{"id":11906,"date":"2018-04-03T08:55:31","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T12:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=11906"},"modified":"2018-04-03T08:55:31","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T12:55:31","slug":"usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/","title":{"rendered":"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey’s Credibility"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\u00a0USA Today<\/strong>, April 3, 2018\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/section>\n
\n

After the FBI’s Pulse nightclub failure, why should we trust James Comey any more?<\/a><\/h1>\n

by James Bovard<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Now that Noor Salman has been acquitted of charges she played a role in the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9\/11, the FBI should be embarrassed.<\/em><\/h4>\n

The FBI suffered another debacle on Friday\u00a0when an Orlando jury returned a not guilty verdict for the widow\u00a0of Omar Mateen<\/a>, who\u00a0killed 49 people and wounded 53 in his attack\u00a0on Orlando\u2019s Pulse nightclub<\/a> in June 2016.\u00a0The biggest terrorism case of the year collapsed largely thanks to FBI misconduct and deceit.<\/p>\n

Noor Salman was charged with material support of a foreign terrorist organization and lying to the FBI about knowing about her husband\u2019s pending attack on the nightclub. The FBI\u00a0vigorously interrogated her<\/a> for 18 hours,\u00a0threatening her with the loss of custody of her infant son<\/a>\u00a0unless she signed a confession.\u00a0Salman, who\u00a0reportedly had an IQ of only 84<\/a>, initially denied any knowledge but relented and signed a statement composed by an FBI agent.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors flourished the FBI memo of Salman\u2019s confession as the ultimate proof of her\u00a0perfidy.\u00a0But the memo\u00a0contained false statements<\/a> and contradictions\u00a0which even the government could not sweep away.\u00a0After the trial ended, the jury foreman (who wished to remain anonymous) notified the\u00a0Orlando Sentinel: \u201cI wish that\u00a0the FBI had recorded their interviews with Ms. Salman<\/a>\u00a0as there were several significant inconsistencies with the written summaries of her statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this landmark case \u2014\u00a0as well as in the 2016 interview of Democratic presidential candidate\u00a0Hillary Clinton and Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the FBI chose to rely on its agents\u2019 ex post facto memos instead of the words and voices of individuals it was investigating.\u00a0Four years ago,\u00a0Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the FBI and other federal agencies\u00a0would henceforth record such interviews<\/a> but\u00a0little has changed\u00a0from the J. Edgar Hoover era.<\/p>\n

But that was not the biggest blow to federal credibility.\u00a0On the day after the Pulse club massacre, then-FBI chief James Comey promised: \u201cWe will\u00a0leave no stone unturned<\/a> and we will work all day and all night\u00a0to understand the path to that terrible night. …\u00a0I don\u2019t see anything in reviewing our work that our agents should have done differently, but we\u2019ll look at it in an open and honest way, and be transparent about it.” But Comey provided zero transparency over the following 11 months prior to President Trump\u2019s firing him<\/a> last May. The\u00a0FBI even redacted Mateen\u2019s endorsement of ISIS<\/a>\u00a0in the initial transcripts they released of his discussions with hostage negotiators on the night of the shooting.<\/p>\n

Comey complained of the difficulty of investigating lone wolf terrorists:\u00a0\u201cOur\u00a0work is very challenging<\/a>. We are looking for needles in a nationwide haystack.\u201d But the key player in this case was in the FBI\u2019s back pocket all along.<\/div>\n

Eleven days after Noor Salman\u2019s trial began, the Justice Department belatedly admitted that the killer\u2019s father,\u00a0Seddique Mateen, had been a paid FBI informant<\/a> for 11 years, starting in 2005.\u00a0Seddique Mateen, who came to America from Afghanistan,\u00a0produced a pro-Taliban<\/a>, anti-American Dari\u00a0language television program. On the day after the massacre, when asked if the FBI was investigating Seddique Mateen,\u00a0Comey replied, \u201cno comment<\/a>.\u201d Comey was likely aware of the FBI\u2019s close relationship to\u00a0the biggest firearm massacre in U.S. history up to that point.<\/p>\n

Prior to his attack, Omar Mateen was practically walking around Florida wearing a sandwich board proclaiming, “FUTURE MASS KILLER.” He had boasted of his connections to\u00a0terrorists, threatened to have Al Qaeda kill a co-worker\u2019s family<\/a>, and talked of wanting to be a martyr \u2014\u00a0when he was not\u00a0vocally vilifying African-Americans<\/a>\u00a0and minorities.\u00a0Numerous individuals\u00a0and organizations \u2014\u00a0including his mosque \u2014\u00a0warned authorities\u00a0that he could be a threat to public safety<\/a>. When FBI officials investigated him in 2013, he\u00a0repeatedly lied<\/a> to them. But the FBI swayed the local sheriff\u2019s department to drop its investigation because a\u00a0\u201cconfidential informant\u201d assured FBI agents that Omar Mateen was not a terrorist and would not \u201cgo postal or anything like that<\/a>.\u201d That \u201cconfidential informant\u201d may have been Mateen\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

The FBI\u2019s cosseting of the father is also triple fishy. The FBI continued relying on Seddique Mateen even after hearing that he was seeking to finance terrorist attacks<\/a> abroad. Four years before the massacre, the feds received a\u00a0tip\u00a0that he was seeking\u00a0to raise up to $100,000 to bankroll attacks against the Pakistani government.<\/p>\n

Indeed, just before Omar Mateen\u2019s attack, his\u00a0father transferred\u00a0large sums of money to Turkey<\/a> and Afghanistan. The FBI has formally permitted its informants<\/a> to\u00a0commit more than 5,000 crimes a year in recent times.<\/p>\n

Instead of being honest with the American public about the FBI\u2019s role in this case, the Obama administration and Comey rushed to exploit the Pulse Nightclub massacre to extend federal power.\u00a0Democrats\u00a0quickly seized upon the death toll to push new gun control<\/a> legislation. (Seddique\u00a0Mateen also vigorously endorsed gun control<\/a> when he appeared at a Hillary Clinton rally in\u00a0August 2016.)<\/p>\n

Comey said Omar Mateen had been \u201cradicalized at least in part through the Internet<\/a>\u201d \u2014\u00a0very convenient for Comey\u2019s campaign to sway Congress to give the FBI new power to\u00a0seize Internet records<\/a> of Americans without with a search warrant \u2014\u00a0the FBI\u2019s \u201ctop legislative priority\u201d\u00a0for 2016.\u00a0Sen. John McCain<\/a>, R-Ariz.,\u00a0led the charge, assuring fellow senators that if the FBI could \u201cmore easily determine Internet activity of those suspected of radicalization,\u201d the Orlando massacre might not have happened. Uh …\u00a0maybe the son was radicalized by watching his father\u2019s TV program?<\/p>\n

The FBI\u2019s Orlando debacle follows too many other cases in which the FBI failed to heed obvious warning signs of terrorist attacks \u2014\u00a0from\u00a09\/11<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0the Fort Hood<\/a>, Texas, killing spree\u00a0to the\u00a0Boston Marathon<\/a> bombing\u00a0to a\u00a0Garland<\/a>, Texas,\u00a0attack spurred by an FBI agent.\u00a0If not for the federal prosecution of Noor Salman, we likely never would have learned that Seddique Mateen was on the FBI payroll. How many other self-damning bombshells remain hidden in FBI files?<\/p>\n

Comey has a new book coming out\u00a0on April 17<\/a> entitled A Higher Loyalty<\/a>: Truth, Lies, and Leadership<\/em>.\u00a0Unfortunately, there is no reason to presume that either the FBI or Comey has become more honest since the corpses were removed from the Pulse nightclub. When will Washington recognize that a federal agency\u2019s combination of vast power and almost boundless secrecy is no recipe for public safety?<\/p>\n

James Bovard,\u00a0author of\u00a0<\/em>Attention Deficit Democracy<\/a>,\u00a0is\u00a0a member of USA TODAY\u2019s\u00a0Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter:\u00a0@JimBovard<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0USA Today, April 3, 2018 After the FBI’s Pulse nightclub failure, why should we trust James Comey any more? by James Bovard Now that Noor Salman has been acquitted of charges she played a role in the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9\/11, the FBI should be embarrassed. The FBI suffered another debacle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[349,1416,47,280,1418,1073,1419,27,1415,1414,1412,1413,1417,30],"class_list":["post-11906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-coverup","tag-false-confession","tag-fbi","tag-gun-control","tag-informants","tag-james-comey","tag-john-mccain","tag-lying","tag-noor-salman","tag-omar-mateen","tag-orlando","tag-pulse-nightclub","tag-recording","tag-surveillance"],"yoast_head":"\nUSA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey's Credibility - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey's Credibility - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0USA Today, April 3, 2018 After the FBI’s Pulse nightclub failure, why should we trust James Comey any more? by James Bovard Now that Noor Salman has been acquitted of charges she played a role in the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9\/11, the FBI should be embarrassed. The FBI suffered another debacle […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-03T12:55:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey’s Credibility\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-03T12:55:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1128,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png\",\"keywords\":[\"coverup\",\"false confession\",\"FBI\",\"gun control\",\"informants\",\"James Comey\",\"John McCain\",\"Lying\",\"Noor Salman\",\"Omar Mateen\",\"Orlando\",\"Pulse nightclub\",\"recording\",\"Surveillance\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/\",\"name\":\"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey's Credibility - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-03T12:55:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png\",\"width\":225,\"height\":225},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/03\\\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey’s Credibility\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey's Credibility - James Bovard","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey's Credibility - James Bovard","og_description":"\u00a0USA Today, April 3, 2018 After the FBI’s Pulse nightclub failure, why should we trust James Comey any more? by James Bovard Now that Noor Salman has been acquitted of charges she played a role in the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9\/11, the FBI should be embarrassed. The FBI suffered another debacle […]","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2018-04-03T12:55:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":225,"height":225,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey’s Credibility","datePublished":"2018-04-03T12:55:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/"},"wordCount":1128,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png","keywords":["coverup","false confession","FBI","gun control","informants","James Comey","John McCain","Lying","Noor Salman","Omar Mateen","Orlando","Pulse nightclub","recording","Surveillance"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/","name":"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey's Credibility - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png","datePublished":"2018-04-03T12:55:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/USA-Today-logo-300x300.png","width":225,"height":225},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/03\/usa-today-orlando-massacre-trial-fiasco-shreds-fbi-james-comeys-credibility\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"USA Today: Orlando Massacre Trial Fiasco Shreds FBI & James Comey’s Credibility"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/","name":"James Bovard","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Jim"},"description":"Bovard's homepage is at http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11908,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11906\/revisions\/11908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}