06/08/2017 / By JD Heyes
There were several glaring omissions by the “mainstream media,” as typified in this Associated Press story about former FBI Director James Comey’s much-anticipated testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday — like any mention of potential criminal activity committed by himself and his former boss at the Obama Justice Department, Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
The AP gave much attention to more allegations made by Comey than actual facts he admitted to, such as:
— Comey says he has no doubt he was fired “in some way to change, or the endeavor was to change, the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal, and not just because it involves me.”
— The AP was sure to mention that the former director accused the Trump administration of spreading “lies, plain and simple,” about him and the agency he used to run.
— The newswire service also noted Trump’s demand for his “loyalty” and his push to “lift the cloud” of investigation by publicly declaring that the president was not the subject of any FBI query.
— And of course, the AP covered Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s “key question,” which was: “Do you believe this rises to obstruction of justice?” to which Comey replied, “I don’t know. That’s [special prosecutor] Bob Meuller’s job to sort that out.”
Then this.
The AP reported:
In a startling disclosure, Comey revealed that after his firing he had actually tried to spur the special counsel’s appointment by giving one of his memos about Trump to a friend of his to leak to the press.
“My judgment was I need to get that out into the public square,” Comey said.
And that was all the AP said. Only, that “startling disclosure” very possibly was Comey admitting that he leaked government documents to the media, which is a potential criminal act, but the AP didn’t frame it that way or even mention that possibility.
There was more. Comey also revealed that Lynch pressured him (obstructed him?) to change the characterization of the FBI’s investigation into then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s illegal use of an unsecured email server, which he said made him “queasy.” The exchange:
Lynch: “Yes, but don’t call it an investigation, call it a ‘matter.’”
Comey: “Why would I do that?”
Lynch: “Just call it a matter.”
As for the media, Comey did do truth seekers and Trump supporters one favor — he debunked much of the reporting by the establishment media, calling much of it flat-out wrong (like, fake news).
In particular, he called the contents of a New York Times story on the Russian investigation suggesting Trump-Russia “collusion” “almost entirely wrong” — “in the main, it was not true,” he testified. He also said there are many stories by the fake news establishment media that are just “dead wrong.” (RELATED: Bombshell: James Comey willfully LIED to America about Hillary Clinton criminal investigation after being pressured by Loretta Lynch)
So wrong was much of the media reporting that The Hill noted following Comey’s testimony that fake news central CNN was forced to issue a correction after the former FBI director contradicted their reporting:
CNN has corrected a Tuesday report after the release of former FBI Director James Comey’s opening statement for his Thursday testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee contradicted the report’s sources.
The CNN report said Comey was expected to dispute President Trump’s claims that Comey said he was not under investigation on multiple occasions.
In fact, Comey did testify that he informed the president he was not the subject of an investigation.
It’s worth noting that CNN’s original report — with no less than four bylines (Gloria Borger, Eric Lichtblau, Jake Tapper and Brian Rokus) — was based on unnamed sources.
ABC News had published a similar report but as of this writing had not issued a correction.
Overall, the most damning statements made by Comey, which were his admission he helped leak privileged government communications and that Lynch may have obstructed him in his probe into Clinton’s email server (which he covered for by refusing to recommend she be indicted despite the evidence he laid out), is either being glossed over the by mainstream media or left out altogether.
J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.
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Tagged Under: CNN, fake news, James Comey, mainstream media, omissions, Senate testimony