What are your thoughts on Trump firing Comey?
Image of James Comey by Gary Cameron/Reuters - Link
Introduction
Nobody could failed to have heard the news that Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
It appears that Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein recommended the dismissal in a series of letters which I will include excerpts from below.
Rosenstein's letter (to Sessions) was somewhat lengthy and went into the most detail. According to him:
"The Director was wrong to usurp the Attorney General's authority on July 5, 2016 and announce his conclusion that the (Clinton) case should be closed without prosecution."
"Compounding the error, the Director ignored another longstanding principle; we don't hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation.......The Director laid out his version of the facts for the news media as if it were a closing argument but without a trial. It is a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do."
There is a lot more information in the actual letter which basically outlines how Comey's announcements and his later behaviour were not only procedurally wrong but brought disrepute both to his office and the FBI.
It appears that the Sessions' letter to Trump was a response to Rosenstein's advice:
"The Director of the FBI must be someone who follows faithfully the rules and principles of the Department of Justice and who sets the right example for our law enforcement officials and others in the Department. Therefore I must recommend that you remove Director James B Comey Jr and identify an experienced and qualified individual to lead the great men and women of the FBI."
Trump's letter to Comey stated:
"I have received the attached letters from the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States recommending your dismissal as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately."
I will include the full scans of the letters which were provided on Scribd by Brett LoGiurato - please scroll down to read them.
My Thoughts
I can understand why people are saying that this looks bad.
It may be said that this sacking is very convenient for Trump given the fact that Comey was investigating the accusations of Russian interference in last year's election.
The big question I have is, how much of a choice did Trump have in this? I suspect he would have been under a lot of pressure to follow the AG and Deputy AG's recommendations.
I don't know enough about the US presidential process to say if he could have gone against their advice.
It could be considered an impossible to win situation for Trump though:
If Trump fires Comey he gets accused of opportunism, if he keeps him on he could get accused of ignoring the expert advice of the AG/DAG and failing to fire an incompetent FBI director.
Either way he gets criticised by his opponents for making the wrong decision.
One further accusation might have been that he was keeping on someone who had helped him to win the election - that has been one of the assertions that the Democratic party have been making all along.
It is also funny how the Democrats are now suddenly Comey's best friend. They were cursing him before all of this happened.
Is it any wonder that people are so cynical of anything that comes out of politician's mouths these days?
Anyway have a read of the letters below and please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
(BTW - I shouldn't need to say this but before the rabid anti-Trump people accuse me of being a Trump supporter I can categorically state that I am not. I just don't like the political shenanigans that seem to occur on a constant basis. This kind of nonsense detracts from the really important issues that affect people's lives.)
Press Secretary's Statement
Trump's Letter to Comey
Sessions' Letter to Trump
Rosenstein's Letter to Sessions
Thank you for reading
I'll show you my feels:
#draintheswamp
#LockHerUp
lol
It's a bit early to say that IMO.
@thecryptofiend .. no thoughts just emotions .. not very positive so I didn't harbor ..pointless ..aren't they both on the same side but am amazed that all those letters are thrown out and can be accessed publicly - that's a bit scary
I'm not a fan of any of them! I think the letters would be public property so not anything surprising that they are available.
@thecryptofiend me neither .. and I wonder if its actually real news
The #DraintheSwamp can now commence! Check Donnies twitter feed! He's slaying everyone this morning!
I am not a fan to be honest.
That's ok, I still like reading your stuff and we can still be friends! 😉 God bless ya bud!
Lol of course and Trump may surprise me :)
He will. Don't fall for the Media propaganda. I'm not sure of your religious background but check this video out. Could change your mind. I'll post the follow up video in a few.
Is that Trey Smith?
I don't believe in religion and I certainly don't think Trump does.
Here's a follow up video:
He has surprised me enough already.
Best thing that happen now go after Hillary Clinton for all the corruption she did.
They won't go after her.
I say its about freaking time, they got rid of him. I say kudos to the President. Lets make America GREAT AGAIN!
I doubt it will happen but we'll have to see.
I was born within the imaginary borders of the US, but I do not consider myself part of Corp. US, any more than I consider myself part of Walmart. If Walmart changes their security director, what does that have to do with me?... nothing! I am a man and my only authority is my Creator and my laws are... Do no harm to my fellow man, live in peace with my fellow man and honor my contracts with my fellow man... to hell with the evils of all governments! We DO NOT NEED THEM!
I don't have faith in anything in D.C. I understand that Trump has promised to "drain the swamp" but pardon me for taking a wait and see approach. It hasn't mattered which party controls the White House, the House or Senate, we just keep seeing the same stuff... war, debt, increased spending and the Constitution being shredded.
Yes.
All I can say is.... that cat is so cute :(
Thanks!
Trump, Sessions, Comey - all these heavy-hitters - I bet they secretly waste hours every day looking at fluffy kittens on social media... well maybe not.
I hope they do!
My views on that are very nicely put as so often on antiwar.com and Ron Paul did a whole video on it in his liberty report. All in all, I don't shed a tear for any of these people losing their corrupt job.
https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2017/05/10/ron-paul-comey-fired-now-fire-the-fbi/
Furthermore I want to say, that I can only shake my head relating to the hypocrisy of all those people, who are crying foul play now, while they screeched for Comey to leave because he was "investigating" Hillary Clinton last year, as if he wasn't protecting instead of smearing her. Again many showed how they're either naive pawns, or willful tools.
This clearly shows how much fear trump have... it is a truly shocking and desperate move that throws law enforcement institutions of the country into serious question.
Exactely!
I understand what you are saying but all the investigations at the FBI will still continue.
But this thing will be always be back of their mind... total freedom is lost... they will first fear for their JOB....
I doubt the FBI directors think like that.
I hope they don't... but this influence to some extent i guess...
In fact dictators do same.
https://steemit.com/politics/@hastla/breaking-trump-informed-fbi-director-comey-that-he-has-been-terminated-and-removed-from-office
But do you think he had any other choice? If Trump did nothing he might have been condemned for that - probably most of all by the Democrats.
What count here in a public job like he has is the damn sentence "when you have done nothing you have nothing to hide" - demolition of the state ground fundamentals should give every American red signs. Just look to Turkey or a few other countries - you see it live.
I agree that transparency is necessary but this is not demolition of the state. You can read the letters for yourself.
It looks like catch22. It seems he was following the recommendations as you said.
Yes.
Term "Pulling a Comey"
Example: "She was doing 90MPH in a school zone, ran over two elderly people with while clearly snorting coke from her dash board, but I am not going to recommend charging her."
I wonder if pulling a Comey would affect your or my job if we were to come out with such a smug statement. Trump did the common sense thing. He looks stupid doing it so late - really stupid.
"There was no clear evidence that showed her intent to crush these people under her car so the law does not apply"
Lol I like the example!
I'm so going to use your example whenever opportunity strikes.