Donald Trump to James Comey: You’re Fired!

 

President Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey.

Here is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein writing in a memo that Comey’s July 5, 2016, news conference was a fireable offense:

Read the whole thing, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s letter to Trump and Trump’s letter to Comey.

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  1. Justin Hertog Inactive
    Justin Hertog
    @RooseveltGuck

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    Justin Hertog (View Comment):
    The 44th President didn’t have a problem with Comey giving his opinion and recommendation and neither did his Attorney General. If the AG thought Clinton should have been prosecuted, she could have ignored Comey’s recommendation and prosecuted. But we now know that Clinton was never going to be prosecuted. And Comey must have known that all along. If he had privately recommended prosecution, been ignored, and then resigned, the whole thing might have been swept under the rug and Clinton might have cruised to victory last November. By speaking up and doing his best to inform us of what Clinton had done, Comey performed a patriotic act. While I can understand why this Justice Department and Democrats wanted him out, The American People owe Comey a debt of gratitude for preventing Clinton from winning the presidency.

    I saw it this way at the time too, up to a point. I would have preferred him to state all the laws she broke, then say she should be indicted, and then resign if (I mean when) Lynch declined to prosecute. When he said that no sane prosecutor would pursue it and then added that incomprehensible part about “intent,” he lost all credibilty and got both sides to hate him. It was just so weird.

    I was incredulous when Clinton was not indicted or at least given the option to accept a misdemeanor charge,  but it was never going to happen. As Andrew McCarthy explained in NR, Obama would have been implicated  for having sent emails to Clinton via her insecure server. Comey and Obama both said Clinton didn’t intend to harm national security. The AG’s opinion was…what? Under those circumstances it would have been very easy for the Executive Branch to have swept the whole thing under the rug. But Comey didn’t and I’m grateful.

    • #91
  2. Douglas Inactive
    Douglas
    @Douglas

    Percival (View Comment):

    Fred Cole (View Comment):
    This is great. Now the president who is under investigation by the FBI will be able to pick a new guy to be in charged the FBI.

    Hooray for accountability.

    Comey said three times that Trump isn’t under investigation.

    He could say it a hundred times, and it wouldn’t matter to some people. They’ve made it a religious tenet that Putin threw the election to his puppet Trump, and that the Kremlin is behind every rock, dangling puppet strings everywhere.

    • #92
  3. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    JcTPatriot (View Comment):

    Mike LaRoche (View Comment):

    JcTPatriot (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    Partial list of replacements:

    Trey Growdy

    Bill Bratton

    Chris Christie

    Rudy Guilliani

    David Clarke

    I think my favorite on this list is Trey Growdy… Rudy is probably not interested…

    Please, no more taking good Conservative members of Congress. We’re running out of good guys there. Gowdy is in the perfect place, where America needs him most.

    Chris “I’m only Conservative when compared to the rest of New Jersey” Christie is not Conservative enough. Do I have to post that picture of him holding hands with Pelosi again?

    Bratton… from Boston. Not sure about that, I’ll say maybe.

    Rudy is too old, and his last couple of speeches were indicative of someone approaching senility. I don’t want someone we will need to replace in a year.

    I think Clarke would be fine somewhere in the Department of Justice, but not running the place.

    To be fair, I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head. Just no Comey-style bureaucrats, please.

    Ted Nugent. ?

    Heh! I’d pay money just to see the swearing-in!

    Soundtrack for the event: Stranglehold.

    • #93
  4. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    The way I see it Comey is a good start.  Trump was hired because he is the expert at firing.  Now he needs to keep going and fire anybody that thought it was smart spy on, unmask and distribute names of the incoming administration.  I figure firing the top three levels of management at the FBI, CIA, DHS and the rest of the alphabet soup of agencies should shake things up a bit.  It is time for The Apprentice Trump to do his thing.

    • #94
  5. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Justin Hertog (View Comment):

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    Justin Hertog (View Comment):
    The 44th President didn’t have a problem with Comey giving his opinion and recommendation and neither did his Attorney General. If the AG thought Clinton should have been prosecuted, she could have ignored Comey’s recommendation and prosecuted. But we now know that Clinton was never going to be prosecuted. And Comey must have known that all along. If he had privately recommended prosecution, been ignored, and then resigned, the whole thing might have been swept under the rug and Clinton might have cruised to victory last November. By speaking up and doing his best to inform us of what Clinton had done, Comey performed a patriotic act. While I can understand why this Justice Department and Democrats wanted him out, The American People owe Comey a debt of gratitude for preventing Clinton from winning the presidency.

    I saw it this way at the time too, up to a point. I would have preferred him to state all the laws she broke, then say she should be indicted, and then resign if (I mean when) Lynch declined to prosecute. When he said that no sane prosecutor would pursue it and then added that incomprehensible part about “intent,” he lost all credibilty and got both sides to hate him. It was just so weird.

    I was incredulous when Clinton was not indicted or at least given the option to accept a misdemeanor charge, but it was never going to happen. As Andrew McCarthy explained in NR, Obama would have been implicated for having sent emails to Clinton via her insecure server. Comey and Obama both said Clinton didn’t intend to harm national security and Comey agreed. Under those circumstances it would have been very easy for the Executive Branch to have swept the whole thing under the rug. But Comey didn’t and I’m grateful.

    I call BS, everybody knew about the email server ands its purpose and chose to ignore it.  The only reason it became an issue is because Benghazi investigation pulled it into the light.  Even then the FBI did its best to cover for them all.  I personally would like to see him guilotined but I understand that most snow flakes will think that excessive.  Even lining up and being shot as a treason would be traditional but I guess I will have to settle for his firing.

    • #95
  6. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    The chipper has sharpened blades and is just mildly wet.  It yearns to be fed more and it shall ever have its wishes granted.

    Bring on hundreds more.

    • #96
  7. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    I’m watching this guy on Tucker Carlson hyperventilate about THE TIMING, ascribing nefarious intent to shut down the Russia Probe. Which presumably would prove that Trump took Russian aid with the assurance that after the election he would be more flexible, or something equally beyond the pale.

    Personally, I think if there’s any Russian “connection” it’s the result of a sloppy campaign operation clueless about their advisors’ dealings with Rooskie Oligarchs.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s oligarchy rubles invested in Trump properties, b/c I can’t see Trump turning down any investor who wanted to get in on the action. But now the Russian Thing is big again, because the WH handed a slab of bleeding red meat to the people who believe Colbert understated the extent of Trump’s relationship with Putin. Brilliant.

    So this silences Comey now, right? Whatever he knew, we’ll never know. He’s been sent into the Negative Zone, his vocal cords anesthetized! Or maybe he’ll sing, because we don’t live in a country where political opponents are murdered?

    OR DO WE. The tweets have been amusing.

    Those of us who lived through partially-fledged crises tremble at the thought.

    Reinstall the man the Nation and the New Republic wanted to be fired, for the sake of upholding the ideals of the Nation and the New Republic!

    You know it’s serious when the people who usually call for protests are calling for Emergency Protests.

    This is literally worse than communism.

    So what does this resistance look like? This resistance on every scale of civic life? Start by not paying your taxes, Maria. Stop going along with every mandate the State imposes on your life, and you might be astonished to find that the instruments of the State that find you in need of correction existed long, long before this Trump fellow came along.

    And you cheered the empowerment of every one of them.

    • #97
  8. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Jamie Lockett (View Comment):
    Why wait until now?

    Obviously to draw media attention away from something else.

    What could that be?

    (Plus- short sighted to get such a name for loyalty so early in his Administration.)

    • #98
  9. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    Dave Sussman (View Comment):
    I’m confused at the outrage by Dems. Weren’t they calling for his head? Now they are apoplectic tin-foil hatters.

    [sarc./off]

    Oh my, yes, a little walk through history. It was the democrats who first wanted Comey’s head …

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnGhT5EXhs

    Morning Joe had such a beautiful parody of the democrats love/hate with Director Comey. They loved him …… before they hated him.

     

    • #99
  10. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    President BJ Clinton remarks on his firing of William Sessions ….

    Now, but beyond that, if you read the report of the Office of Professional Responsibility and you do what the Attorney General did, if you look at that and all of the other circumstances and you assess the capacity of the present Director to lead or the incapacity of the Director to lead, she reached the judgment, which she communicated to me, that he ought to resign. And I fully agreed with that judgment. There are lots of reasons for it.

    • #100
  11. Guruforhire Inactive
    Guruforhire
    @Guruforhire

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    But now the Russian Thing is big again

    Do we have to keep pretending that its anything other than cribbing the daily stormer and doing a find and replace for jew with russian?

    • #101
  12. Theodoric of Freiberg Inactive
    Theodoric of Freiberg
    @TheodoricofFreiberg

    It is obvious that the United States is no longer governable at the Federal level.

    • #102
  13. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    Ah, this morning’s headlines:  Trump Does Something.  Or maybe tweets something.  Democrats and the media proclaim it is the worst apocalypse in human history.  Positively Nixonian.  No, positively Hitlerian!  The end of the Republic!  Blah, blah, blah.

    Say, wasn’t that yesterday’s headline also?  And the day before?  Come to think of it, isn’t this the same headline we have had every day since November 8, and will have every day for the rest of Trump’s term?

    What makes it particularly funny this time is that a lot of the Democrats who are yelling about the apocalypse are themselves on record as calling for Comey’s head.

    • #103
  14. Deus Vult - The Original Hippy… Inactive
    Deus Vult - The Original Hippy…
    @Pseudodionysius

    “Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing needs of the patrie.”
    Maximilien Robespierre, 1794

    • #104
  15. Deus Vult - The Original Hippy… Inactive
    Deus Vult - The Original Hippy…
    @Pseudodionysius

    Columbo (View Comment):

    Dave Sussman (View Comment):
    I’m confused at the outrage by Dems. Weren’t they calling for his head? Now they are apoplectic tin-foil hatters.

    [sarc./off]

    Oh my, yes, a little walk through history. It was the democrats who first wanted Comey’s head …

    Morning Joe had such a beautiful parody of the democrats love/hate with Director Comey. They loved him …… before they hated him.

    That looks like Comey’s resting snitch face.

    • #105
  16. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    blood thirsty neocon (View Comment):
    Watch for the amazing rehabilitation of Comey among Democrats.

    It took about five seconds for the first “This is an outrage!” post on Facebook from my Democrat associates.

    Why? Didn’t Hillary blame Comey for losing the election for her?

    • #106
  17. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Justin Amash is calling for a special commission to complete the investigation on Russia.

    • #107
  18. Matt Y. Inactive
    Matt Y.
    @MattY

    If this were really about Clinton, the rationale offered by Rosenstein is the opposite of what Trump and Sessions have said about Comey during the campaign. They’ve both said that Comey was too soft on Clinton; they both defended Comey’s letter to Congress about new Clinton emails 11 days before the election; Sessions defended Comey’s July statements criticizing Clinton. Rosenstein basically said the opposite, that Comey’s actions were too biased against Clinton:

    “Compounding the error, the Director ignored another longstanding principle: we do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation. Derogatory information sometimes is disclosed in the course of criminal investigations and prosecutions, but we never release it gratuitously…Concerning his letter to the Congress on October 28, 2016, the Director cast his decision as a choice between whether he would “speak” about the FBI’s decision to investigate the newly-discovered email messages or “conceal” it. “Conceal” is a loaded term that misstates the issue. When federal agents and prosecutors quietly open a criminal investigation, we are not concealing anything; we are simply following the longstanding policy that we refrain from publicizing non-public information. In that context, silence is not concealment.”

    That is completely contrary to everything Trump and Sessions have said, and it’s incomprehensible that is actually Trump’s reasoning.

    Often when both sides criticize someone for being too biased against their side, that probably means the person is about right; I think Comey’s actions were defensible and he probably did as good a job as he could in a difficult situation.

    The timing doesn’t make sense, if this were really about Clinton. In that case, he should not have been asked to stay on – it should have happened on day one. Nothing significant has changed.

    While Democrats in the past have criticized Comey, but are now opposed to his firing, Trump defended and praised Comey in the past, but just recently changed his mind and now suddenly decided to fire him.

    Based on all of this, I agree with one of the Senators who said firing Comey seems like a solution in search of a rationale.

    The rationale is most likely explained here. Trump had been growing increasingly furious about the Russia investigation, and talked about firing Comey for the last week before “deciding” to do so yesterday. The letters were written because he needed a way to defend his decision.

    I don’t read this as likely to be a cover-up, despite what Democrats are saying (I don’t think there’s some smoking gun of Trump collusion with Russia or anything like that); I think it’s more likely Trump couldn’t control Comey – he wanted the FBI director to make the investigation go away, or at least to help him out and give the media some positive spin. Comey wouldn’t, because that’s not his job.

    • #108
  19. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    It seems to me the Left makes a circular argument for the position of not firing Comey.

    “You can’t fire Comey while the Trump/Russia 2016 election collusion investigation is ongoing”

    So even if Comey is doing a lousy job as FBI Director, as long as he prolongs the Russian collusion investigation he has complete job security and can never be fired.

    I think it’s safe to say if Comey remained as Director of the FBI, the Russian collusion investigation would last for a minimum of 4 years, possibly 8.

    • #109
  20. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Jamie Lockett (View Comment):
    Justin Amash is calling for a special commission to complete the investigation on Russia.

    Even so, he is still my best Congressman ever.

    • #110
  21. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Jamie Lockett (View Comment):
    Justin Amash is calling for a special commission to complete the investigation on Russia.

    Even Just so, he is still my best Congressman ever.

    Fixed.

    • #111
  22. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Matt Y. (View Comment):
    If this were really about Clinton, the rationale offered by Rosenstein is the opposite of what Trump and Sessions have said about Comey during the campaign. They’ve both said that Comey was too soft on Clinton; they both defended Comey’s letter to Congress about new Clinton emails 11 days before the election; Sessions defended Comey’s July statements criticizing Clinton. Rosenstein basically said the opposite, that Comey’s actions were too biased against Clinton:

    “Compounding the error, the Director ignored another longstanding principle: we do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation. Derogatory information sometimes is disclosed in the course of criminal investigations and prosecutions, but we never release it gratuitously…Concerning his letter to the Congress on October 28, 2016, the Director cast his decision as a choice between whether he would “speak” about the FBI’s decision to investigate the newly-discovered email messages or “conceal” it. “Conceal” is a loaded term that misstates the issue. When federal agents and prosecutors quietly open a criminal investigation, we are not concealing anything; we are simply following the longstanding policy that we refrain from publicizing non-public information. In that context, silence is not concealment.”

    That is completely contrary to everything Trump and Sessions have said, and it’s incomprehensible that is actually Trump’s reasoning.

    Often when both sides criticize someone for being too biased against their side, that probably means the person is about right; I think Comey’s actions were defensible and he probably did as good a job as he could in a difficult situation.

    The timing doesn’t make sense, if this were really about Clinton. In that case, he should not have been asked to stay on – it should have happened on day one. Nothing significant has changed.

    While Democrats in the past have criticized Comey, but are now opposed to his firing, Trump defended and praised Comey in the past, but just recently changed his mind and now suddenly decided to fire him.

    Based on all of this, I agree with one of the Senators who said firing Comey seems like a solution in search of a rationale.

    The rationale is most likely explained here. Trump had been growing increasingly furious about the Russia investigation, and talked about firing Comey for the last week before “deciding” to do so yesterday. The letters were written because he needed a way to defend his decision.

    I don’t read this as likely to be a cover-up, despite what Democrats are saying (I don’t think there’s some smoking gun of Trump collusion with Russia or anything like that); I think it’s more likely Trump couldn’t control Comey – he wanted the FBI director to make the investigation go away, or at least to help him out and give the media some positive spin. Comey wouldn’t, because that’s not his job.

    This seems about right.

    • #112
  23. Mountie Coolidge
    Mountie
    @Mountie

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    So what does this resistance look like? This resistance on every scale of civic life? Start by not paying your taxes, Maria. Stop going along with every mandate the State imposes on your life, and you might be astonished to find that the instruments of the State that find you in need of correction existed long, long before this Trump fellow came along.

    And you cheered the empowerment of every one of them.

     

    • #113
  24. Matt White Member
    Matt White
    @

    Douglas (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Fred Cole (View Comment):
    This is great. Now the president who is under investigation by the FBI will be able to pick a new guy to be in charged the FBI.

    Hooray for accountability.

    Comey said three times that Trump isn’t under investigation.

    He could say it a hundred times, and it wouldn’t matter to some people. They’ve made it a religious tenet that Putin threw the election to his puppet Trump, and that the Kremlin is behind every rock, dangling puppet strings everywhere.

    You’re overthinking it. Putin is an excuse. The logic is very simple: Trump, therefore wrong.

    • #114
  25. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    blood thirsty neocon (View Comment):
    Watch for the amazing rehabilitation of Comey among Democrats.

    It took about five seconds for the first “This is an outrage!” post on Facebook from my Democrat associates.

    Why? Didn’t Hillary blame Comey for losing the election for her?

    To be fair, Hillary has blamed everyone.

    But as Matt said above: “Trump, therefore wrong.”

    • #115
  26. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Just a few observations:

    1. You don’t need an FBI director that after you hear him in a couple of pressers or hearings you ask yourself: “WTF?!”
    2. As Lileks said: Finding some money invested by Russian oligarchs in a Trump property is not going to be a heavy lift. Are you really worried that the guy who screwed Ivana, Marla and Merv Griffin is going to feel beholden to the Russians?!
    3. As Genovese said on Tucker last night: If it weren’t for double standards the Dems would have no standards at all. For the Dems this is a twofer: they get rid of the detestable Comey (who cost them the election) and they get to hate on Trump.
    4. You know it had to end this way. Everyone complains about Comey hearing about his firing on TV. It would have been more appropriate if it were in a tweet.
    5. Maybe, now, we can find out about who (not whom) ordered the political unmaskings in the NSA intercepts.
    • #116
  27. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

     

    Percival (View Comment):

    Fred Cole (View Comment):
    This is great. Now the president who is under investigation by the FBI will be able to pick a new guy to be in charged the FBI.

    Hooray for accountability.

    Comey said three times that Trump isn’t under investigation.

    You’re right, of course. And I’m sure Donald Trump has nothing to worry about from an investigation. And he’s totally not terrified about what it’ll turn up.

    • #117
  28. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Trump was not just under FBI investigation (pre election) but also NSA and every “friendly” intelligence service in the world, looking to court favour with the upcoming Clinton Administration . IF they had found anything remotely criminal or sleazy it would have been leaked long ago. The fact they have been looking at him for more than 2 years and nothing explosive has leaked – in my mind – proves there is nothing there.

    • #118
  29. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Fred Cole (View Comment):
     

    Percival (View Comment):

    Fred Cole (View Comment):
    This is great. Now the president who is under investigation by the FBI will be able to pick a new guy to be in charged the FBI.

    Hooray for accountability.

    Comey said three times that Trump isn’t under investigation.

    You’re right, of course. And I’m sure Donald Trump has nothing to worry about from an investigation. And he’s totally not terrified about what it’ll turn up.

    “Trump, therefore wrong.”

    • #119
  30. blood thirsty neocon Inactive
    blood thirsty neocon
    @bloodthirstyneocon

    Can I have my tax cut now? I was told there would be tax cuts.

    • #120
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