FBI chief Comey grabs the spotlight in the 2016 US presidential rac

© Win McNamee, AFP | FBI chief James Comey testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC on September 28, 2016.

Text by Leela JACINTO

Latest update : 2016-10-31
FBI Director James Comey’s shock letter to Congress on Friday announcing the discovery of new evidence that might relate to the inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s emails has earned rare praise from Donald Trump and the ire of the Clinton campaign.

Nearly a decade ago, when Comey was testifying before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, he inadvertently revealed a glimpse of his vulnerable side.

When asked to provide the details of what he described as “the most difficult night of my professional life”, Comey hesitated, bent towards the microphone and began to answer – before stopping and then restarting, with an apology for his delay.

“I’m only hesitating … because I need to explain why …,” he explained cautiously.

“Please. I give you all the time you need,” responded his interrogator, Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and pugnacious veteran of numerous Senate hearings. This time though, Schumer was going easy on the man before the investigative committee – such was the nature of the respect Comey commanded.

It was May 15, 2007, and Comey was being questioned about his actions back in March 2004, when he played a critical role in blocking a bid by the George W. Bush administration to extend a wiretapping surveillance programme.

Comey was acting attorney general at that time since his boss, John Ashcroft, was in an intensive care unit at George Washington University Hospital after undergoing emergency gall bladder surgery.

Comey had refused to sign off on the legality of the secret programme. So Bush’s Chief of Staff Andrew Card and White House lawyer Alberto Gonzales were rushing to the hospital to get a sick Ashcroft to approve the controversial measure.

In a high-speed race to the hospital worthy of a political thriller, Comey rushed to the ailing Ashcroft’s bedside minutes before Gonzales and Card arrived, literally running up the stairs.

The hospital visit was the start of a dramatic showdown between the White House and the Justice Department that, according to Comey, was resolved only when Bush overruled Gonzales and Card. But that was not before Ashcroft, Comey and other senior FBI officials prepared a mass resignation.

The story of how Comey blocked the White House staff’s arm-twisting move was broken by the New York Times. And at the May 2007 Senate hearing, the details of that fateful night finally went on the official record.

The incident clinched Comey’s reputation as an unyieldingly principled public servant, earning him respect, admiration and even affection across the political divide.

Comey has since risen to lead the country’s top law enforcement agency. But over the past few months, he has lost the affections of not just Republicans and Democrats but arguably also of the institution he currently heads.

Disregarding the Justice Department

On Friday, October 28, just 11 days before Election Day, the FBI director dropped a bombshell when he sent a letter to Congress announcing that new evidence would be reviewed that might pertain to the Clinton email probe, an acrimonious investigation that the FBI had suspended months earlier without filing any charges.

And it appears that Comey was disregarding the advice of the Justice Department, which oversees the FBI.

According to the New York Times, senior Justice Department officials “strongly discouraged” the FBI chief from revealing the details of an ongoing inquiry into an unrelated case before determining if the unexamined new evidence had any bearing on the Clinton case.

“The Justice Department strongly discouraged the step and told him that he would be breaking with longstanding policy,” the Times reported.

Comey’s letter has outraged the Clinton campaign, with the Democratic presidential candidate urging the FBI to release “all the information that it has” relating to the email probe.

The new evidence emerged as part of a separate investigation into disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Weiner is under investigation for allegations that he made sexual overtures to a 15-year-old girl.

The Clinton campaign has further suggested that Comey’s decision to send the letter may have been politically motivated because, as Clinton noted, the letter was only sent to “Republican members of the House”.

Stern reprimand, but no charges

Comey, a registered Republican for most of his life, can’t seem to please anyone these days. In July, he earned the wrath of the Republican Party when he announced that the FBI had concluded the investigation into Clinton’s emails without filing charges against the Democratic presidential candidate.

While chastising Clinton for being “extremely careless” in using a private email address and server while secretary of state, Comey noted that the FBI had found no evidence that she intentionally transmitted or willfully mishandled classified information. As a result, Comey said, “our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case”.

That judgment drew prompt condemnation from Republicans, with presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeting that it proved the system was “rigged”. His political rallies have since seen supporters chant, “Lock her up!” in response to Trump’s claims of his opponent’s “criminal and illegal conduct” – allegations he repeated over the weekend during a campaign rally in Colorado.

The impact of the Comey letter is very likely to dominate the spin cycle in the crunch days leading up to the November 8 election, placing the FBI chief firmly in the spotlight.

Locked in the bathroom by ‘the Ramsey rapist’

For the 55-year-old FBI chief, it’s been a steep rise from a childhood in Allendale, New Jersey, working his way through the New York district courts to national centre stage.

The son of a New Jersey corporate real-estate agent and a computer consultant mother, Comey made the local news – albeit inadvertently – when he was barely 17.

On an October night in 1977, Comey and his younger brother, Peter, were held at gunpoint by a notorious local criminal dubbed “the Ramsey rapist”, according to the Bergen Record newspaper. The serial criminal, who had conducted a string of robberies and raped two babysitters, had broken into the Comey home in Allendale and locked the boys in the bathroom. The two brothers managed to escape through a window only to encounter their attacker on the lawn. They then rushed back into the house, locked the door and called the police.

The incident “taught him important lessons about crime’s psychological toll on victims”, the local daily reported, contributing to his reputation as a “tough but ethical” professional.

From NY courts to Washington, DC

An exceedingly tall man, Comey stands at 6 foot, 8 inches (203 cm) and is a basketball player, like US President Barack Obama. In July 2013, when Obama announced Comey would take over as FBI director, he described Comey as a “man who stands up … very tall … for justice and the rule of law”, to chuckles from the audience on the White House lawn.

In a career that has seen him work his way up from a law clerk to the US attorney for the Southern District of New York before taking up his Washington, DC posts, Comey has worked on several landmark cases. These include the Gambino mafia family case, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia and the prosecution of lifestyle guru Martha Stewart for securities fraud.

He’s also an old hand at investigating the Clintons. In the mid-1990s, he served as deputy special counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee investigating the investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates at the Whitewater Development Corporation. No charges were brought against the Clintons in that case.

In 2002, as federal prosecutor, Comey inherited the dossier investigating outgoing president Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich, a controversial financier whom Comey had prosecuted a decade earlier. In the end, Comey decided not to pursue the Rich pardon case.

When Comey informed Congress on July 7 of his decision not to prosecute the Democratic candidate in the email investigation, some might have thought that this was his third and final brush with a Clinton.

“My judgment was, the appropriate resolution of this case was not with a criminal prosecution,” he announced at the time. “As I said, folks can disagree about that. But I hope they know that view – not just in my opinion, but of my team – was honestly held, fairly investigated, and communicated with unusual transparency because we know folks care about it.”

Barely four months later, Comey is about to get a new lesson in just how much folks care. And if his revelation winds up influencing how the vote goes on Election Day, the “Comey letter” will take its place in the annals of American history, sparking rancour and partisan bitterness for years to come.

FEATURED NEWS RIGHT SIDEBAR
Biafra: Afra Descendants Movement (ADM) Declares Support for Biafra...Says "When our Ancestors met the White Men, They told them we are Biafrans And That is what we are."
Sunday 30 October, 2016

It was a great show of camaraderie in Ikot Abasi of Akwa Ibom state of Biafraland on saturday, 29th October 2016, as all the ethnic groups that encompasses the popularly called "South-South" area of the old Eastern region gathered together in warm embrace of each other, while publicly declaring their unwavering support towards the Biafra Restoration project championed by Nnamdi Kanu.

IPOB was astonished to behold the large turnout of her cousins from these various ethnic group who appeared under the aegis of the " AFRA DESCENDANTS MOVEMENT."

In an address titled " for the survival of our people, we need a new beginning“ read out by the group's leader, Apostle Kalada M. Jene and jointly signed by the representatives of each ethnic group that make up the "south-south" region, they retrospectively bemoaned the negative effect of the divide and rule antics orchestrated by the British/Nigeria for the continued subjugation and annihilation of Biafrans.
The thick layer of the divide and conquer strategy, used by the British, galvanized negative relations and undermined every effort made to unite all Biafrans, but through the mental sanitization efforts of Nnamdi Kanu in unearthing every ingredients upon which Nigeria was concocted, Biafrans are today more united than ever the statement read.
Apostle Kalada futher went on to express total dissapointment in the retching union called Nigeria, describing it as a British establishment that has been nothing but detrimental to the people of the old Eastern region, otherwise known as Biafrans. He further stated that in the struggle for the sovereign nation of Biafra, it is critical to include the already known driving force of control over the oil territories by Britain/Nigeria and the policies that marginalized, and will continue to marginalize Biafrans in Nigeria.
Thereafter, he acknowledged the good works of Nnamdi Kanu who is currently being extra-judicially held at the command of the dictator in chief of the Islamic republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.

The atmosphere transformed into a reconciliatory session, with exhibition of deep regret, as everyone present began to recall the brotherly love that existed between the Igbos and her cousins (south-south) prior to the divide-and-conquer strategy instituted by the Hausa-Fulani and their British lords, courtesy the advent of Frederick Lugard and entourage.

"We have come to realise that we are a people of similar geographical space, socio-political system and cultural inclinations, separated due to slave trade and coerced Almagamation of 1914. The untold conspiracy against our people have been unshrouded, we seek forgiveness from each other and want the past put behind us.
Now we have been refined with a new shared vision, forged in binding fraternal love for one another. "
"Let us dream new and greater dreams, beginning with our identity as a people of same ancestry, who we are and what we are must never be forgotten. We are brothers, we are also friends. God made us brothers from birth, and as long as we came into this world with same skin tone, sharing same cultural values, we are Biafrans. When our ancestors first met the white man, they told them we are Biafrans and that is what we are" Apostle Kalada said.
Delving further into history, they stated that “Biafra is about a people, among whom rose many empires that have risen and fallen. In Biafra, we have kingdoms and People like the Kalabari, Nembe, Sagbama, Ngwa, Ndoki, Ogoni, Owerri, Ikwerre, all living by themselves and setting their own goals and aspirations un-molested, long before the coming of the white man. "Why did it change to our detriment? It will be nice to have a nation bearing our ancestral name."

"We STAND FOR NEGOTIATED BIAFRA. This new nation shall be the pride of the black race which requires everybody's support." They further condemned again the incarceration of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, while unanimously demanding his release as ordered by competent court of jurisdiction. “We want to say to the government of Nigeria to release Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally. Nnamdi kanu is president Muhammadu Buhari’s moral burden…it is not right for those who have benefitted from coup, an act of treasonable felony to incarcerate Nnamdi kanu for daring to say that he wants a separate existence from Nigerian state that is being controlled by patriotic charlatans. President Buhari may have come too late for Nigeria's rescue”.
Recalling the deepness of Nigeria's socio-political rape on Biafrans, Apostle Kalada futher stated "The wealth beneath and lying in the belly of the Sub-region have been used to feed other people, including the promotion and sustenance of the high standard of living of western countries, while rendering our children jobless and qualitatively uneducated. We must have a guaranteed future for our generations to come by insisting on a new beginning of a separate state of existence for us the Biafran people, we must kick start the renaissance. "

Speaking to Okoro Austine of BIAFRA WRITERS at the event, were some who expressed feeling of excitement in being part of the historic event, they spoke in their various local dialects ranging from Anang, Izon (Ijaw), Nembe, Ikwerre, Ibibio, Opobo, Ndoni etc.
The leader of Afra Descendants Movement (ADM), Apostle Kalade M. Jene while addressing the Biafra writers/Tv crew stated that "The gathering of today is for the realisation of separate political existence for the Biafran people. It will signal the beginning of new age and civilisation for the black race, because it will be the start of a people whose state evolved by their own will and volition, instead of the colonial relics strewn around the world, passed off as countries and states, from Africa to the carribeans."
The climax of the occasion was the joint prayer session led by representatives of the various ethnic groups that make up Biafra; they prayed for divine strength and good health upon Nnamdi Kanu and the restoration of Biafra, followed by singing of Biafra songs to bring the programme to a remarkable end.

By Austine Okoro
Edited And Published By Nwosu C.S
For Biafra Writers

#Facebookenemyofbiafra

Friday, October 28, 2016
TENSION!!! Shiite Group Exposes Alleged Plot To Kill Southern Christians, Muslims In Northern Nigeria


The Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, says it has uncovered plot to kill Southern Muslims and Christians residing in the Northern part of the country, stressing that the planned killing will displace many people.

In a statement signed by its Media Forum President, Ibrahim Musa, the movement also alleged that security agencies have concluded plans to disrupt its annual “Arbaeen trek.”

IMN said those who are against its annual ritual plans will attack its members under various guises during the trek, adding that some of its members have been marked for assassination.

This is coming at a time when, the Kaduna State Government had officially released the Gazette on IMN, declaring the movement as an unlawful society.

The statement reads, “It has come to our notice that security agents have perfected plans to cause mayhem during our annual symbolic Arbaeen trek, commemorating a similar trek the Umayyad ruler Yazid subjected family members of Prophet Muhammad (AS) to, from Karbala to Damascus in the year 680AD.

“This trek is a religious duty, which the faithful embark on, as a mark of answering of the call to help of Imam Hussein (AS) on the plains of Karbala, which many quotations of our Prophet (S) enticed faithfuls to answer, even if it were to be by crawling. It is purely symbolic and is done by millions of faithfuls worldwide.

“In Nigeria however, opponents who do not want anything of that tyranny against the family of our Prophet (AS) remembered and exposed had always used various plots and evil schemes to demonize the symbolic trek and even stop it by hook or crook means and the use of force.

“We have observed that the idea of trekking to mark or celebrate an event is not alien or new after all. Several people trekked much longer distances to celebrate the victory of President Buhari at the polls last year with pomp and pleasantries.

“That was a political trek. Ours is a solemn trek and a religious duty. We never force anyone to embark on it, we never molest anyone from start to finish and we must be allowed to exercise our religious obligation.

“This year however, credible sources have confirmed to us that they plan to attack the trekkers in various guise at multiple locations and also burn residences and business premises of the trekkers back in their towns while they are away on the trek.

“This evil plot involves the use of thugs along all the routes, who would attack especially at night while the trekkers take a rest in camps, kill as many as possible and raze their temporary shelters. Transporters will also be threatened with destruction of their vehicles if they allowed them to be used in anyway for the symbolic trek.

“Part of the plot also involves telling hospitals not to accept victims of their planned attacks for treatment.
“A list of very prominent members of Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has also been drawn, and the later are to be targeted for assassination in this devilish scheme.

“It has been arranged that southerners both Muslims & Christians that reside in the north will be killed in order to create an influx of refugees from North to Southern part of the country. All these are what the exposed plot called measures to be taken in the short term.

“The long-term plans involve the continued use of paid preachers, who would intensify the hate preaching against IMN, and these will be availed with various facilities to ease their assignment.

“Furthermore, it was also agreed that more civil organisations will be bankrolled to keep denting the image of IMN in and outside the shores of this country. This they said must be taken seriously because the IMN is garnering sympathy and support from unexpected quarters in and outside the country, which they resolved to halt and reverse by all means possible.

“The Islamic Movement in Nigeria would however once more like to assure the general public and well-meaning Nigerians as well as the international community that the annual symbolic Arbaeen trek, which comes up in few weeks time, remains a peaceful religious duty to be conducted by faithfuls as have been done in the last five years since it was started.

“It is on record that not even last year, when security agents under the cover of Boko Haram detonated a bomb killing 32 persons along the Kano axis, was the trek even disrupted talk less of turning violent. In spite of the spurious allegations of blocking roads, an unjustified charge, we do not prevent motorists and other road users from using the roads. It is also on record that we lost quite a number of persons in previous years who were knocked down by reckless drivers during the trek, which would not have happened if we blocked the roads or prevented others from using the roads.

“IMN is being vigorously persecuted by all levels of government, using all coercive apparatus of state, clearly in flagrant violation of our right to religious gathering and association. These efforts by security forces to scuttle the annual symbolic Arbaeen trek must be seen in that light. We therefore draw the attention of the public and the international community that whatever happens to IMN members during the trek, the Nigerian authorities must be held responsible.

“Lastly, we still demand for the unconditional release of our incarcerated leader, Sheikh Zakzaky and all those in detention since the December 2015 Zaria massacre by the Army.”

#Radiobiafra is d No1. Media of d world...

Friday, October 28, 2016
Solution To Nigeria's Economic Problems Beyond CBN Policies - Emefiele


Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele on Thursday said that the apex bank had done all it could with regard to monetary policies to stimulate economic recovery, admitting the problem lies outside that purview.

"Monetary policy had under the circumstances rose to the occasion, deploying fully all the conventional and non-conventional tools in its purview. However, as you will know, the conditions that precipitated the economic crisis are structural, with antidotes that lie mostly outside the domain of monetary policy.’ Punch quotes Emefiele as saying.

Circumstances beyond the control of these monetary policies are to blame for the lingering economic crisis, he said, citing fall in oil prices, energy shortages and hikes in the prices of energy, depressed consumer demand resulting from weak fiscal spending, and spate of militant attacks as well as insurgency as examples.

#FreeNnamdiKanu is d Giant of d world whether u like it or not...

Friday, October 28, 2016
Russian President Vladimir Putin Showers Praises On Donald Trump, Says He Represents Ordinary Americans

Russian President, Vladmir Putin claims that Donald Trump, Republican party presidential candidate represents 'ordinary Americans'.

Putin told Reuters, "Mr. Trump, he has probably chosen his own method to get through to voters' hearts," Putin told foreign policy experts in southern Russia.

"He behaves extravagantly of course, we see this, but I think there's a reason for this, because in my opinion he represents the interests of that part of society - and it is quite big in the United States - which is tired of the elite who have been in power for decades."