OPINION:
Media outlets are breathlessly reporting this passage in McCain’s new book,”The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations”
“I agreed to receive a copy of what is now referred to as ‘the dossier,’ ” the Arizona Republican wrote. “I reviewed its contents. The allegations were disturbing, but I had no idea which if any were true. I could not independently verify any of it, and so I did what any American who cares about our nation’s security should have done.”
He said he went to see Mr. Comey “at his earliest convenience, handed him the dossier, explained how it had come into my possession.”
“I said I didn’t know what to make of it, and I trusted the FBI would examine it carefully and investigate its claims. With that, I thanked the director and left. The entire meeting had probably not lasted longer than ten minutes. I did what duty demanded I do,” Mr. McCain wrote, according to the Daily Beast, which received advance copies of the book, due out May 22.
However, the revelation that Sen. John McCain delivered the infamous Russian dossier to the FBI in November 2016 is not really a revelation at all. It was reported as early as January of 2017, one week before Trump was sworn in as President of the United States.
Comey already had possession of the dossier by the time McCain handed it to him. We know that the Clinton-funded opposition research full of Russian propaganda was used (at least in part) to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on Carter Page in October.
What we do not know, however, is if Comey carried out McCain’s expectations. Did he “examine it carefully and investigate its claims” as the good senator hope he would?
It is now a full eighteen months since McCain handed the dossier to him with the full expectation that Comey would fully investigate the explosive materials. Did he? You’d think we’d know by now, considering the shadow of the dossier has hung over the Trump presidency since before it even began.
Comey has positioned himself as having a “Higher Loyalty” than petty political alliances. He has a devout sense of duty to the law and to the morality of his personal code of ethics. Surely a diligent investigation into the veracity of the dossier would have been a priority for the FBI Director, as McCain expected.
So, a year and a half later, I’m sure McCain would like an answer. So would the rest of us. We’re waiting.
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