Sunday Townhall: A Civil Debate?

Townhall Principals Cooper, Raddatz, Clinton, Trump

On “Hannity” (10/5/16, @27 minute mark), pollster Frank Luntz offered Trump (unsolicited) advice on how in Sunday’s “Town Hall” Trump can improve his debate performance:

1.  Be specific, say what you will do in your administration's first 24 hours, include a forensic audit because folks think government wastes money. 
2. Ask the audience a question, such as “How many of you feel safer than you did 8 years ago?” 
3. Ask viewers at home “Which one of us is more likely to bring about the change you desire?"

Overall, “take responsibility, show humility, lower the decibel level because you are interacting with real people, not a moderator.”

Good advice. But what about the story the mainstream media and last week’s debate moderator, NBC’s Lester Holt, insist on ignoring? Will Trump be able to get any of this in?

Paul Sperry at the conservative New York Post writes about how upset FBI agents are in the wake of that agency’s failure to mount a real investigation of Hillary Clinton’s crimes. As Sperry reported:

• Comey allowed immunity for witnesses that came with “outrageous” side deals preventing agents from searching for any computer documents written after the Congressional subpoena, especially messages from former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills to Clinton’s server administrator regarding destruction of evidence. 

• Comey accepted FBI destruction of Mills’ laptop, denying Congress the chance to look for destroyed evidence and making the FBI a party to the crime. 

• The witnesses Comey immunized suffered “chronic lapses in memory, made unsubstantiated claims of attorney-client privilege upon tougher questioning and at least two gave demonstrably false statements.” 

• Comey allowed Clinton a “voluntary” witness interview on a major holiday, and let ex-chief of staff Mills sit in on the interview, even though she, too, was supposedly under investigation. 

• Clinton’s interview lasted just 3½ hours, and despite 40 bouts of amnesia, she wasn’t called back. Three days later, Comey cleared her of criminal wrongdoing. 

Said retired FBI agent Dennis V. Hughes, the first chief of the FBI’s computer investigations unit,“The FBI has politicized itself, and its reputation will suffer for a long time. I hold Director Comey responsible.”

Retired FBI agent Michael M. Biasello, calling “cowardly” Comey’s decision not to seek charges against Clinton, commented:

Comey has singlehandedly ruined the reputation of the organization. The accommodations afforded Clinton and her aides are unprecedented, which is another way of saying this outcome was by design. Had myself or my colleagues engaged in behavior of the magnitude of Hillary Clinton, as described by Comey, we would be serving time in Leavenworth.

The latest reporting adds to evidence we provided earlier that Comey in effect abetted Clinton’s obstruction of justice. Will Clinton II really end up as Nixon II?