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The fired FBI leader, James Comey, has used his private Gmail account hundreds of times to handle government affairs – and at least seven of those messages have been deemed so sensitive by the Justice Department that they have refused to release them.
The former chief executive, G-man, has repeatedly stated that he has used his private account only for "incidental" purposes and never for anything that is classified – and this seems to be true.
But Justice acknowledged in response to a request for access to information that Comey and his chief of staff had discussed government affairs about 1,200 pages of messages, of which 156 had been obtained by La Poste.
The Cause of Action Institute, a conservative watchdog group, filed a lawsuit for access to Comey's correspondence to the Gmail account involving his work for the office.
The Department of Justice responded that there were 1,200 pages of breathtaking messages for Comey and his chief of staff who met the criteria.
Justice released 156 of them but refused to hand over seven emails, as they "would disclose the techniques and procedures of investigation or prosecution under the law." In addition, 363 pages of e-mails were retained because they dealt with privileged communications with private organizations or for reasons of confidentiality.
The CEO of Cause of Action blamed former top executive G-man for minimizing the work he was doing with his private account. "The use of private e-mails for official government activities jeopardizes transparency and accountability, and that's why we sued the Department of Justice," said John Vecchione.
"We are deeply concerned that the FBI has detained many emails citing the FOIA exemption. This runs counter to Comey's statements that her use of email was incidental and never involved sensitive issues. "
In an October 7, 2015 email, Comey appears to acknowledge the FBI's hypocrisy investigating Hillary Clinton's email practices while exchanging FBI information on her own private account because her government's account was Out of order.
Two days after complaining that his "cell does not send emails," Comey asked an assistant that the testimonials he was to deliver to the Senate be sent to his private account – calling it a embarrassing situation".
"He [aide] I guess I'll have to send it to a personal mail, "wrote Comey." Embarrassing for us. "
Lisa Rosenberg, executive director of Open the Government, a non-partisan coalition that advocates for government transparency, said that Comey's practice of using personal email while investigating Clinton's double impulse.
"It's so hypocritically transparent to have a standard for someone you're investigating and an entirely different standard for yourself when you're enforcing the law," Rosenberg said.
The Inspector General of the Ministry of Justice had previously accused Comey of using his personal account for FBI affairs, claiming that the account was "inconsistent" with government policy. But Comey asserted that her private use of e-mail was "incidental" and used only "public speech or public e-mail" for word processing. He said that he was sending "nothing short of classified" on Gmail and that his use was "totally different". "From Clinton's.
Experts told The Post that there was a clear gap between what Comey was saying that he was using his personal email and what the Justice Department had concluded after checking it out .
Had the Department of Justice properly concealed its e-mails for the legal reasons invoked, Comey would have raised substantive issues relating to government affairs and issues of active enforcement.
"He can not do both things," said Rosenberg.
"Either he used his personal e-mail for public things or that would belong to the public domain, or he used it to discuss internal policies, investigations, and so on. that may or may not be retained under FOIA. "
A representative of Comey said that he had no comment.
The 156 pages of e-mail that have been published constitute the first wave of Justice, and others more expected soon.
The emails obtained by The Post are extending from 2013 to 2017, and many are very redacted.
In the messages, Comey discusses speeches and public statements with her collaborators and other routine tasks. E-mails also report pressing concerns, such as the threat of mass shootings at a Chicago school in May 2016, changes to its protectors, and the help given to two American teachers during the process. Obtaining their visa in December 2013.
The emails show that Comey used personal emails throughout his investigation of Clinton and even talked about it.
He sent an email on September 30, 2015 to James Rybicki, his chief of staff at the time, an article on Fox News about Russian hackers trying to access Clinton's server.
"We have to be sure that our colleagues across the way do not think I've said most of the things that they're attributing to me," the e-mail said.
On July 25, 2016, Comey apparently sent Rybicki a link to a Lawfare article asking what the US government knew about Russia and the piracy of the DNC.
"I think there will be more of that kind of stories," wrote Comey. And two days before the 2016 presidential election, Comey sent an email to his associates to inform him that he was on Facebook and shared a public showdown.
"Madame just doubled me at a local restaurant and said, 'Go Hillary,' wrote Comey on November 6, 2016. 'I acted like a blind deer under the headlights and I ignored it. When will it end?
Rybicki told the Inspector General that Comey had deleted his private emails every day for reasons of computer security.
Comey maintained that he always sent personal emails to the FBI accounts for data retention purposes.
President Trump fired Comey in May 2017, claiming it was because of his sloppy management of the Clinton inquiry.
Later, Trump told NBC News that he had dismissed Comey because of the investigation by the special advocate in Russia.
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