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Donald Trump to James Comey: You’re Fired!
President Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey.
WH statement on Comey firing: pic.twitter.com/W1MffToCvj
— Pamela Engel (@PamEngel12) May 9, 2017
Here is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein writing in a memo that Comey’s July 5, 2016, news conference was a fireable offense:
Newly confirmed DAG Rod Rosenstein lays out the case for firing Comey in memo sent out by the White House https://t.co/K8Zoe0xzVP pic.twitter.com/0MdMjqMCi2
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) May 9, 2017
Read the whole thing, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s letter to Trump and Trump’s letter to Comey.
Published in General
I’m with Krauthammer on this one: the reasons given are just laughably implausible given the timing. This should have been handled during the transition.
He’s just another victim of the Clintons.
Deputy AG Rosenstein, Comey’s direct supervisor, took office 13 days ago. Apparently, that’s how long it takes to make absolutely sure that it’s not okay to do what Comey did.
Just as long as you’re dressed age-appropriate…..
Why did he wait until now? He was waiting for a upper-echelon Democrat to finally admit that they have absolutely nothing on the “Russian Interference” hoax. Dianne Feinstein admitted last week that they have no proof, no evidence, nada. Until the Democrats admitted it, Trump would have appeared to be firing Comey to prevent prosecution of the “Russian Interference” hoax. So that’s why he waited.
Why did he do it? The Deputy Attorney General’s total destruction of Comey, which I believe someone posted here, leaves no doubt that Comey made unforgivable, perhaps unfixable, mistakes during his tenure. Then Comey doubled down by refusing to admit those mistakes. It would be insanity to leave someone that messed up in charge of the FBI.
EDIT: Joel B. Pollak on Breitbart had a similar opinion, but with a different person, that I did not know about: “But why fire Comey now? The answer is simple. The day before, President Barack Obama’s former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper repeated, under oath, what he told NBC News’ Chuck Todd on Meet the Press on March 5 — that he had seen no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. That gave the Trump administration the breathing room to dismiss Comey — which it simply did not have before.”
I feel bad for the guy. But he could write a tell all and make a fortune. Let’s backtrack to the real menaces here – Hillary scrubbing countless emails and server stuffed in a hall closet, Huma transferring 16000 emails to the Pervert of the Year, Anthony Weiner to print out classified info, never mind that neither he nor she had top security clearance. If Hillary Clinton had been an honest person, and took her job as Secretary of State seriously, and followed basic common sense protocol, Comey would still have a job. The sham continues and the Clinton curse continues.
Comey said three times that Trump isn’t under investigation.
I know narcissists well. Comey protecting who spied on Trump, instead of telling him, is what this is about IMO.
Never rub another man’s rhubarb.
Breaking all the rules and becoming the story may be the best way to win the presidency, but it is not the best way to keep your job as FBI Director. Can anyone name the greatest accomplishment of any FBI Director other than Hoover?
Yeah, I noticed that too. It took a long time to get the new people in place, but they acted quickly once in office.
Keep on as you’ve begun, please.
Eds,
The Comey magical mystery comes to an end. HALLELUYAH!
Regards,
Jim
@jamielockett Mr. Lockett is correct. The Trump transition team made a big mistake by not cleaning the Aegean Stable on Day One. There was more than enough reason to clean out the DOJ and removing Mr. Comey as soon as possible. Fast and Furious, the IRS scandal, just to name two scandals. That doesn’t count Hillary and the uranium deal as well as the lie about the Consulate in Benghazi.
There are two ways to lie. One can lie by commission or by omission. I’m not saying Mr. Comey was a liar, but he found himself surrounded by people that are experts at lying. He was an attorney that had no street experience as a law enforcement officer. People I interviewed whether victim or perpetrator in many cases told me what they thought I wanted to hear, rather than telling me the truth.
If anyone thinks that what has happened in the past few months has brought us any closer to the truth in Russian meddling, or leakers within our own national security agencies are naïve. If anyone thinks that investigations by the Senate or Congress are designed to find the truth are kidding themselves. Their job is obfuscate the truth, regardless of which political party they represent. Cynical, yes. I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night.
Any source on Rosenstein as “Comey’s direct supervisor”? I think Comey reports directly to the AG (i.e., Sessions).
I heard that on Fox News, and it appears to me that DAG is between FBI and AG. I can see how you could get confused about the reporting line. Comey seemed to be answering only to himself in his one man Hamlet show.
At least the new director will need senate approval. After all, the senate is such a stellar example of integrity and good judgement nowadays…
And seriously, Fred Cole, how is Trump under investigation again, and how is it different from any other president who are all watched by the FBI I assume not to mention the other agencies and congress that should also be watching the president. Of all the problems that the USA could have, this is one of the least dangerous and impactful.
Does this mean that the AG cannot directly fire the director of the FBI? Why couldn’t the AG make the recommendation especially if it is the president who actually has the authority to fire the director?
Fair point, but I don’t think the implication that only the DAG can fire Comey is incorrect. Sessions certainly could have done this sooner if it was necessary.
And yet that’s exactly what the Dems are accusing Trump of doing, notwithstanding those Dems who have said, We have no proof. But let’s not hold our collective breath waiting for those headlines in the MSM or Twitter, etc.
Yes, this is Watergate redux. Exactly like Watergate. Except not.
What a lying pack of hyenas. These Dems are so transparently hypocritical that it gives me whiplash to try to follow the current talking points.
It took about five seconds for the first “This is an outrage!” post on Facebook from my Democrat associates.
Considering Comey’s role in “Plamegate”, the “Russian Hacking” equivalent of the GWB years, it’s crazy that any Republican president would think of letting him serve in their administration.
James Comey, July 5th, 2016:
“To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.”
Interpretation: All you little folks out there better remember that the laws apply to you and not the powerful. And don’t forget I’m the FBI and I’ve got enough mojo to burn you to the ground 9 ways from Sunday if you forget that.
Good riddence.
What??? But… but the Democrats blamed Comey for Hillary losing the election! Even Hillary herself blamed Comey! What the…
These people are mentally unbalanced. There is no amount of twisted logic that can explain this, other than insanity.
All three turned their keys, but the letters from AG Sessions and President Trump at least read like they deferred to the office directly below them, and the DAG letter was the most detailed. So did Trump cook this up and get everyone in line? Definitely maybe. Does that matter? I’m not sure.
Sun Tzu: If your enemy is of ill temper, irritate him.
It is interesting to see the whipsawing going on here among Democrats who were apoplectic 24 hours ago when it came out that Comey had massively overstated the number of emails Huma had forwarded to Weiner’s computer. The spin then was pretty much Comey was walking hand-in-hand with Trump to once again smear Hillary and deny his actions cost her the election; one day later, he’s Archibald Cox, and they’re hoping he’ll be John Dean and Alexander Butterfield as well in the upcoming days.
Seems like you can’t have it both ways, but for the moment the Democrats are willing to forgive and forget all that Hillary server stuff if Comey will dish some good dirt on Trump and Putin. We’ll see what happens next.
I’m back, and you all ignored me and were interesting. Anyway I’m with @rushbabe and would love to see that little gremlin Koskinen thrown out.