Merged Trump Fires Comey....

[Puppycow]

Trump's letter was too thinly disguised to be credible. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

And in this case the technically correct interpretation of that quote applies:

He couldn't even leave out the, "While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation." It's obvious he is being investigated. There have, just in the last few days, been calls from the Senate to investigate Trump's financial connections to Russia.

Blaming it on Clinton issues and thinking the Democrats would cheer is the epitome of stupidity.

Thinking about this, regardless of whether the firing was justified or not, Trump has created a new problem for himself: A new FBI Director will have to be confirmed by the Senate, and while Republicans can probably push someone through like they did with DeVos, it's not totally clear that it will be that easy this time. Democrats may demand a special prosecutor as the price for confirming his pick. I think they can only afford to lose no more than 2 Republican senators. DeVos just barely squeaked through.

Would somebody who looks like a Trump toady (Christie or Giuliani) be able to make it through?

The senate can really only do one thing at a time, so by firing Comey he is spending "political capital" because while the senate is debating whether to confirm the new pick, they aren't working on other things, like the tax reform/cut or Obamacare replacement. He cost himself some days at least, possibly weeks of delay for other things on his agenda.

If it's a self-inflicted wound to passing his own agenda (which I oppose) I'll take it. If his goal was to quash the Russia investigation or get it off the front pages, that too will fail.

One other possibility I considered is that the Rosenstein memo was sincere, even if Trump himself was not and merely used it as a convenient pretext (until this point he was seen as an honest broker, confirmed with 94 votes in the Senate iirc).

 

[trustbutverify]

Trump is such an ingrate. The Russians help him win the election and he bombs their buddy Assad. Comey helps him win and he fires him.

...a hot, foreign lady agrees to marry him and he beats the living **** out of her.

 

[Skeptical Greg]

Investigating Trump's team is a baby step removed from investigating Trump. This distinction means little to nothing.

And yes, a POTUS can legally fire an FBI director. But not if the purpose is to obstruct justice.

What kind of hands-on role do you think any FBI director has in any investigation?

 

[TraneWreck]

What kind of hands-on role do you think any FBI director has in any investigation?

Sounds like he was pretty involved. From the WSJ:

In the weeks before President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, a federal investigation into potential collusion between Trump associates and the Russian government was heating up, as Mr. Comey became increasingly occupied with the probe.

Mr. Comey started receiving daily instead of weekly updates on the investigation, beginning at least three weeks ago, according to people with knowledge of the matter and the progress of the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe. Mr. Comey was concerned by information showing potential evidence of collusion, according to these people.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/james-...on-before-being-fired-u-s-official-1494433061

 

[Puppycow]

Who are you and what did you do with Puppycow?

I was thinking something similar.

It's still me, I've just been spending less time following every single bit of political news lately in an attempt to stay sane. More time in escapism. There's lots of great TV on Netflix these days. Or books. Or anything else to stay sane. Of course, I still do follow political news, I just try to do so in moderation.

 

[trustbutverify]

Sheriff David Clarke:

In a podcast on a Glenn Beck's conservative TheBlaze Radio Network
in October 2015, Clarke criticized African Americans, stating: "Let me tell you why blacks sell drugs and involve themselves in criminal behavior instead of a more socially acceptable lifestyle—because they're uneducated, they're lazy, and they're morally bankrupt. That's why."[30][31] The remark received substantial attention in the press and on social media.

 

[varwoche]

What kind of hands-on role do you think any FBI director has in any investigation?

I haven't posted anything to prompt this question. If you have a point to make, be my guest.

 

[Tony Stark]

From the WaPo article I posted above (I think they just added it):

Rosenstein threatened to resign after the narrative emerging from the White House on Tuesday evening cast him as a prime mover of the decision to fire Comey and that the president acted only on his recommendation, said the person close to the White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

 

[varwoche]

According to CNN according to WaPo, Rosenstein threatened to resign yesterday when Trump pinned the responsibility on him.

Trump's mind-boggling disrespect for American democracy is matched only by his spectacular level of incompetence.

add: ninja'ed by Tony

 

[acbytesla]

What kind of hands-on role do you think any FBI director has in any investigation?

None. But who do you think aporoves or diapproves the amount of resources dedicated to any investigation?

 

[Civet]

I don't know much about him.
But if he has the capacity to trash the FBI, he'll be Trump's choice.

David Clarke in charge of the FBI is the sort of phenomenon that could trash lots of things.

 

[tyr_13]

Did anyone else notice that the Rosenstein memo was dated May 9th? His findings couldn't have been the main motivation anyway. Sounds like he's being used, probably was told to make a memo outlying the reasons one might hypothetically be justified in firing Comey and did so in good faith, but it was just a pretext.

 

[shuize]

That's kind of a shallow way of looking at it, actually.

Suppose a person has a job and is terrible at it. However, he's the boss' lapdog and doesn't do any harm. He deserves to be fired, but he keeps his job for years. One day, he takes some sort of independent stance, and the boss doesn't like it, and the boss fires him, citing incompetence.

Was he an "at will" employee?

Was the employee incompetent?

Was everyone in the office crying for him to be fired for his incompetence right up until the day he was finally fired?

Better yet, did the same employees sing his praises when they thought he was their lapdog only to later learn he might not always do what they wanted?

Sounds like a lot of hypocrisy from the fellow employees to me.

 

[tyr_13]

Was he an "at will" employee?

Was the employee incompetent?

Was everyone in the office crying for him to be fired for his incompetence right up until the day he was finally fired?

Better yet, did the same employees sing his praises when they thought he was their lapdog only to later learn he might not always do what they wanted?

Sounds like a lot of hypocrisy from the fellow employees to me.

How about from the boss, who praised the actions he's claiming justified the termination?

The narrative that this administration is advancing is unbelievable, and no amount of bashing the media will change that.

 

[Puppycow]

From the WaPo article I posted above (I think they just added it):

According to CNN according to WaPo, Rosenstein threatened to resign yesterday when Trump pinned the responsibility on him.

Trump's mind-boggling disrespect for American democracy is matched only by his spectacular level of incompetence.

add: ninja'ed by Tony

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I do (tend to) think that Rosenstein's memo was sincere, and Trump may have simply seen it as a convenient pretext. I really don't know what Trump was thinking except that it may have been a rash, impulsive move. And instead of letting Comey exit a little more gracefully, he was simply unceremoniously fired and found out about it on TV.

I know at some point he will have something to say. He is now on the outside of the tent*, his reputation besmirched. A White House spokeswoman called his actions "atrocities" and likened them to "throwing a stick of dynamite" into the Justice Department. He may want to say something in response.



*

“It's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”
―Lyndon B. Johnson

 

[BobTheCoward]

From the WaPo article I posted above (I think they just added it):

His letter is nothing short of scathing. Why wouldn't it be the grounds for firing?

He literally talks about how serious it is to fire the director right before he says the director can't fix himself. Rosenstein has nothing to complain about.

 

[Tony Stark]

Did anyone else notice that the Rosenstein memo was dated May 9th? His findings couldn't have been the main motivation anyway. Sounds like he's being used, probably was told to make a memo outlying the reasons one might hypothetically be justified in firing Comey and did so in good faith, but it was just a pretext.

According to the WaPo:

The president already had decided to fire Comey, according to this person. But in the meeting, several White House officials said Trump gave Sessions and Rosenstein a directive: to explain in writing the case against Comey.

The pair quickly fulfilled the boss’s orders, and the next day Trump fired Comey — a breathtaking move that thrust a White House already accustomed to chaos into a new level of tumult, one that has legal as well as political consequences.

 

[Tony Stark]

His letter is nothing short of scathing. Why wouldn't it be the grounds for firing?

I think Comey absolutely deserved to be fired. Obama should have done it himself before he left office. But the reasons cited in the memo have absolutely nothing to do with it. Trump decided to fire him for other reasons (because he didn't back up Trump's claim about Obama wiretapping him, because he was more focused on the Russia investigation that hunting leakers, ect) and then had Rosenstein come up with a case for it.

 

[BobTheCoward]

I think Comey absolutely deserved to be fired. Obama should have done it himself before he left office. But the reasons cited in the memo have absolutely nothing to do with it. Trump decided to fire him for other reasons (because he didn't back up Trump's claim about Obama wiretapping him, because he was more focused on the Russia investigation that hunting leakers, ect) and then had Rosenstein come up with a case for it.

And rosenstein signed his name to it. What is his problem?

 

[tyr_13]

I do believe that the reasons outlined in the memo are strong reasons to fire Comey. I do not at all believe that Trump believed them though. There is no valid reason to give Trump the benefit of the doubt on that. Repeating that he has the right to do it is not evidence he was right to do it, or that he did it for the right (reasons).