OPINION:
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, in a Thursday “Good Morning America” interview, wondered aloud where the now-famous James Comey memos were — and whether the fired FBI director really was going to release them for public viewing.
These are good questions — ones that cut right through the labyrinth of speculation and innuendo created by Comey’s memo mention and fueled by a madcap mob mentality rush from Democrats and the media to take down President Donald Trump.
Where are the memos, indeed, Mr. Comey?
“I think in the light of day in a public setting, he should be able to tell us about the materials, if they’re there, and I question whether or not they’re actually there,” Chaffetz said.
Chaffetz just requested the FBI turn over “memoranda, notes, summaries and recordings” of discussions between Trump and Comey, in order to determine whether the president — as the fired FBI director alleges — actually tried to “influence or impede” the investigation into former National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Chaffetz gave a deadline of May 24 to receive the materials.
His “Good Morning America” appearance goes even bolder with demand for proof.
So far, all we know about Trump’s supposed request to Comey to back off the investigation of Flynn is simply that Comey said he did. And the White House, for the record, denies Trump asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn.
It’s a he-said, he-said situation, that’s for sure — but one that the media has run with as proof positive of Trump’s obstruction of justice guilt.
Who’s seen this memo? Well, the New York Times says an official read portions of the memo to one of its reporters, over the phone. And ABC said sources close to Comey have confirmed its contents.
Not exactly proof positive. Chaffetz, in other words, is on to something here — and that something goes like this: Put up or shut up, Mr. Comey.
He put it much more diplomatically on national television, though.
“Well, nobody’s seen them,” he said of the Comey notes. “Even the reporter that did the story hasn’t seen them. Nobody that I know of, even the reporter, has not actually seen those documents. I want to look at the information and hear from the person who actually wrote [the memo]. I think that’s the fair way Republicans and Democrats can look in the light of day in a public setting.”
Fair? But who said anything about fair?
Truly, this is a war we’re engaged in right now — a war of the progressive-minded and power-hungry against the patriots of freedom and individual rights. Trump represents a deviation from Washington, D.C., ways of doing business — an aberration of the swamp mentality. On top of that, he fired Comey. So fair is probably far down on the list of priorities of an angry press, a partisan Democratic party and an entrenched and establishment-minded Capitol Hill crowd.
So it’s not out of line to want Comey to produce his memos, or take the oath and testify to Congress of their contents. In fact, that’s just common sense.
It’s the least an American public, hungry for truth, is owed.
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