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"President Trump has fired the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, over his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, the White House said on Tuesday."
“While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau,” Mr. Trump said in a letter dated Tuesday to Mr. Comey.
ADDED:
From WaPo:
Shortly before the announcement, the FBI notified Congress by letter that Comey had misstated key findings involving the Hillary Clinton email investigation during testimony last week, but nothing about that issue seemed to suggest it might imperil Comey’s job....
In defending the probe at last week’s hearing, Comey offered seemingly new details to underscore the seriousness of the situation FBI agents faced last fall when they discovered thousands of Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s emails on the computer of her husband, Anthony Weiner.
“Somehow, her emails were being forwarded to Anthony Weiner, including classified information,” Comey said, adding later, “His then-spouse Huma Abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding emails to him for him I think to print out for her so she could then deliver them to the secretary of state.”... At another point in the testimony, Comey said Abedin “forwarded hundreds and thousands of emails, some of which contain classified information.’’
Neither of those statements is accurate, said people close to the investigation.
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453 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 453 of 453The left believes that Comey sabotaged Hillary and that he recently testified falsely that "hundreds of thousands" of emails were tranferred to Anthony Wiener's computer.
The right believes that Comey enabled Hillary by not finishing the investigation before Hillary was the Dem candidate and by saying that she did not commit a crime.
All previous deputy AG's think Comey broke the rules on the relationship between the FBI, the investigators and the DOJ, the prosecutors.
And so firing Comey is a no-brainer - a move supported by both parties.
But no.
As "Matthew Sablan said...
The left has always been at war with firing Comey."
Myself, I think it's great. Comey seemed to be darting about trying to propitiate warring powers. It wouldn't be fun to be in between Bill Clinton and Donald Trump - kingdoms in conflict - with Obama-Lynch biting your ankles. But the FBI has to work with what is and achieve a good investigation despite politics. Comey just could not do it and everyone could see that he couldn't. Perhaps it can't be done anymore. The amounts of money being given to Obama are staggering, suggesting massive corruption which needs investigation but which will also impede that investigation. But I haven't given up on America yet and so firing Comey seems right to me. A good swamp-draining thing to do. Another good effect of The Glorious Ninth of November.
PS
Is the earth in an elliptical orbit around two foci, one of which is the sun? or is it in a circular orbit around the center of mass of the solar system? I thought the orbit was an ellipse.
Who ever killed corrupt Hillary's chances at ruling over us - they will pay!
@ARM Then their headline is inaccurate. Redstate even quotes the CNN article that says: "CNN learned of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey." Their headline writers need some work.
Democrats denounced Comey for his interference with the coronation of Corrupt Hillary, and now?
Flynns ties to Russia!
Anyone in the media want to dig into Hillary's ties with Russia?
Certainly there's a judge within hearing distance of the 9th Circuit ready and willing to block the Comey firing.
But it takes time to craft this particular type of judicial legislation. Therefore I urge patience, say, 48 hours.
Original Mike said...Aren't subpoenas issued by the DOJ, not the FBI?
"Federal prosecutor" and "Federal Bureau of Investigation" sound alike to the average Maddow fan. Quit spoiling the narrative.
Yes, let's bet on Amash and Sasse, both #NeverTrumpers.
Rene Saunce said...Anyone in the media want to dig into Hillary's ties with Russia?
Are you kidding? After Kamela Harris flops, they are going to prop up HRC for an unprecedented third times a charm run in 2020.
So a "Trump" DOJ subpoenas Trump but an Obama DOJ protects Hillary.
BTW, according to AdWeek, Maddow is now the cable-ratings king. Yes, you heard me right; king.
"Preet Bharara said..."
Preet Bharara ?
HAHAHAHAHAHA
The next lefty Mayor of NYC when deBlasio is governor,
Fox's resident dead-head Bret Baier, although excruciatingly slow on the uptake, has been designated to save FoxNews. Even now, at 11pm Eastern. So go ahead, tune in, watch him struggle to put together a relative sentence.
I note that the resident left posters here who insist that this is an unprecedented thing, firing someone who is investigating your administration, continue to ignore Obama's firing of multiple IGs.
Which shows you how serious they are about the ethics part of this.
Finally!
Why on earth would you keep the last administration's FBI director, or any other head of agency?
Especially this last administration.
"A split infinitive ! Grounds for Impeachment !"
The rule against the "split infinitive" is a bogus rule that falls along the lines of the phony Oxford comma.
It's now been several hours since Comey's firing. I'm waiting for disgruntled Comey loyalist to leak the ultimate smoking gun evidence proving that Trump was in cahoots with Poots. I'll stay up a couple more hours (PST) in case anything blows. My guess is that the leak will come through the Sen. Harris office, given her designs on the WH.
I thought Comey did a good job straddling a fine line, particularly after AGLoretta Lynch's dishonest corrupt meeting with Bill Clinton on the Tarmac (which the Lefties here ignore).
But he made enemies of the Left, and made a few unforced errors in his testimony. Did he deserve the boot? I tend to think Not. But The hyperventilating Lefties like it though because in their view it adds fuel to the story.
Bay Area Guy: "Did he deserve the boot? I tend to think Not"
Au contraire my city by the bay bro (I spent a significant chunk of time in Vallejo).
Comey's "performance" in ignoring the unmasking activities, the IRS non-investigation, amongst others demanded this action.
Rosenstein had to be in place first.
Hopefully does not affect investigation of Bernie's wife.
Why are all the lefties upset that a career justice dept professional and Obama appointee fired Comey?
Strange.
Trump first statement a tweet about cryin Chuck Schumer? Yeah, idiosyncratic alright.
It's cool to think that this sorta post, and some additional jabber in the comments re the press release's grammar, is what will keep Althouse's traffic up.
Carry on.
And, while you traffickers are trafficking what is being trafficked here, please do give Althouse money.
And, look at a picture of WI, while giving money.
Have a terrific day, traffic!
The main reason he got fired is everybody knows who the FBI director is.
let's get going on the special prosecutor. I suspect it isn't going to be Trump that has the Russian problem. Hill&Bill better lawyer up. Barry as well.
AReasonableMan said...
Charles Krauthammer said...
“Do we really believe that Donald Trump, after all these months, decided suddenly he had to fire this guy because he damaged Hillary back in July? Another implausible conjecture.”
************
yeah, sure. Trump had to drag his balls over miles of broken glass to get Sessions approved, and then a coupla months more to get even lower level DOJ people approved.
And yet, assholes like Schumer, and YOU, bleat, "well why didn't Trump fire Comey the day he was inaugurated??
Snort!
I'm a long time lurker, but never commenter. But, I must say that Althouse's brilliance and writing style should be studied by all attorneys, pulitzer prize folks, and noble nobel dudes/gals.
Thanks for your insight and wisdom.
BTW, I'm looking forward to the (finally) major update to the G wagen--when available, I'll grab a couple via your Amazon portal.
PS libtard trolls are destroying these threads, please ban them.
Thx.
Okay. It's their headline. And it's false. And you repeated it.
Will you acknowledge that, or just keep spewing more partisan hit jobs, oh reasonable man?
Trump-Russia conspiracies are the birtherism on the left.
Birtherism had more credibility. At least there was a blurb about his first book from his publisher to point to.
Man, I love the reaction from Democrats in the media tonight. Watching them hyper ventilate on TV is delicious.
The problem with Comey was, he kept injecting himself at the center and opining about investigations which is a BIG no no at the FBI. Further, he considered himself above the assistant attorney general who he reports to and above the AG as well, he had to go. Comey has in effect been a dead man walking since last summer when he held that press conference on the Hillary email matter, the only question has been when he would be let go.
Q: when he would be let go.
A: day after subpoenas re Flynn.
Trump draining the swamp like he promised! Only a few thousand more firings to go.
Praise Kek.
While I always thought the main driver for his actions last Summer in regards to the Clinton investigation was the obvious hamstringing of the investigators by the Obama DoJ, his conduct was still troubling if you can ignore your partisan dislike of Clinton herself (not easy to do). Last July, the proper conduct would have been to simply pass the investigation's final report to the DoJ and let them do, or not do their jobs properly. I think Comey knew that the DoJ was going to sit on the report until after the election- he knew this because his investigators got zero cooperation from the attorneys who would acquire the necessary subpoenas and convene the necessary grand juries (this is all known now). Faced with that, I think he took matters into his own hands and least got the facts out in front of the public to the extent the investigators knew of them. I can defend this as a matter of principle, but I can understand those who decried it. As for the October surprise, that is easier to defend since Comey had made a written promise to Congress to update them if anything changed.
In my opinion, the only mistake Trump made in firing Comey is that he didn't do it on January 20th. As for the nature of it today, I wouldn't just assume that Comey wasn't asked to resign beforehand. It certainly wouldn't be the first time someone tried to make a firing seem like it came as a complete blindside.
The funniest story I read about this was in Politico, where they said that the White House was taken by surprise by the ants' nets they stirred up - they apparently thought that since Comey is disliked by both Democrats and Republicans, they would all applaud his firing, and that this would be a win/win. I'm not making this up, either, that's apparently what they really thought. It's scary to think there's that level of incompetence in the White House - how could they misread this situation so completely?
Douglas,
They surely knew what the Democrats and the media would do- no one with an IQ over 50 could have miscalculated that- there isn't a Democrat anywhere who would not be perfectly willing to say Monday that Comey should be fired and not be asking for Trump's head for doing that Tuesday- not a one.
Sorry if I’m not up to speed on this.
Looks like President Trump got rid of another substandard employee. And it looks like it’s making all the usual suspects either slightly nauseous, totally crazy or prey to some other mental affliction that attacks the Left/NeverTrumpers/MSM/eGOP whenever Trump fires an employee.
Message to hold-overs from previous administrations:
Trump won. You’ll be fired if you are stupid, incompetent or insubordinate. You’ll not be allowed to carry over the fucked up policies implemented by Obama. You’ll not be allowed to dictate policy to your boss, the POTUS. You’ll not be allowed to manufacture your own little independent government within an agency under your boss’s authority. You’ll be expected to either follow orders or to resign. Failing that – you’ll be fired and replaced.
If I want to fire an important employee high up on the food chain I might wait until that employee is out of their office and in another town giving a speech. Everything in that employee’s desk, files and computer needs to be out of reach and secured BEFORE the employee knows he’s being dumped. We wouldn’t want any important government docs to disappear, now would we?
The funniest story I read about this was in Politico, where they said that the White House was taken by surprise by the ants' nets they stirred up … I'm not making this up …
Of course not. Politico is making it up, not you. You’re just falling for it. No biggie. Happens all the time.
Comey: You can’t fire me. I’m un-fire-able. Why? Because I’m conducting an investigation on you.
Trump: Correction. You WERE conducting an investigation on me. Other employees will do that now. BTW, don’t bother going by what used to be your office. Your building pass has been revoked and anyway there’s nothing left. We sent all your personal belongings to your residence. Everything else belongs to the government.
"Looks like President Trump got rid of another substandard employee. And it looks like it’s making all the usual suspects either slightly nauseous, totally crazy or prey to some other mental affliction that attacks the Left/NeverTrumpers/MSM/eGOP whenever Trump fires an employee."
A number of thoughts.
1. Sure, the firing looked inept. Trump people should have known where Comey was and done this with him first. But the reality is that this is how Trump fires people. Outside D.C., there aren't a lot of people feeling sorry for Comey. And the rubes out in Trump country know that this is how it is done from innumerable episodes of The Apprentice. This is the guy who may have been able to trademark "you're fired". Think Roman circuses where the audience is voting thumbs up, or thumbs down.
2. I expect that the supposed lying before Congress and screwing up with the investigations of Crooked Hillary last summer are the justification for the firing, but not the real reason for it. It was cleverly done by essentially coopting the Dems case.
3. I suspect that part of the delay was getting someone loyal to Trump established kin the DoJ who could do the dirty work, which meant getting the Deputy AG confirmed first, with AG Sessions already partially recused. Besides, neither Trump nor Sessions wanted their fingerprints on the knife itself. Everyone knows that this was Trump's move, but he has somewhat plausible deniability. He can say that he merely went along with the well reasoned decision of his underlings. That is what good bosses do.
4. Most Republicans in Congress are likely privately on board with the firings. Comey has been on the GOP base's shit list since he sold out with the Crooked Hillary non-investigations. Instead of backing AG Lynch in the email scandal, we all expected him to fall in his sword, recommend prosecution, then resign after Obama/Lynch overruled him. Instead we got the spectacle of him laying out a good case for her prosecution, then stating that they couldn't because he mischaracterized the required mens rea (he showed gross negligence, which is the legal requirement, but begged off because he couldn't find actual intent, despite having plenty of evidence, through her many years of dealing with classified information to prove at least general, and probably specific, intent). And most recently, the FBI has been stonewalling Congressional investigations into the leaks and FISA targeting. A new head at the CIA has shown how a loyal subordinate in charge can get things moving, with the CIA being much more forthcoming than the FBI.
5. I suspect that the real reason though for the firing is that Trump essentially told Comey to prioritize the leak investigations over the bogus Russian hacking and influence investigation. The FBI didn't. Sure, the Dems want the FBI mired down running in circles, wasting resources trying to prove that Trump and Flynn conspired with the Russians to steal the election. But that is what they do, and all they have. There was actual leaking of classified information, most likely by Dem operatives and sympathizers, aimed at damaging Trump and his legitimacy. And Comey and the FBI work for Trump now, not Head Clown Schumer and the Dems. If the FBI wanted to investigate the Russian stuff in their spare time, then fine, but their orders were to look at the leaks and targeting as their day job. Comey and the FBI were insubordinate, and, thus he needed to go, in order to bring the agency into line. They needed to know that when the President said jump, their response is "how high?" and not that Schumer, WaPo, Bezos, NYT, and Carlos Slim said that they didn't have to.
6. Finally - no independent prosecutor. No reason to. No evidence of wrongdoing after maybe a year of trying to find some. Entirely a scandal fabricated by the Dems and their operatives (including the MSM) to discredit Trump and his Administration. Trump is enough of a control freak that he wouldn't put up with an independent prosecutor unless he had no choice. And this early, he still has his base, and his Twitter account to rile them up, so no need, despite Inga's fevered wet dreams to the contrary.
I'm not making this up, either, that's apparently what they really thought. It's scary to think there's that level of incompetence in the White House - how could they misread this situation so completely?
It's a shame that the Democrats never gave us a competent choice. Hillary thought that her destruction of evidence and carelessness with classified information would blow over too. Besides, I have zero confidence that Politico, which hates Trump with a passion, has any idea of what is going on in the minds of the administration. Probably a leak from one of the embedded Democrat Party operatives still in the FBI.
Comey was dealt a bad hand no doubt when clinton met lynch on that tarmac but still, after reading sessions deputy AG memo and the long list of past DOJ officials comments, both left & right, Comey had turned the FBI into a reality TV show. Trump had no choice in my view after that memo hit his desk, Comey had to go.
5 Reasons Trump’s Firing Of Comey Was A Terrible Idea
'US at a dark and dangerous moment in history': Democrats and pundits say Trump's firing of FBI chief Comey ignites 'constitutional crisis' not seen since the days of Richard Nixon
"Democrats and pundits"
Kind of redundant, in light of Wikileaks, don't you think?
Blogger Bruce Hayden said...
6. Finally - no independent prosecutor. No reason to. No evidence of wrongdoing after maybe a year of trying to find some. Entirely a scandal fabricated by the Dems and their operatives (including the MSM) to discredit Trump and his Administration. Trump is enough of a control freak that he wouldn't put up with an independent prosecutor unless he had no choice. And this early, he still has his base, and his Twitter account to rile them up, so no need, despite Inga's fevered wet dreams to the contrary.
You're an attorney?? Laughable. What an absolutely stupid and uniformed conclusion.
Comey ignites 'constitutional crisis' not seen since the days of Richard Nixon
Conveniently gliding over Bill Clinton's firing of then-director Jeff Sessions.
OK, I'll say it: the more Trump steps on his own d!ck the happier I am. Those of you who are projecting tactical or strategic brilliance onto this clown show are ... entitled to your own opinions. Time will tell ...
Inga: "You're an attorney?? Laughable. What an absolutely stupid and uniformed conclusion."
Uh oh. "Secret Info" Inga reappears!
She is fully up to speed on the mountains of secret evidence that will bring down Trump!
Lol
CORRECTION
Both 3rdGradeIdiot and ARM keep saying subpoenas were issued hours before the firing but the article they cite says subpoenas have been issued over a couple (few?) weeks.
Try reading the articles you are told to circulate by your handlers. That will help them avoid the sort of stupidity that you display above.
@Sam - not really projecting tactical brilliance, as much as pointing out that this is how Trump works. He moves very quickly, when he decides to move, and expects those around him to do the same. My theory is that Comey was given the benefit of the doubt, then, when seen dragging his feet, and showing divided loyalty, was cut loose. It just looks abrupt because a lot of people are not used to working at those speeds. But there are entire industries in this country that essentially operate like that. Where you need to innovate or die.
This is the good and bad of Trump taking on the Deep State, the federal govt. He is impatient, and they are slow, methodical, and have agendas of their own. He was elected to reform the govt., but will, no doubt, be stymied. Probably a lot. But maybe not that much worse than his having to hire unionized workers to build his buildings.
Mollie Hemingway has a rational piece on the firing.
@ Bruce Hayden
So you're saying Donald Trump moves, he slices like a fucking hammer?
https://michaelscomments.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/the-paul-anka-transcript/
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