Bombshell: Comey Was a Communist! [RETRACTED]

First, the title, “Bombshell: Comey Was a Communist!,” makes a statement that takes seriously a statement made by Comey that was apparently not intended to be taken seriously. The context of the original interview makes it pretty clear that Comey was joking, or at least was perceived by the writer of the article in New York Magazine to have been joking, by labeling himself a Communist because he voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Second, we did not reach out for comment from Comey as our Editorial Standards require.

Third, the article included the statement, “Based on his admission, it’s very possible that Comey voted for the very same Soviet-backed Communist candidate.” In reality, Comey, who was born in 1960, would not have been old enough to vote at all in 1976, so his voting for a Communist in that election would not have been “very possible.”

While the article was accurate apart from that sentence, that sentence and the claim made in the headline combined to create a distinct impression of Comey’s past political life that is unsupportable by the facts, and thus The Western Journal has retracted the article.