Unmaking of the President 2016

How FBI Director James Comey Cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency

By: Lanny J. Davis

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

The first comprehensive account that proves that James Comey threw the 2016 election to Donald Trump. “Compelling criticism…lapsed Trump supporters might well open their minds to this attorney’s scholarly, entirely convincing proof of the damage done” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

During the week of October 24, 2016, Hillary Clinton was decisively ahead of Donald Trump in most polls. Then FBI Director James Comey sent his infamous letter to Congress on October 28, saying the bureau was investigating additional emails, potentially relevant to the Hillary Clinton email case. In The Unmaking of the President 2016, attorney Lanny J. Davis shows how Comey’s misguided announcement—just eleven days before the election—swung a significant number of voters away from Clinton, winning Trump an Electoral College victory—and the presidency.

Drawing on sources in the intelligence community and Justice Department, Davis challenges Comey's legal rationale for opening a criminal investigation of Clinton's email practices, questions whether Comey received sufficient Justice Department oversight, and cites the odd clairvoyance of Trump ally Rudolph Giuliani, who publicly predicted an "October surprise." Davis proves state by state, using authoritative polling data, how voter support for Clinton dropped after the Comey letter was made public, especially in key battleground states.

Despite so many other issues in the election—Trump’s behavior, the Russian hacking, Clinton's campaign missteps—after the October 28 Comey letter, everything changed. Now Davis proves with raw, indisputable data how Comey’s October letter cost Hillary Clinton the presidency and America turned the course of history in the blink of an eye.

Far from exceptional

I finished the book, which indicates that I thought it was worth my time, however I was still underwhelmed. The text and the reading was often too dramatic and lacked a serious sharing of simple facts. I think the hypothesis would have been more convincing with carefully articulated data and less hand-wringing drama. I read the book because I was inclined to believe that our FBI Director did help make a mess of the election, but I respond more positively to centered, well written and much less emotional prose. Was it worth reading? Yes. Was it a great book? No.

Good read for political junkie

A cathartic book that can bring closure, but also an infuriating in that it can move you to mobilize! Lanny Davis dives deeply into the 2016 presidential campaign.

A must read for those who are curious about the FBI's role in the 2016 election.

More of the Same

Just another poor pitiful Hillary book trying to convince readers on why she really lost the 2016 election. This time however I felt like I should have been sitting in a classroom looking at a board with all the statistics that Davis threw at us. The only thing Hillary will go down in History for is how she could not get over the fact the American people just didn’t like or trust her enough to make her President.