By Gqlshare

Copyright presstelegram

The truth hurts, eventually.

On Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey was indicted on two counts related to lying. A grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, found that Comey violated 18 U.S.C. Section 1001(a)(2) when he “did willfully and knowingly make a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement” by telling a U.S. senator during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that he had not “authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports.”

The grand jury noted that Comey knew he had “authorized a person to serve as an anonymous source in news reports regarding an FBI investigation concerning PERSON 1.”

The second count is “obstruction of a Congressional proceeding,” a violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1505. The grand jury said Comey “did corruptly endeavor to influence, obstruct and impede the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which an investigation was being had before the Senate Judiciary Committee by making false and misleading statements.”

Comey posted a video declaring his innocence and saying he looks forward to the trial.

That’s probably not true, either.

In August 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General released a report into “Director James Comey’s Disclosure of Sensitive Investigative Information and Handling of Certain Memoranda.” On page 2, the IG reveals that a copy of the investigation’s factual findings were shared with the Justice Department “for a prosecutorial decision regarding Comey’s conduct.”

The Justice Department “declined prosecution.”

So the inspector general wrote a report “to consider whether Comey’s actions violated Department or FBI policy, or the terms of Comey’s FBI Employment Agreement.” The conclusion? “We conclude that Comey’s retention, handling and dissemination of certain memos violated Department and FBI policy.”

If Comey could have made it past Tuesday, it would have been too late to charge him for a false statement to the Senate in his testimony on Sept. 30, 2020. The statute of limitations is five years.

Hunter Biden escaped the most serious tax crime charges when the Department of Justice allowed the statute of limitations to run out. Comey was not so fortunate. President Donald Trump demanded the replacement of a U.S. attorney who was not bringing charges with one who would, with just days to go before the clock ran out.

Comey has been caught at leaking and lying about it, both with the intention of destroying the Trump presidency if not the man himself. Countless others were ruined professionally and financially in the process. There should be some accountability for that. It won’t be enough, but it’s better than nothing.

Another massive scandal without accountability was exposed and acknowledged this week in the House Judiciary Committee. Google, owner of YouTube, admitted that the Biden administration pressured the company to censor Americans and take down content that did not violate YouTube’s policies.

Google stated that the censorship pressure from the Biden administration was “unacceptable and wrong.” The company promise to allow canceled YouTube creators who were deplatformed for their views on topics including COVID-19 and elections to come back to the platform. And it said it will never use third-party fact-checkers.

Google’s acknowledgment of the truth of what has been happening to conservatives and dissidents online, for years, was not offered up voluntarily. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan conducted a years-long investigation and forced the company to comply with a subpoena.

So now that we’re officially past the stage of denying it happened, what should happen to the government officials who demanded and enabled mass censorship of comments and viewpoints on issues of immense public interest and importance?

Probably nothing will happen. It’s still worth the effort to expose them all. None of them should ever hold a public office, a government job or a position in law enforcement ever again.

If you’re having trouble believing or understanding what this has been like for conservatives, imagine that all the people who complained about Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension were themselves suspended, losing their livelihoods, their connections and their voice. For years.

Obviously that should never happen. But it did happen. Just not to Jimmy Kimmel’s supporters.

Now there’s an outbreak of popcorn on the right as the truth comes out and the indictments come down.

The government shouldn’t be pressuring or censoring either end of the political spectrum. The First Amendment flatly states that the government is prohibited from “abridging the freedom of speech.” And yet, the government has found ways to do it.

Censorship of dissenting views on COVID policies was based on the assertion that public health was endangered by questioning authority. Censorship of election discussions was said to be necessary to prevent Russian meddling and disinformation.

Anti-trust laws can be used by the government to try to control the media. Mergers and acquisitions can be held up for years while government lawyers apply subjective scrutiny to companies that may be on the cusp of too much “market concentration.” The Communications Act of 1934 still controls the airwaves, but Elon Musk and others have raised the possibility that federally licensed broadcast spectrum could be auctioned, potentially revoking broadcast licenses from current TV stations.

Maybe we’d be better off if the government got entirely out of the business of telling media companies what they can do or must do and simply let competition run wild. The government is not a friend of the truth.

And if the truth will set you free, what’s the opposite?

Write Susan@SusanShelly.com and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley