Disgraced FBI director James Comey is facing a bar complaint from a conservative group over his dishonest and unethical conduct, adding new legal pressure on the Trump enemy as he fights criminal charges for obstructing Congress.
The complaint, from the Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), calls for an investigation into Comey and for him to be potentially stripped of his law licenses in New York and Virginia, the Daily Caller reported.
"Misrepresentation, honesty, and trustworthiness are all factors that the Rules of Professional Conduct expressly factor when weighing whether to discipline an attorney,” the complaint filed in New York reads.
“Comey’s actions, at a minimum, call into question all three factors. The Committee, therefore, should waste no time before investigating the allegations against Comey and, if by a preponderance of evidence is substantiated, discipline him accordingly."
As FBI director, Comey acquired a reputation for wading into politics in heavy-handed ways, drawing criticism from both parties. Democrats still fault Comey for reopening an e-mail investigation into Hillary Clinton on the eve of the 2016 election, while President Trump and his allies say Comey went easy on Clinton while simultaneously pushing a political witch hunt into Trump, the infamous "Russian collusion" hoax.
In 2019, Comey was reprimanded by the Justice Department's Inspector General for leaking sensitive memos for his own personal gain, an action that “set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees — and the many thousands of more former FBI employees — who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.”
Comey admitted to sharing the memos in order to trigger a Special Counsel probe into President Trump, who would spend much of his first White House term under a cloud of suspicion before Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded that there was no evidence of Russian collusion.
The prosecution into Comey is based on his sworn testimony in September 2020 that he had never “authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports," despite his self-avowed leaking.
In addition to sharing his memos through a law professor friend, Comey was also investigated, but never charged, over separate leaks through his chief of staff and an FBI lawyer, according to recently declassified FBI memos.
An ex-FBI lawyer, James Baker, said he leaked classified information to the New York Times "under the belief he was ultimately instructed and authorized to do so by then FBI Director James Comey," the memos say.
Comey, a vocal critic of Trump, has sought to dismiss the "vindictive" criminal charges against him, and some conservatives have also questioned the strength of the case.
But the known facts about Comey's conduct are damning enough to merit a bar investigation, according to the complaint, which notes the standard of evidence in bar proceedings is lower than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard required for a criminal conviction.
“Because Comey has proven willing to say false statements, under oath, during a congressional hearing, he cannot be trusted to be truthful in the practice of law,” the New York complaint reads.
"His duties of honesty and trustworthiness to the courts in which he appears are now in question. His actions, without question, constitute ‘misrepresentation,'” the complaint adds.
