, a legal asymmetry of power. If this is correct, and at this point I believe it is, then not one thing Comey says in the segment was illegal.
12) I know I'm revealing my legal ignorance and naivety in this, but I am not ashamed to admit how utterly stunned I am. I have believed that those LEOs who lied were breaking the honor of their offices. I now realize - believe, I should say - that honor is not required.
13) I am most definitely NOT saying that all, many, or most LEOs are anything but honorable. I love our LEOs, and I support them with all my heart. I simply thought that Comey and his ilk were the tiny percent of bad actors who gamed the system to rise to its upper echelon.
14) In watching Comey's despicable boasting, I wrongly thought that his confession was criminal. I now believe it was merely dishonorable in the extreme. That he has legal immunity, legal protection for such despicable behavior, such dishonorable behavior, stuns me.
15) My disgust is not only not lessened by all this, it is intensified. If we have vested his office with that much power - and it appears we have - then we are that much more dependent upon Comey's obviously non-existent honor.
16) Return with me now to the second link. Here I quote the answer that was deemed best in full:
"The laws are written this way because they assume that the FBI is always acting in the best interests of society, and that the FBI will only lie if they "need" to.
17) "The laws do not make this same assumption about the average citizen. It is a crime to lie to law enforcement because a lie can cause them to waste resources following false leads or because the lie is assumed to aid and abet perpetrators.
18) "I'm not saying this is right. I'm just explaining how it works, to the best of my understanding.
"Actually, many government agencies are allowed to lie to you, either because the law explicitly permits it, or because they don't have effective accountability.
19) "Law enforcement such as local police can lie. Child protective workers (CPS, DSS, DFCS, or whatever it's called in your state) also lie routinely to accused parents, even though they are under the same Constitutional restrictions...
20) "(regarding forced entry, search & seizure, etc.) as law enforcement. All of this is excused because it's "for the good of society" or "to protect children".
21) "It's kind of sad when a law-abiding person who really wants to be a good citizen gets lied to and treated like dirt by the very authorities they looked up to."
End quote.
22) I'll conclude with a return to my judgement that Comey's behavior dishonored himself, his office, and his institution. Before I do, I request any corrections that any reader here may wish to offer. Not being an LEO or a lawyer, I seek all guidance I may receive. Please.
23) It's obviously not just Comey I am ashamed of. Consider the Horowitz Report and his testimony before Congress. He states that he cannot find evidence of political motivation. This is so obviously false as to not pass any logical smell test. It is noxious to the mind.
24) Yet, perhaps it is legally protected under his official remit. If this is true - and I believe it is - we have bent the law and it must be unbended. The political bias was vast, endemic, and pervasive at the highest places. It insults our intellects to propose otherwise.
25) And then there's Comey, with that disgusting look of self-congratulation as he reveals his moral turpitude in the very moment he is so proud of. What he did was wrong. He should be ashamed that he did it. I expect more from a most powerful leader of law enforcement.
26) Perhaps what raises my ire to such heights of pain, as much as anything else, is that he appears, genuinely, to have no idea of the hurt he is causing to those he was empowered to protect. We had no idea it was he from whom we needed protecting. He reveals this to us.
27) He reveals his absolute dishonor with a type of adolescent bliss and sanctimonious satisfaction. He thinks his legal act was also righteous, as if he weren't the one doing the wrong thing. I do not hold back from stating my despite in the strongest terms I'm able.
28) Allow me to attempt to cool my overheated heart down. I see an opportunity to speculate about the lack of arrests that we on the political right opine over so regularly. It is more than possible that I am not alone in my confusion between what is legal and what is right.
29) I was personally shocked that Comey wasn't placed in handcuffs following that interview. I kept my peace about it, in pained and angered silence. But, my judgement was wrong. There was no crime, therefore no arrest. That point has to be contemplated, cooly, calmly.
30) It is not only law enforcement's duty to police law enforcement crimes, it is also our duty as citizens to come to know the law so we may determine rightly what is protected action and what is not. While we clamor for arrests, we may be clamoring wrongly, at least in part.
31) With sober (albeit somber) hearts, we must learn the inner workings of the law so we may better understand justice itself. I now know that I do NOT want Comey behind bars for what was NOT a crime. Rather, I want him shamed for his breach of honor. That will do correctly.
32) So also with the entire list of bad actors. I do NOT want a single one of them to spend a single day in jail where they have not broken the law. That what they did was shameful is, for me, beyond doubt. But crime must be delineated, and then proven. This is as it should be.
33) Finally then, I propose that we in the MAGA Movement must cool our heels a bit while the rightly slow wheels of justice grind. Will they grind rightly? Will corruption in high places protect criminals? I certainly cannot promise otherwise.
34) And that's why I call out for help from our best legal minds. They must embrace their educational function and lead us to a deeper, better understanding. In the court of honor, we are the jurors, and we are deeply in need of instruction.
35) Last then, I say dishonor and shame must be heaped down on Comey for his perfidious actions. And if he did commit a crime I want all the weight of the law brought down also. If he did not commit a crime, then shame will have to do.
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