Comey Nailed by NYT

When the New York Times runs a story upper-right on its Sunday front page, and then jumps to a two-page spread inside, followed by another two-page spread, you understand that this report is important.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/us/politics/james-comey-election.html

Thank you to Matt Apuzzo, Michael S. Schmidt, Adam Goldman, and Eric Lichtblau of the NYT for their leading story today titled, "In Trying to Avoid Politics, Comey Shaped an Election."

They provide an inside account of the day James B. Comey held an meeting to decide whether to announce to Congress that the FBI had received new evidence and was reopening its investigation into Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails.

The new evidence was Anthony Weiner's laptop, where his then-wife Huma Abedin had backed up emails with her boss, Hillary Clinton.  The FBI decided they had to comb through these emails.  Then question was whether to tell the Congress and the public that they were doing so.

"What he did not say was that the FBI was also investigating the campaign of Donald J. Trump," today's article points out.  In fact, Comey had refused to answer a question a week before about whether there was an investigation of dt.

On Friday, October 28, Comey sent a letter to Congress and Hillary Clinton's opponents immediately announced it to the public:  "Case reopened."  

Eleven days of Hillary-bashing followed:  "Lying Hillary."  

"Polls almost immediately showed Mrs. Clinton's support declining," Apuzzo, Schmidt, Goldman, and Lichtau report.  They quote Clinton on the effect of Comey's disclosure:

Many factors explained Mr. Trump’s success, but Mrs. Clinton blamed just one. “Our analysis is that Comey’s letter — raising doubts that were groundless, baseless, proven to be — stopped our momentum,” she told donors a few days after the election. She pointed to polling data showing that late-deciding voters chose Mr. Trump in unusually large numbers.

All the sordid details about how the FBI ended up helping dt to become the 45th US president are found in these four-plus pages covering mid-July through the day in March when Comey confirmed the FBI/CIA investigation of possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.  Minutes later he denounced 45's claim that Trump Tower had been wiretapped by then-President Obama.