James Comey, Director of the FBI and dedicated public servant, should resign as FBI Director on his own accord rather than waiting for any Hatch Act determination.  His position in relation to Hillary Clinton if she were elected President, still very likely, is too compromised and he should avoid forcing a political crisis by having her ask for his resignation when she takes office.  As he is only partially through a guaranteed 10-year term, it is unlikely that he could simply be fired by the Attorney General or President.

Comey has consistently exercised bad judgment with regard to the FBI's investigation into the use by Hillary Clinton of a private email server while Secretary of State.  His decision to publicly discuss the investigation and his recommendation to Attorney General Loretta Lynch in July provided an opening for Congressional Republicans to seek his testimony on the investigation and to demand the disclosure of the report of the FBI's interview with Secretary Clinton.  These actions undermined the restrictions we place on law enforcement to exercise their power with great care.  We do not want the FBI to be free to investigate to opine on American's conduct; we should expect them to investigate only to the extent necessary and to keep information found during that investigation private.

In the end, the bad judgment exhibited in July and September was exacerbated by Comey's "October Surprise," his vague October 28, 2016 letter referencing unsearched emails that he could not know the relevance of and therefore had no business writing to anyone about.  In this case, his actions violated clear guidance from his superiors applicable to him (a 2012 memo from them-AG Eric Holder and a 2016 Hatch Act guidance from current Deputy-AG Sally Yates) and disregarded specific advice from his current boss (AG Loretta Lynch advised him not to send the letter last week).

Worse, Comey is reported to have demurred on signing on to a determination issued by the Director of National Intelligence and Secretary of Homeland Security finding that Russia is responsible for hacking the DNC, DCCC, and trying to influence our election.  Even though that determination did not point the finger at Donald Trump or any of his advisors, Comey apparently expressed that it was too close to the election to issue that finding.

This represents the strong appearance of differential treatment between two Presidential candidates and campaigns in the discharge of Comey's official duties.  The Hatch Act is a federal statute that prohibits this type of action by government employees and Comey may very well have run afoul of that law meaning his job could even be forfeit.  But at this point, having lower-level government officials investigate the FBI Director, an investigation that will likely take months, is too distracting.

This matters because the FBI Director and his Bureau wield enormous power of individual Americans.  It is critically important that the Director of the Bureau set the standard for integrity and circumspection.  James Comey has been an outstanding public servant serving Republican and now Democratic Administrations.  But he has exercised poor judgment in these investigations, inserted law enforcement into the Presidential election, and compromised the Bureau's reputation.  Having others try and remove him could provoke a governmental crisis.  James Comey should remove himself from the conversation by resigning as Director of the FBI.