Arrogance, Accountability, and James Comey

What comes around goes around. Arrogance in power is unattractive. When it extends from incompetence to damaging America, it is inexcusable. Enter: Fired FBI Director James Comey, a lifetime opportunist, unapologetic poser, self-righteous prig who thinks himself beyond justice.

My first encounter with Comey was not an encounter at all, but rather a chance connection while reviewing how things worked. In June 1996, the terrorist group al Qaeda attacked a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia, destroying two residential towers, the Khobar Towers, killing 19 U.S. military personnel.

The next year, part of an investigation the U.S. Congress did into the bombing, my life took me there, up what was left of the towers, sides blown off, blood on all the walls. The impression left was indelible, impossible to erase. Getting justice seemed vital, something that must happen.

At that time, Mr. Comey – unknown to me – was the prosecutor in New York charged with getting that justice. He never did. An indictment was brought, with much fanfare. No convictions.

Wind the clock ahead six years. Dealing with national security between 2003 and 2005, I periodically sat in a room with him. He was the deputy attorney general. Even then, his vibe was strangely above the room, self-righteous, arrogant, aloof, always reflexively indignant.

The role he played in national security at that time, except when debating surveillance – was minimal. Still, he was there. He had climbed the political ladder and was the U.S. Attorney in New York.

There, he investigated the pardon by President Clinton of Mark Rich, indicted on 65 counts, found guilty, sentenced, then stunningly set free by Bill Clinton. Rich gave millions to Democrats, $450,000 to the Bill Clinton library fund – while Bill was in office. He was pardoned, gifted  Hillary’s senate bid $100,000. No matter that Comey found nothing wrong, the matter was settled.

See how this works? Comey was a hero to the left, to the Clintons, and the weak Bush 41 White House did nothing to contest Comey’s finding. In fact, they advanced him to deputy attorney general, and when Attorney General Ashcroft fell ill, they made him acting attorney general.

Arrogance is disgusting until stopped. Playing both sides, Comey played the press, offering false modesty while posing as a civil rights leader. He prosecuted Martha Stewart for “lying to the FBI” in 2003, then left the Bush administration and made tons of money trading on his credentials.

In 2009, feeling insufficiently noticed, he played up consideration for a Supreme Court appointment – who leaked that idea? – and got himself appointed by Obama to head the FBI in 2013. Here, all things considered, his arrogance began to get ahead of the man. He got out over his fake skis.

He got involved with the Hillary Clinton probe, looking into her multiple criminal acts. Suddenly, in 2016, he just exonerated her – which was beyond his authority – after Obama’s attorney general, Loretta Lynch, was caught meeting Bill Clinton on a plane, so she recused herself.

Later in 2016, when FBI field agents found more evidence of Hillary’s guilt before the 2016 election, Comey again made a poor decision. Afraid he would get caught covering it up, he said he would again investigate Hillary. In the meantime, he worked with his team to try to stop Trump from winning.

Even after the Trump win in 2016, when the criminal effort to stop Trump with that fake Russia file – paid for by Clinton – proved false, Comey doubled down. He worked to get General Flynn, Trump’s first National Security Advisor, framed, fired, and prosecuted, and then went after Trump.

With his inner circle, McCabe and others, he worked to get then Attorney General Sessions to hire former FBI director – Comey’s mentor – Bob Mueller to investigate Trump. To do that, he leaked ideas to the press that were untrue, forcing Sessions’ hand. That effort, again playing kingmaker, came to nothing, except wasting two Trump years and costing millions. As Trump noted, it could have caused a World War.

Comey, fired by Trump for incompetence, lawlessness, and disloyalty, promptly wrote a book making himself a hero, and then cheap novels were sold to eager anti-Trump zealots. He continued to snipe, accusing Trump of the very things – disloyalty, lawlessness, and abuse – Comey had committed.

But the Big Wheel Turns. Now comes real justice. Comey – obsessed with being “historic,” name in lights, playing the hero, denying the mayhem he creates, like the arsonist who plays firefighter, has finally been indicted on one of many possible charges, lying to Congress.

Getting justice and accountability for abusers of power, including the Clintons, Obama, Biden, and Comey, is hard. But perhaps now, in some small way, the circle closes. What comes around goes around. Arrogance is unattractive, especially in a delusional, narcissistic, former FBI Director.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!