Bush Chief White House Ethics Lawyer Files Formal DOJ Complaint Against FBI Director Comey

Alleges Comey ‘Very Likely’ Violated Federal Law by Releasing Letter on Clinton Email Investigation

The top attorney in charge of ethics for the George W. Bush White House (2005-2007) has filed a formal complaint with the Dept. of Justice against James Comey over the FBI Director’s letter to 16 members of congress announcing it is looking at possibly additional emails associated with its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Richard W. Painter, now aÂ professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, in a New York Times op-ed alleges Director Comey “very likely”Â violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits most executive branch officials from using their authority to interfere with an election.Â

Calling it an “an abuse of power,” Painter writes, “I never thought that the F.B.I. could be dragged into a political circus surrounding one of its investigations. Until this week.”

He also notes that the FBI “is currently investigating the hacking of Americansâ€™ computers by foreign governments. Russia is a prime suspect.”Â

And he implies the FBI could be investigating TrumpÂ â€“ noting it would be “improper” for the Bureau to tell the public or Congress about it:

Imagine a possible connection between a candidate for president in the United States and the Russian computer hacking. Imagine the candidate has business dealings in Russia, and has publicly encouraged the Russians to hack the email of his opponent. It would not be surprising for the F.B.I. to include this candidate and his campaign staff in its confidential investigation of Russian computer hacking.

But it would be highly improper, and an abuse of power, for the F.B.I. to conduct such an investigation in the public eye, particularly on the eve of the election. It would be an abuse of power for the director of the F.B.I., absent compelling circumstances, to notify members of Congress that the candidate was under investigation. It would be an abuse of power if F.B.I. agents went so far as to obtain a search warrant and raid the candidateâ€™s office tower, hauling out boxes of documents and computers in front of television cameras.