The following article appeared in the
American Thinker on April 15th
James Comey's book is set to come out
this Tuesday, at which time Comey will no doubt continue to rake in millions
and millions of dollars.
Still, the question remains whether
or not Comey should spend any of it.
Last week, Newt
Gingrich wrote in his column that Comey's book "will be amazingly
discredited." Gingrich likened it to a novel, "a work of
political fiction."
In line with this narrative is Deputy
A.G. Rod
Rosenstein, no fan of Trump, who was reported to have said that history
will prove he did the right thing by firing Comey and that the American people
do not have all the facts.
That being said, Comey's book
problems could go well beyond Americans moving his book from Barnes &
Noble's nonfiction section to its fiction section, or the yelling
of "dirty cop" at Comey as he executes his book tour
(Comey is charging as much as $850
for a ticket). In the end, Comey very well could lose all the
proceeds from both his book sales and book tour.
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| James Comey and Andy McCabe...one of his many friends |
Like a thirsty sailor at sea,
surrounded by water but unable to drink a drop, Comey may become flush with
money but unable to spend a cent.
Consider these two scenarios:
1) It is ruled that the book was
derived from a crime
If Comey stole parts of the book from
the U.S. government, or his leaking of privileged information contributed to
the writing or demand for the book, he could be in big trouble.
On Friday, Congressmen Devin
Nunes, Bob Goodlatte, and Trey Gowdy requested that Rosenstein deliver
Comey's memos that memorialized his interactions with President
Trump. It is no coincidence that the deadline given for this request
was 16 April, 2018, one day prior to the release of Comey's book.
In an interview on Friday, Nunes said
it seems as though "there is much in the book that comes from the
memos."
If, in fact, Comey transferred
excerpts from these memos to his book, Comey could be accused of stealing and
then selling government property as his own.
Eighteen
USC § 641 states that "[w]hoever embezzles, steals, purloins, or
knowingly converts to his use or the use of another, or without authority,
sells, conveys or disposes of any record,
voucher, money, or thing of value of the United
States or of any department or agency thereof, or any property made or
being made under contract for the United
States or any department or agency thereof ... [s]hall be fined under this
title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."
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| Jim has LOTS of buddies! |
Mr. Comey has no right to sell the
contents of Director Comey's memos, because the memos are property of the U.S.
government and not Mr. Comey, even if he wrote them and the book's contents are
political fiction. The government could be entitled to compensation.
In such a case, the practice of criminal
forfeiture, which is part of a criminal prosecution of a defendant, could
come into play. Criminal forfeiture requires that the government
indict both the property and the defendant.
2) It is ruled that the book
itself is involved in a crime
On Friday, columnist Robert
Charles evaluated Comey's book as "an attempt to pre-empt further
investigation into his own questionable actions."
If Charles is right and Comey's book
turns out to be full of intentional falsehoods aimed to pre-empt further
investigation of wrongdoing regarding either the Clinton or the Russia
investigation, not only could Comey be vulnerable to obstruction of justice,
but legal action could be taken against his book as well.
Under the process of civil
judicial forfeiture, the threshold is far lower. The action
can be taken against only the asset (in this case, Comey's book), if it is
found that the book is involved in a crime (in this case as a vehicle to
obstruct justice). Here, Comey's indictment would not be a
prerequisite for such a seizure to take place.
In any case, Comey remains at serious
risk of drowning in his own sea of criminality.
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