Discredited FBI director James Comey has suddenly come out of retirement, touring liberal talk shows  and promoting a new book that desperately rewrites history and gaslights the American people.

The worst problem for Comey, however, is his track record of corruption — one so vast and well documented that no promotional book tour can fix it.

Most Americans will never forget the congressional hearings regarding the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  Members of Congress wanted answers, questioning whether or not then–secretary of state Hillary Clinton had failed to provide appropriate security for assassinated ambassador John Christopher Stevens and the consulate staff.  As part of the congressional investigation, it came to light that Secretary Clinton had illegally been utilizing a private email account and an unsecured server, by which classified documents were sent.

The resulting political and legal firestorm rocked the nation and resulted in a year-long FBI investigation.  In the end, Comey came before the American people with apparently cut-and-dried evidence that Clinton — the Democrat running for president at the time — had committed multiple federal crimes.  In his highly anticipated public statement, Comey claimed that over 100 Clinton emails contained information that should have been deemed classified at the time they were sent, including 65 emails deemed "Secret" and 22 deemed "Top Secret."  An additional 2,093 emails were retroactively designated confidential by the State Department.

Yet, despite overwhelming evidence, Comey made one of the most partisan decisions in the FBI's history.  He concluded his dramatic presentation by stating that "although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."

Comey's reputation and fidelity to the rule of law could never be trusted again.  But that didn't matter to him.  Comey had done his job — to protect Clinton at all costs.

Although the Democrat avoided any legal repercussions, the political fallout was devastating.  Clinton's campaign desperately needed to change the narrative — and fast.  Enter the infamous "Steele dossier."  Campaign staffers, attorneys, and Hillary herself devised a plan to accuse Donald Trump and his campaign of working with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.  The Clinton campaign paid British spy Christopher Steele, who interviewed Russian sources, to produce a fraudulent document that they could provide to the mainstream media to spin their devious tale.

Unclassified documents now show that CIA director John Brennan met with both President Obama and Vice President Biden early in July 2016, informing them that the Clinton campaign had conspired to develop the Steele dossier, which falsely maligned Donald Trump's campaign.  On July 31st, 2016, Comey opened an investigation into the Clinton allegation, mere weeks after being briefed by Christopher Steele himself.

As is clearly outlined in the recently published Durham Report, there was absolutely no predicate by which the FBI should have opened any investigation into the unfounded accusation.  Not only did Comey open a sham investigation, but FBI assistant general counsel Kevin Clinesmith (who has since pleaded guilty) lied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court about altering evidence in an effort to secure an otherwise unlawful warrant to spy on Trump campaign staffer and CIA informant Carter Page.

Mounting evidence of Comey's corruption and seditious behavior only gets worse.  On January 5, 2017, following Trump's election, Obama, national security adviser Susan Rice, Comey, and others met to discuss how to manage the "Russia collusion" myth.  Shortly thereafter, Comey met with President-Elect Trump and told him about the Steele dossier's existence.  As part of their conversation, Comey assured Trump that he was "not the subject of any investigation."  Trump also happened to mention that he hoped the FBI would go easy on soon-to-be national security adviser Michael Flynn.

So much for that.  After President Trump's inauguration, Comey ordered two FBI agents to violate longstanding agency policy and casually schedule a meeting with the unsuspecting Flynn.  It was a set-up from the start: Flynn had previously been Obama's appointed director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.  In this high-security position, he worked closely with Obama and the FBI.

Now, in his new role as Trump's top security adviser, Flynn had no reason to suspect that the FBI's casual request for a meeting was untoward.  But he had previously made powerful enemies.  While working in the Obama administration, Flynn often opposed the former president's foreign policy agenda, eventually resulting in his dismissal.  Flynn's ultimate sin, however, came when (as a private citizen) he publicly, aggressively, and unapologetically supported Trump early in the 2016 election.  And so, Comey sent two of his agents with clear marching orders: "Get him to lie so we can prosecute him or get him fired."

Over the next few months, Comey reiterated to Trump on two additional occasions that he was not the subject of any investigation.  Yet, on March 20, 2017, despite full knowledge that the Steele dossier was a Clinton campaign tactic, Comey publicly confirmed the FBI was investigating alleged coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the election.

Finally, after months of attacks from within his own government, Trump fought back.  On May 9, 2017, he fired Comey.  In his words: "While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to lead the Bureau."

Ironically, the FBI director who had dedicated his career to an agency whose motto is "Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity" destroyed that same career pursuing a vengeance-filled path of sedition.  Like a Shakespearean tragedy, Comey became obsessed with bringing down the president of the United States of America.  Lest we forget Shakespeare's own words: "Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, blood and revenge are hammering in my head."

Freshly fired, Comey soon reached out to a friend, asking him to leak to the press one of his handwritten memos.  The memo described the January 2017 meeting that Comey had with then-president-elect Trump.  Playing the role of a well trained FBI agent, Comey memorialized Trump's comment: "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go."

Similar to the two FBI agents who were directed by Comey to target Flynn, Comey's meeting with Trump was also an ambush.  During a congressional hearing regarding his memo, Comey testified that he leaked the information to a friend to "prompt the appointment of a special counsel."

On May 16, 2017, the left-wing New York Times dutifully reported on Comey's memo.  And, two days later, Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed a special counsel.  What commenced was a well orchestrated two-year obstruction of justice by America's Intelligence Community to bring down a sitting president.  According to Attorney General Bill Barr, Special Counsel Robert Mueller "employed 19 lawyers, 40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants, and other professional staff" to do the job. 

Yet, in the end, the attempted coup resulted in Mueller declaring a nothing-burger.  There was no evidence of so-called "Russian collusion" — there actually never was, as there is none today.

What's clear now, made all the clearer by Comey's grand illusion book tour, is that the former FBI director posed an existential threat to American democracy.  Our government derives its powers from the consent of the governed, and anything short of this ideal is antithetical to the Constitution.  Comey falls way short, and he has done nothing but betray his country.

Ted Harvey serves as chairman of the Committee to Defeat the President.

Image: James Comey.  Credit: MSNBC via YouTube, CC BY 3.0 (cropped).