Trump Fires FBI Boss James Comey - About Time ...
President Trump dismissed the Director of the FBI James Comey on recommendation of the Deputy Attorney General, who had served under Obama, and the Attorney General. The dismissal and the recommendation memos can be read here.
Comey is accused of usurping the Attorney General's authority on several occasions. In July 2016 Comey decided and publicly announced the closing of the Clinton email-investigations without a recommendation of prosecution. He publicly announced the reopening of the investigation in October only to close it again a few days later.
At the first closing of the investigation Comey held a press conference and said:
“our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”
That, by far, exceeded his competency, Since when can a police officer decide how "reasonable" a prosecutor may or may not be, and make public announcements about that? Clinton's running of a private email server broke several laws. Anyone but she would have been prosecuted at least for breaching secrecy and security regulations.
It is not the job of the police to decide about prosecutions. The police is an investigating agent of the public prosecutors office. It can make recommendations about prosecutions but not decide about them. Recommendations are to be kept confidential until they are decided upon by the relevant authority - the prosecutor. There are additional issues with Comey. His agents used sting or rather entrapment to lure many hapless idiots into committing "ISIS terror acts". A full two thirds of such acts in the U.S. would not have developed without FBI help. Comey himself had signed off on Bush's warrantless wiretapping program.
The formal dismissal of Comey is, in my view, the right thing to do. It should have been done earlier.
But the political dimension of the dismissal is not about the Clinton email affair at all. It is about the "Russia interfered with the election" nonsense Clinton invented as excuse for her self-inflicted loss of the vote. The whole anti-Trump/anti-Russia campaign run by neocons and "Resistance" democrats, is designed to block the foreign policy - detente with Russia - for which Trump was elected. The anti-Russia inquisition is dangerous groupthink.
There is no evidence - none at all - that Russia "interfered" with the U.S. election. There is no evidence - none at all - that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign. The Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who sits on the Judiciary Committee as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence, recently confirmed that publicly (vid) immediately after she had again been briefed by the CIA:
Blitzer mentioned that Feinstein and other colleagues from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had visited CIA headquarters on Tuesday to be briefed on the investigation. He then asked Feinstein whether she had evidence, without disclosing any classified information, that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign."Not at this time," Feinstein said.
Blitzer was stunned.
There is no evidence. But the FBI Director kept an investigation open on the issue and talked about it. He did not make any recommendation to the prosecutors. After six months of investigation the FBI had no evidence for any of the rumors about Russian interference that were thrown around. It should have closed the case with a clear recommendation not to prosecute the issue. (That the former Trump NSA General Flynn once took money for a gig at Russia Today is a non-issue. He took ten times as much money from Turkey but no one seems to be interested in the background of that deal.)
That Comey kept the case open was political interference from his side. Hearings and public rumors about the case blocked the political calendar. Instead of following the facts, and deciding based upon them, he was himself running a political campaign. John Edgar Hoover demonstrated how much damage an unrestricted FBI director on political witch hunt can cause. No such dictatorial power should ever again be vested in that position and in a person who is prone to exceed his competencies.
The Clinton partisans and the Russia hawks will howl about Trump's decision for a day or two. They fear losing their current hobby horse. They will soon find a different one.
Posted by b on May 10, 2017 at 7:40 UTC | Permalink
next page »Comey actively helped Trump get elected with his last-minute announcement of an investigation into Hillary's e-mails, which turned out to be an irrelevant red herring.
Right now, Trump needs to vilify anyone who can present or advance evidence against him, as he was doing earlier this week with Susan Rice.
He could end all speculation of Russian involvement or collusion by releasing his tax returns, but that is not likely to happen unless they are subpoenaed by a grand jury or other investigation.
Posted by: ralphieboy | May 10 2017 9:30 utc | 3
It's likely the world will witness the POTUS get his wings clipped. Mr. Trump has never been confronted with existential adversity, his wealth has always protected him from that prospect. He is now captive in a golden cage of political power and has neither the personal experience, resources nor the capacity to conduct governance. Be prepared to watch Trump's Götterdämmerung. Put a fork in, Trump is done.
Had Madam Clinton won the election, this would not have been possible. The organisation she headed would have taken immediate control of all available power bases and would not have created such opportunity for attack.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | May 10 2017 9:32 utc | 4
@ 4
Curiously I've come to the opposite conclusion: Hillary Clinton is done. Mark my words.
Posted by: Quentin | May 10 2017 9:53 utc | 5
The next one will be "Operation Gaslight ".
The storyline will be that Trump is unstable and needs to be removed by his cabinet.
Trumps many enemies will never stop. There is too much at stake.
Posted by: Anon | May 10 2017 9:59 utc | 6
All this appointments soap opera is just distraction for the masses. The next appointee will just like Comey, do as he/she is told.
This sort of stuff barely registers with me any more, since the one fact we can all rest assured isn't fakey is that long before an apparatchik such as Comey gets anywhere near the top trough, they will have been 'vetted' to ensure that they aren't the type of person to ever place principle ahead of self interest.
If perchance there was any motive other than inspiring yet more vapid chatter, we can be equally certain that is not going to rate a mention from any of the hack pols or their media enablers until long after this storm in a teacup has subsided.
Posted by: Debsisdead | May 10 2017 10:01 utc | 7
Put a fork in, Trump is done.
Out of curiosity: does anyone know the very first time this was said about Trump?
I'm sure we can all agree this much though: don't hold your breath on it being the last time it's said about Trump..
Posted by: A | May 10 2017 10:04 utc | 8
June is staged for a clash of world-wide proportions...
Posted by: ProPeace | May 10 2017 10:14 utc | 9
Trump, Mr "I never knew Presidenting would be so difficult" is likely to be faced at some point with a crisis that he is not able to manage and will lose it, and in a catastrophic manner.
He has no record of public service and no experience with the mechanisms of government. When those mechanisms finally turn on him, he will totally flip out.
Posted by: ralphieboy | May 10 2017 10:19 utc | 10
@FTB 4 and thank you A @ 8
I endorse b. Excellent.
Recall Trump was written off through the Primaries as he offed 16 candidates. In the election cycle down to the wire HRC had a 90% chance. Newsweek published edition cover page Madame President. (Dewey anyone?)
I dislike that the Trump presidency is a family affair- Jared Kushner will be the stick and fork; the second high profile firing that should have been done.
But The Demorats -> Schumer in tears , Warren in war paint, et al and Snowden! - all have selective memories and are exceptional hypocrites.
Flashback: New York Times - July 19, 1993 -> President William J. Clinton fires FBI Director
WASHINGTON, July 19— President Clinton today dismissed William S. Sessions, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who had stubbornly rejected an Administration ultimatum to resign six months after a harsh internal ethics report on his conduct.
Mr. Clinton said he would announce his nominee to replace Mr. Sessions on Tuesday. He was expected to pick Judge Louis J. Freeh of Federal District Court in Manhattan; officials said Judge Freeh had impressed Mr. Clinton favorably on Friday at their first meeting.
Mr. Clinton, explaining his reasons for removing Mr. Sessions, effective immediately, said, "We cannot have a leadership vacuum at an agency as important to the United States as the F.B.I. It is time that this difficult chapter in the agency's history is brought to a close." Defiant to the End
But in a parting news conference at F.B.I. headquarters after Mr. Clinton's announcement, a defiant Mr. Sessions -- his right arm in a sling as a result of a weekend fall -- railed at what he called the unfairness of his removal, which comes nearly six years into his 10-year term.
"Because of the scurrilous attacks on me and my wife of 42 years, it has been decided by others that I can no longer be as forceful as I need to be in leading the F.B.I. and carrying out my responsibilities to the bureau and the nation," he said. "It is because I believe in the principle of an independent F.B.I. that I have refused to voluntarily resign."
Mr. Clinton said that after reviewing Mr. Sessions's performance, Attorney General Janet Reno had advised him that Mr. Sessions should go. "After a thorough review by the Attorney General of Mr. Sessions's leadership of the F.B.I., she has reported to me in no uncertain terms that he can no longer effectively lead the bureau
Despite the President's severe tone, he seemed to regret having to force Mr. Sessions from his post. He said he had hoped that the issue could be settled at the Justice Department without the necessity of using his authority to dismiss the Director, who has a 10-year term but may be removed by the President at any time.
But Mr. Sessions's intransigence had festered into an awkward situation for Mr. Clinton.
A Republican stranded in a Democratic Administration, Mr. Sessions was appointed to head the F.B.I. by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 amid the turmoil of the Iran-contra affair. Mr. Sessions arrived as a respected judge from San Antonio, but after five and a half years in office, he leaves with his star fallen, his agency adrift and his support at the F.B.I. all but drained away. Troubled Tenure."[.]
Posted by: likklemore | May 10 2017 10:23 utc | 11
Trump has led a highly consequence-free life to date.
And by declaring himself the outsider and "anti-politician" he was able to ignore or violate nearly every precedent and rule of campaigning, politics and press relations, saying and getting away with things that no other politician could.
But that was before he became a public servant. And the rules for public servants are much different than those for private citizens.
Posted by: ralphieboy | May 10 2017 10:29 utc | 12
Who said it will make such a difference who sits in the FBI? A new guy will just show up saying the same stuff Comey have said. Just look at the new leaders at CIA, NSA, same warmongering hysterical stuff as under Obama.
Posted by: Anon | May 10 2017 10:47 utc | 13
Trump has a bad temper and demonstrates erratic behavior, like Hillary. The handlers keep it covered up until they no longer keep it covered up.
They let it slip that Hillary frequently blew up and used the F word vigorously as she berated her underlings (which are everyone including Clenis).
Trump is, likewise, a genuine asshole. He's not faking that part.
Posted by: fast freddy | May 10 2017 11:05 utc | 14
Obama and Hillary, however, addressed us in whole sentences and presented clearly structured concepts and arguments. Trump spits out 140-character tweets at us from the early hours of the morning.
I see a keen distinction there.
Posted by: ralphieboy | May 10 2017 11:23 utc | 15
If McCabe is next to go , as he should be , this could represent a significant swamp-draining accomplishment for Trump. Depending on who replaces them , of course.
The Rosenstein letter provided considerable legitimacy to Trump's move , considering the bipartisan support Rosenstein achieved. It wouldn't be a bad move for Trump to choose a replacement for Comey that comes with Rosenstein's strong endorsement. A Sessions endorsement would be about one-half as valuable.
Posted by: Marko | May 10 2017 11:30 utc | 16
did, 'All this appointments soap opera is just distraction for the masses. ... '
well, amend that to are pushed as a distraction for the masses and i'll certainly agree. there are so many levels at "arms' length" now that they're really just filling in the alibis for the 'historians' ... schlesinger types who'll connect all the dots once the deeds are done and show us the tragi-comedy in five acts. the masses are undistracted. people know it's all pure bullshit. that they're being played and sold down the river. it would be really great if we did something about it. just for the hell of it.
Posted by: jfl | May 10 2017 11:46 utc | 17
Interesting: Inside Trumps War with Robert David Steele
Posted by: ProPeace | May 10 2017 12:10 utc | 18
Obama and Hillary, however, addressed us in whole sentences and presented clearly structured concepts and arguments. Trump spits out 140-character tweets at us from the early hours of the morning.
I see a keen distinction there.
Posted by: ralphieboy | May 10, 2017 7:23:56 AM | 15
... forgetting, of course, that most politicians (and an only slightly smaller proportion of ordinary folks) start talking, or writing, or dialing, before they've decided precisely what they intend to say.
Trump, and probably Putin, thinks before he communicates. And if the result isn't worth saying, he shuts up. Same as Putin.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 10 2017 12:32 utc | 19
ralphieboy
Then you are naive if you belive that Trump fire people through Twitter. Sure the stupid anti-Trump MSM want us to believe that.
Posted by: Anon | May 10 2017 12:34 utc | 20
Marko @ 16
Agree. McCabe should follow Comey out the door. Patience grasshopper, one-at-a- time. If I were Hillary, (thank G-d for small mercies), after reading Rosenstein’s Memo for the Attorney General, I ‘d be lawyering up with my wet work gang.
This excerpt is a tell; confirming indeed there was some simmering mutiny within the FBI house. Judge Nap called it.
[..] As you and I have discussed, however, I cannot defend the Director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept nearly universal judgement that he was mistaken. Almost everyone agrees that the Director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives.[.]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
full Memo deserves a re- read.
OMG, someone is setting the table for dinner.
Comey was cleaning the Clintons’ cess-pool and he was helpfully assisted by the not so honorable, Obama’s Attorney General, Lowrenta Lynch
Under-reported: May 03, 2017
Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge says this is one of the biggest headlines out of the hearing today with the FBI director, pointing out that the FBI had found an email was obtained by Russian hackers that indicated that former DOJ hack Loretta Lynch would do everything she could to protect Hillary from prosecution: (VIDEO)Of course Comey wouldn’t reveal who sent the email and to whom it was sent. But it sounds like it was sent from someone who worked closely with Lynch, and sent to someone who was very worried about Clinton going down in flames, probably someone very close to Clinton.
At the end of the segment, Herridge pointed out that Comey suggested he was boxed in by Lynch and here is what she’s talking about:[..]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
in the district of criminals, (aka D.C.), we find not only a swamp, but a few deep cess-pools.
Posted by: likklemore | May 10 2017 12:51 utc | 21
Reminds me of a little passage I read somewhere about a dish served cold.
Posted by: Morongobill | May 10 2017 13:19 utc | 22
So Trump includes in his firing letter that he appreciates the fact that Comey told him personally on three separate occasions that he was not the subject of investigation. What's that doing there?
Some wonder why a guy like Trump, who made his bones telling people mano a mano that they were fired on prime time TV, wouldn't have picked up a phone to advise Comey he was done. Comey learned of his dismissal while giving a speech in LA. Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley says that was done so the president's people could access Comey's documents in his office while he was safely out of town.
The Senate investigation just got started. This business about six months of investigation failing to produce a shred of evidence and therefore the whole matter should be dropped isn't going to fly. The same people who natter on about how we masses, like mushrooms kept in the dark and nurtured with bullshit, should disregard all this bafflegab about impropriety also say we should accept their conclusion that there's nothing to see here and that it's time to move on. That ain't happening.
Senator Al Franken, who's insipid alter-ego George Smiley on Saturday Night Live was the epitome of insecurity, has turned out to be a formidable poser of very tough questions to anyone unfortunate to be summoned before the senate panel. These senate guys don't fuck around and will not be stonewalled. We're in for some very interesting television.
Posted by: peter | May 10 2017 13:49 utc | 23
Trump is stumbling from one incompentcy to another; when will Usians wake up to who their President really is? Hint; uneducated, ignorant fool...
This will end badly; hopefully minus sprouting mushrooms...
Posted by: V. Arnold | May 10 2017 13:56 utc | 24
Comey will land on his feet in some corporate gig, from whence he came. The only interesting aspect is whether or not his replacement will restore any smidgen of credibility to the FBI by acting on a basis of law or if the political games will continue. My guess would be that the plutocracy will see that their candidate is installed as FBI Director and at a minimum this person will remain at least neutral to the plutocracy's rule, silence being consent. That would be the big big silence on the Clinton criminality as it is intertwined with plutocratic rule. More of the same only more so as the FBI and co-conspirators keep the plot to assassinate any public leaders dusted off in case another Martin Luther King, another Occupy movement or some such should arise.
DiD @ 7 said: "All this appointments soap opera is just distraction for the masses. The next appointee will just like Comey, do as he/she is told."
Well said, an IMO, absolutely spot on.
I think there are people above the Law, history proves that. HRC AND Mr. Trump are part of that group. I fully expect that nothing will happen to either. As DiD said, " A distraction for the masses( sheep)."
The assault on the wealth of the working classes will continue unabated. Mr. Trump is here to represent the wealthy elites, and is doing a fine job at that.
Welcome to the new age of feudalism.
Posted by: ben | May 10 2017 14:46 utc | 26
Was a weekend fall the real reason why William Sessions's arm was in a sling?
Posted by: lysias | May 10 2017 14:54 utc | 27
P.S.--The "Russian connection" in all of this, is only about $, and dropping sanctions against Russia, not about "hacking the elections". Trump couldn't get financing here, so,
he went to Russia. Follow the money.
" It's just business, get over it!"
Posted by: ben | May 10 2017 14:56 utc | 28
The musical chairs show in Washington is meaningless. The Democrats hated Comey but now that he's fired they love him because they can use it to attack Trump. It's all political theatre and should be regarded as such. As others have said, another chump willing to take orders will replace Comey and will surely carry out the same bad policies at the FBI.
Posted by: WorldBLee | May 10 2017 15:21 utc | 29
i can never understand why politics has to be so complex, but it is.. it could be a lot more simple.. so for those who want to understand why things happen, they have to go beyond the surface.. this comey guy was dishonest.. why have someone like that around? mccain - he has been a warmonger for forever.. why is he and so many others still around? they sure aren't serving the public's need.. unfortunately trump isn't serving the publics needs either.. i agree with @4 ftb.. now, just cause someone says trump is done, doesn't mean he stops doing the crazy shit he is going continue to do.. but so far, none of it amounts to a hill of beans.. i can't see him doing anything relevant at this point other then bringing more trouble to the usa.. if he would step down prematurely, it wouldn't surprise me. he is out of his league and needs to stick to twitter..
Posted by: james | May 10 2017 16:21 utc | 30
Trump was just in the Oval Office with that imperial criminal punk, Kissinger, ironically, Nixon's NSA and Trump blurted out that he fired Comey because he wasn't doing a good job.
The pot calling the kettle black is an understatement.
I don't give a damn one way or another who Trumpster fires; what I do give a damn about is abuse of power and manipulation of the truth and Trump is repeatedly guilty of both.
No such dictatorial power should ever again be vested in that position and in a person who is prone to exceed his competencies. - And that's exactly how I would describe Herr Drumpf, danke!
Here's a great example of integrity. Try it sometime!:
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/862069019301601281
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/862067649748119553
Tinpot Trump:
This has nothing to do with Comey incompetence or the man himself. This is only about Trump abusing power as he's been doing since DAY ONE. He just took it to the next level...that's all!
Posted by: Circe | May 10 2017 16:25 utc | 31
- Wolf Blitzer was once employed by AIPAC.
- Comey simply stepped on too many (sensitive) toes, both Republican & Democratic. In that regard it was a matter of time that he was fired. It would have happened as well if Hillary Clinton had been elected to become the new president.
- But I also fear that a new FBI director (as appointed by one Jeff Sessions) will be as rightwing as one Jeff Sessions or even worse.
Posted by: Willy2 | May 10 2017 16:44 utc | 32
@BRF #25
I'd add Aaron Swartz, Pat Tillman, and the DC Madam to the list of people who threatened the cabal and were assassinated for their efforts.
Posted by: SlapHappy | May 10 2017 17:12 utc | 33
Great post, b, and likklemore, your comments are appreciated.
What is troubling to me with all of this is how politicized Obama's Cabinet/team became. It is becoming more and more obvious his appointments were made to serve him NOT the country and the public is witnessing the fallout from such authoritarian style of leadership.
Comey is both a victim and beneficiary of this politicization. His testimony last week was more forthcoming than in previous hearings, but what spoke volumes was his reaction to the impromptu meeting b/w Clinton and Lynch on the tarmac in Arizona. He suggested his concerns about Lynch being compromised regarding the Clinton email investigation were confirmed during that meeting while stating it was the last straw so to speak.
This pattern of politicization was obviously meant to continue under Hillary's leadership by cementing a permanent political class in DC who would serve the president rather than all of us outside of Washington. Some term this as the 'UniParty' - a majority of R and D's working in tandem to re orient DC machinations into a global governing body.
The neo's - libs and cons - are giddy over resigning the U.S. Constitution and the rest of America's founding papers into the trash heap of history. Their march toward globalization is hindered by those pesky documents. But what these globalists never counted on was a Trump win and, more importantly, conservatives gaining power in 28 states, six states shy of holding a Constitutional Convention.
Now that Hillary lost, Obama and team are pulling together an organizational structure to stave off wins in those six states while also trying to peel away those few who turned red in 2016.
This is the new political battleground - conservatives fighting for a constitutional convention and neo's fighting to remain relevant. With Comey being gone, and soon McCabe and et al, the FBI has a shot at shedding the politicization of the department and returning to its investigative roots.
This is the reason for Robby Mook's 'terrified' comment when learning of Comey's firing. He and his globalist cohorts should be concerned, but it's Hillary who really needs to be terrified.
#15 ralphieboy
Obama and Hillary, however, addressed us in whole sentences and presented clearly structured concepts and arguments.
Oh, that's your definition of lying and warmongering, idiot.
Posted by: From The Hague | May 10 2017 17:37 utc | 35
Comey also gave immunity to 5 of Hillary's closest aids, including Huma. This insulated Hillary as these people could not be pressured to testify against her.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 10 2017 17:40 utc | 36
Trump fires Comey due to his political meddling but ...
Trump won't prosecute Clinton about her email server.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 10 2017 17:54 utc | 38
friends in high places...
cheech and chong couldn't do any better...
Posted by: james | May 10 2017 17:55 utc | 39
I read that he was fired while giving some speech in Los Angeles or so and when he was asked to comment he thought it was a joke. Now that's funny!
Posted by: xor | May 10 2017 18:07 utc | 40
Why is it such a big thing? Some people here seems to take talking points from neocon media.
He was fired because Trump didnt have confidence in him, simply as that.
Posted by: Anon | May 10 2017 18:09 utc | 41
The Trump show is becoming interesting. A short time ago it looked like Trump was about to start wars everywhere. US establishment seemed to all agree that made him very presidential. A distraction for the establishment politicians and media while Tillerson and Trump get a few things done?
In the last weeks there has been a meeting between Tillerson and Putin, Lavrov and Trump will be meeting soon. Comey in charge of the Trump/Russia investigation has now been sacked.
In Syria, US has hardly moved towards Raqqa, agreed to the Russian de-escalation zones which free up Syrian forces for a drive on Deir Ezzor and possibly Raqqa.
The other thing that has appeared in the news in the last couple of weeks is that the Trump white house has not approved any pentagon requests to run their so called freedom of navigation exercises against China.
Posted by: Peter AU | May 10 2017 18:24 utc | 42
Not sad to see Comey go. I didn't think he was doing a good job, albeit he was put in a position where he had to tread carefully. I guess he did "ok" with that careful treading. Unsure of Trump's motivations to fire him but not that surprised. As others have posited here, Clinton would have done the same. Comey was probably at least partially prepared and possibly has a sinecure lined up as I type this.
IMO, this isn't the worst of Trump's alleged "offenses" by a long shot. It certainly does provide a distraction from all the other sh*t swirling around Trump, like Kushner selling US citizenships to high priced Chinese gangsters, like Trump's various cabinet picks arresting citizens for questioning them the "wrong way" or laughing at them, like Trump's decisions to ruin the environment and give away public lands to his rich pals, like the travesty of TrumpDon'tCare AHCA (which could end up even worse after the Senate gets done with it - No women on the Senate committee, just great).
Yes a nifty distraction while Trump and his plutocrat cronies rob us all blind. Duly noted the Democrats engage in their own dog 'n pony sideshow distractions re russia, Russia RUSSIA hysteria. All to avoid having to, you know, DO something about their own disaster of a corporate-bought-off "party" and avoid having to do one d*mn thing that benefits their traditional constituents, as opposed to ensuring that their Plutocratic masters are happy.
Like Comey's my biggest "concern" du jour... not.
Posted by: RUKidding | May 10 2017 18:32 utc | 44
Every analysis of any current US political events that says anything about Clinton losing the election is deranged or dishonest. There are no exceptions.
Clinton's Benghazi was treasonous covering up for Islamic terrorist/email means espionage not electronic mail/Clinton Foundation is treason for hire by the Secretary of State (who ruled America during the Great Interregnum when there was no President, 2009-2117, except when John Kerry was Secretary of State but it was still actually Clinton running things because everyone knows the Secretary of State doesn't make foreign policy) fake scandals were kept alive by Comey to intervene in the US election. (Whether it was his eager doing or he was pressured is irrelevant.) The thing for Comey, and his natural human need to at least pretend to be a genuine human being, is, the Russia hacks the election is exactly the same kind of fake scandal, something arcane with dark, dark hints of treason! treason! Comey can't suddenly discover sanity when the BS is flying at Trump, after having vociferously claimed those were really Clark bars for the years prior.
The OP doesn't quite have the nerve to explain clearly how the supposed loser has the clout to make Comey dish on Trump. Or the effrontery to clearly avow Benghazi/email server/Clinton cash/pizzagate were all gospel. Nonetheless it is still Trumpery.
Posted by: steven t johnson | May 10 2017 18:48 utc | 45
@43 Peter Au
Nice observation. Personally, I still hold off any judgment on who Trump is - there simply isn't enough roller-coaster motion yet to judge where the trend lines belong.
A lot of the things I see him get blamed for are actually only theater, including Korea - or else relatively minor actions that satisfy subordinate departments (such as the US Navy), and that appear to make waves but that don't actually capsize the big picture. It's an uncomfortable brinkmanship to watch if you believe it's real, but I'm not sure that Trump believes it's anything more than pre-negotiation sand in the eyes.
And a lot of other things that actually do happen domestically are part of the Republican and classical conservative agenda anyway. No organized force in the US exists anymore to combat these things, certainly not the sold-out Democrats and their long co-opted unions.
Meanwhile, as you note, the realities on the geopolitical ground globally proceed in a direction favorable to peace.
Posted by: Grieved | May 10 2017 18:56 utc | 46
@ Greived
Tillerson may be the one to watch to see where the Trump roller coaster is heading?
Trump distracts attention allowing Tillerson to get on with what they want to do?
Posted by: Peter AU | May 10 2017 19:34 utc | 47
@ h:
Regarding "impromptu meeting b/w Clinton and Lynch on the tarmac", Comey was giving cover "to" Lynch, IMO. "no reasonable prosecutor". He was protecting the deal Lynch had already made with Clintons.
Just read about Comey history with Clintons. He has been giving them cover a long time.
Posted by: sl | May 10 2017 19:39 utc | 48
sl - Yep, I concur. And I think he had to protect whatever deal was agreed to b/w Lynch, Obama and Clinton. I'm not even sure I'd call it a deal, but rather an order. I'm sure if he didn't adhere there would have been some hefty consequences to pay.
Did you by chance listen/watch his testimony last week? If not, I recommend it as must watch especially after his being fired. He added more detail to the email investigation and his thinking at the time.
SlapHappy | May 10, 2017 1:12:56 Add to the long list:
Seth Rich, sen. Paul Wellstone, JFK jr, princess Diana, Michael Hastings, mysterious deaths of 9/11 witnesses, Phillip Marshall with family, Michael Connell, that policeman from the WTC 1993 bombing investigation, Clinton body count, that German press insider, Gary Webb ...
Posted by: ProPeace | May 10 2017 20:04 utc | 50
The BBC running a live on Comey's end-of-contract?!
Color revo any? Lavrov in Washington, guns for the Kurds, the US going for al-Nusra's head scalp...
Posted by: Mina | May 10 2017 20:25 utc | 51
Anon @6
Impeachment over his abuse of power in the Syrian airbase cruise missile attack?
"United to Protect Democracy (UPD) is an advocacy group whose introductory web page describes it as a “nonpartisan nonprofit” organization established to hold the President of the United States accountable “to the laws and longstanding practices that have protected our democracy through both Democratic and Republican Administrations”. The governing board of UPD is made up of former Obama Administration attorneys led by legal director, Justin Florence. They have just filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration demanding he cough up all e-mails, memoranda, advisory opinions and/or anything which could be viewed as legal argumentation justifying the April 7, 2017 attack on the Syrian Airbase at Al-Shu’ayraat southeast of Homs City."
Posted by: Yonatan | May 10 2017 20:32 utc | 53
so treasonable Obama's scumbucket FBI director Comey gets fired. wowie zowie. nevermind the perjury, the obstruction of justice, the accessory to Clinton's sedition...
there's probably a multi-million dollar book deal in the pipeline.
Posted by: john | May 10 2017 20:40 utc | 54
- Trump DOES have some very "interesting" connections to Russia and some shady russian persons. But this is the result of his own "wheeling & dealing".
Posted by: Willy2 | May 10 2017 20:45 utc | 55
@47 & @ 48, Grieved and Peter AU
Dead on, both -- replenishing 4 Horsemen reserves, #1 priority. Russia has Arctic staked out. Put a tiger in your tank.
Posted by: stumpy | May 10 2017 20:46 utc | 56
Yonatan @54 -- coming from the side that killed more innocents from the sky since perhaps Lyndon Johnson. We should take a look at who funds them. Death toll from ~60 Tomahawks vs. death toll from a single drone strike anywhere in the middle east?
Posted by: stumpy | May 10 2017 20:51 utc | 57
Lots of posts about Hillary and Obama being to blame for all this drama. But this ain't about Hillary or those fucking emails. It's not even about election meddling. This is about Trump and his people being too cozy by half with the Russians. There's rules regarding these protocols and it looks like a lot of them were broken.
Wait till they're done downloading Flynn and see where that leads. They've subpoenaed his sorry ass along with all his documents and the word is he's ready to sing like a bird. If there's no fucking "there" there after they're done with him then I'll eat it. But my gut tells me there's shit going on and I look forward to hearing his testimony. Cuz he's the star witness right about now and looking for immunity. No immunity for him..they got him cold-cocked.
None of Trump's people's explanations for the extraordinary amount of meetings with the Ruskies adds up. In places like the Seychelles FFS??
Gotta love Sergei Lavrov. He was priceless when asked about Comey. There's a reason he holds that job but it's not him or his boss taking any domestic heat. If Trump thought firing Comey would solve any of his problems he was sadly mistaken. He just convinced a lot of people, who were ready to give him the benefit of the doubt, that he's starting to sweat his situation.
Posted by: peter | May 10 2017 21:01 utc | 58
Does Russia interfere in U.S. politics more than Israel does?
Posted by: SlapHappy | May 10 2017 21:04 utc | 59
@ h. Yes, caught part of the hearings. Just proved to me that deal was in stone before any tarmac meeting took place. And I bet Comey might not have even known Lynch would expose them so stupidly, how dumb was that.
Did a FBI person leaked the meeting to the press??
Posted by: sl | May 10 2017 21:09 utc | 60
...
The other thing that has appeared in the news in the last couple of weeks is that the Trump white house has not approved any pentagon requests to run their so called freedom of navigation exercises against China.
Posted by: Peter AU | May 10, 2017 2:24:06 PM | 43
Can't recall the source, but I believe that AmeriKKKa's FoN pantomime in the South China Sea came to a sudden halt soon after Trump was sworn in as POTUS, and had certainly ended before February 1, 2017.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 10 2017 21:11 utc | 61
@ 43 Apparently Admiral Swift didn't get the memo...
"Admiral Swift stressed that a pause in conducting FONOPs doesn’t mean the Trump administration has lowered its priority level for the disputed waterway, saying there was “no change in policy” towards the region."
https://www.rt.com/news/387855-us-south-china-sea-patrols/
Posted by: dh | May 10 2017 21:32 utc | 62
the U S stressed that 'SCARBROUGH SHOALS' would be their red line in the south China sea . Certainly a line the Chinese crossed without real U S response from either Obama or Trump.
Posted by: ashley albanese | May 10 2017 21:48 utc | 64
Hey sl - here's a link to a post by RightScoop titled - FBI found email that Lynch would do everything she could to protect Hillary from CRIMINAL CHARGES - Catherine Herridge reported recently on this find - http://therightscoop.com/revealed-fbi-found-email-that-lynch-would-do-everything-she-could-to-protect-hillary-from-criminal-charges/
Yep, Rosenstein is a law man. I won't be the slightest bit surprised to learn Grand Jury indictments handed down sometime in the coming months for Hillary's arrest. Mr. Comey served as an obstacle to the DOJ to prosecute. Now that Sessions/Rosenstein, both law men, are heading the DOJ nothing will surprise me. Nothing.
Formerly T-bear 4
Trump lacks support from party insiders and power players. Those in the party who do support him do so reluctantly.
Debisdead 7
Typically the AG and FBI head run interference for the Prez and create new justifications for wrong-doing especially with regards to how our rights are abrogated.
Posted by: Curtis | May 10 2017 23:45 utc | 66
SlapHappy 60
Does Russia interfere in the elections and governing institutions of others as much as the US does? I've been surprised that Russia doesn't release "white papers" that show what the NED and IRI have done including in places like Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia.
Posted by: Curtis | May 10 2017 23:47 utc | 67
if Russia didn't interfere in other countries I'd be surprised. All nations powerful enough to impact anything globally probably do, but the U$A takes the prize.
From TRNN: US Has Interfered in More Elections Than Any Other Nation
Full video:http://therealnews.com/t2/story:18774:US-Has-Interfered-in-More-Elections-Than-Any-Other-Nation
Posted by: ben | May 11 2017 0:26 utc | 68
Well after my previous post which outlined in no uncertain way , how a little country ie 200km long plays a nefarious role always in their neighbors business, while pulling religious and hereditary links with the USA to influence it's foreign policy. I came across a post on the interweb ENJOY
new Alananda May 10, 2017 3:37 PM
Jon Rappoport nailed it.
Trump fires Comey: spin doctors go wild in the swamp
In the political swamp that is Washington, and in the press swamp, motor boats began speeding every which way in the wake of Trump's decision to fire FBI Director Comey.
People in the boats are holding up signs to explain the reason for the firing.
The first sign was: COMEY LIED. Comey lied the other day. He lied in testimony before Congress, when he said Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's long-time aide, had sent "hundreds and thousands" of emails to her husband, Anthony Weiner, some of which contained classified information. The truth was, the FBI says, contradicting Comey, a great many of those emails were merely "backed up" on Weiner's laptop via "backup devices." Huh? Does that actually mean something? Weiner obtained those emails out of the sky, delivered by a chariot, and not from Huma? Weiner's laptop was serving as a storage device, a personal little cloud? Somebody not connected to the Hillary campaign was using the social-medias porn star as a backup for classified data? Who would that be? Putin? Putin hacked the Hillary/DNC emails, and sent them to both WikiLeaks and Anthony Weiner? "Hi Anthony. Vlad here. Keep these thousands of emails for posterity."
The next motor boat running through the swamp featured a sign that said: COMEY SCREWED UP THE HILLARY INVESTIGATION. This sign can be interpreted several ways, depending on who is in the boat. One, Comey didn't press the investigation into Hillary's personal email server far enough last summer and fall. He stalled it. He didn't ask for an indictment. That's why Trump fired him yesterday. Trump didn't fire Comey right after he was elected president, when it would have been a simple bye bye. No, Trump waited five months and then lowered the boom. Sure.
The other meaning of COMEY SCREWED UP THE HILLARY INVESTIGATION is: Comey improperly told the world (last summer) that the FBI was investigating Hillary. His announcement influenced the election. The FBI is supposed to keep absolutely quiet about ongoing investigations. Comey didn't. Then he publicly closed the book on the investigation, opened it again, and closed it again. That's why Trump just fired him. Again, Trump waited five months after the election and then got rid of Comey. And of course, Trump was morally outraged that Comey exposed Hillary in the first place, when Comey should have remained silent. Sure. That makes a lot of sense.
The next motor boat speeding across the swamp held up a big sign that said, TRUMP FIRED COMEY TO STOP THE FBI FROM INVESTIGATING THE TRUMP-RUSSIA CONNECTION. You see, for five months, Trump happily left Comey in place, knowing Comey was investigating him, Trump, and yesterday Trump had enough of that, so he fired the FBI director. Right.
The next motor boat in the swamp held up a sign that said, THIS IS NIXON ALL OVER AGAIN, THIS IS TRUMP'S WATERGATE. The sign refers to the last sign, but ups the ante. And there is another sign that says, in the same vein, NOW WE CAN IMPEACH TRUMP. And another one that says, APPOINT AN INDEPENDENT COUNSEL TO INVESTIGATE THE TRUMP-RUSSIA CONNECTION.
I'm waiting for Bob Woodward of Watergate fame to step in and say, "It's all right, folks, I'm on the case. I'll handle it. I was just eating lunch and sipping a fine wine in my underground parking garage when a shadowy figure stepped out of the gloom and whispered, 'My throat is deep, and I'll spoon-feed you secrets for the next year, but you'll have to dig up the facts. Everybody is involved in the cover-up. Comey, Sessions, Pence, Bannon, Conway, Ivanka, Putin, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Stalin."
So why did Trump fire Comey yesterday?
I don't know, but the short answer might be: Comey's boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, told Trump to get rid of Comey. Sessions made the call.
Sessions now has a specific plan to make the FBI over in the image he prefers. Sessions wants to shape the Bureau according to his agendas. Sessions has looked into the Bureau and he now knows which people he wants to fire. He wants to get rid of the Obama crowd. He wants loyalists. He doesn't want a Dept. of Justice that is going in one direction, while the FBI is going in another. Sessions wants a predictable FBI. His own.
Joel Pollak, writing at Breitbart, has a simpler answer to the question, why fire Comey now? Pollak writes:
"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."
In other words, now Trump can't be accused of firing Comey to stop "the truth" emerging about a Trump-Russia collusion, because there isn't any collusion.
Theoretically, that might be the case---but the spin machine doesn't care about the truth or who is right and who is wrong. The machine keeps running. Those motor boats keep moving across the swamp. Signs come out. People yell and scream.
Chuck Schumer may soon compare Trump to Benedict Arnold.
For the past 65 years, the CIA has been infiltrating media and promoting many messages. In certain cases, an op involves promoting CONFLICTING messages, because the intent is sowing discord, chaos, and division. In this instance (Comey/Trump), it's a walk in the park (or a ride in the swamp). All sorts of people on both sides already have steam coming out of their ears, without any nudging or provocation.
A child could run this spin counter-spin op.
And we're just getting started.
Posted by: col | May 11 2017 0:37 utc | 69
@ h 34
Thank you. I doubt Comey is a victim. His CV reveals some very interesting stuff.
I am taking bets that E-mail Comey referenced in his testimony, will some day surface. Comey should take up Wikileaks' offer. But he's likely to return to HSBC
because Assange is hinting …..
Posted by: likklemore | May 11 2017 1:11 utc | 70
Me @71
Assange is hinting
said an FBI source had claimed the Bureau would now “start leaking like Niagara.” “But please, FBI friends, full docs or you know the press will spin it,” he added.
https://www.rt.com/usa/387844-comey-assange-snowden-wikileaks/
Posted by: likklemore | May 11 2017 1:18 utc | 71
The people that visit this page to comment are by & large reasonably intelligent - some way more so than others - & we are all conversant with the lies, obfuscations & 0.1% control of the MSM
What absolutely astounds me is the level of belief in this Trump/Russian/Russian hacking crap that the Democrats spun out of thin air to cover up for having the worst candidate to run for president since Attila the Hun. It's a complete none story. I know that basically since birth you USians have been fed the "Russians bad We good" but this is 2017 - the interweb has been around now for 20 years minimum in a form that opens up information to anyone that wants to look & learn. I have had my entire world view & my belief in history turned upside down. And to that end I just DO NOT UNDERSTAND this rabid anti Russian stance ! (It's actually Anti Communism but thats been dead for 25 years plus as well) Guys watching CNN or Fox living in a trailer park in Buttfuck Indiana can perhaps be excused but not the people that visit this site. End of Rant.
Oh & Comey should've been sacked on the afternoon of Jan 20th IMO.
Posted by: KiwiCris | May 11 2017 1:31 utc | 72
@57 stumpy & 48 Peter AU
Tiger in the tank - good one. There are two ways to look at Tillerson, and they can easily both be true. On the one hand, he's Exxon, and oil companies run countries, not the other way around. So he's in place to forge peaceful pipelines from Russia and the Arctic.
On the other hand - and again this is a complementary thing not an alternative - we are actually watching a US president and his Secretary of State work together (or so we currently think), the way that Putin and his team work together. It seems unusual, and if it's the first step of a true Trump team coming together, and a beginning of classical professionalism coming from the White House, this would be a welcome thing.
It's too much of a leap to make just yet. We still have to wait and watch.
Posted by: Grieved | May 11 2017 2:46 utc | 74
@ 66
"Comey wouldn’t reveal who sent the email and to whom it was sent. But it sounds like it was sent from someone who worked closely with Lynch, and sent to someone who was very worried about Clinton going down in flames, probably someone very close to Clinton."
"sounds like . . ." "someone who worked closely . . ." "someone who was very worried . . ." "probably someone . . ." "close to Clinton . . ."
That article "sounds like" it was made up out of thin air. Phrases like these should constitute a warning bell, regardless of the source or of the political associations of the writer.
Posted by: AntiSpin | May 11 2017 3:08 utc | 75
@73 KiwiCris,
Still anti-Communism, which is intrinsic to both liberalism and fascism. The Democrat Party is under threat of takeover by social democrats, which is a Problem for the center-right liberals that dominate the nomenklatura of the Party (and the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed). That's why they've all gone Bircher.
Also, see Caitlin Johnstone's Integrity: The Real Source of Division in America's Political Left.
Posted by: Jonathan | May 11 2017 3:15 utc | 76
@76 AntiSpin,
Because only bourgeois liberals are allowed to have impressions, because bourgeois liberals are infallible?
Posted by: Jonathan | May 11 2017 3:17 utc | 77
Interesting:
The 3 Richest Democrats just gave Trump full support of his job as President.
Really? I don't think so.
Eespecially regarding that globalist scumbag Bill Gates, who's been funneling millions into depopulation projects under the guise of charitable work. When he says “Whether it’s research, making sure that pandemics don’t come to get us and helping other countries … I’d make sure he knew all about it.” it's a clear message from the cabal threatening the use of bioweapons...
Some most terrifying words in English are: "We are sent by Bill Gates here to help."
Posted by: ProPeace | May 11 2017 3:20 utc | 78
It's a very complicated situation with this bizarre cast of characters.
I have a feeling we will know much more in about a month.
But the North Korea conundrum could get weird any time.
The Comey reality show was rather unique. Now what?
Posted by: blues | May 11 2017 4:20 utc | 79
@25 grieved
hope springs eternal :) oh boy! look! horseshit! where's, my new pony?
Posted by: jfl | May 11 2017 4:21 utc | 80
I saw this headline.....
Sanders: Democrats Showing ‘Purest Form of Hypocrisy,’ Clinton Would Have Fired Comey ‘Immediately’ If She Won.“Thank God she didn’t win,” Sanders added.
....and thought to myself:"Wow,did Bernie finally grow a pair?" Um,no,as it turns out:
Posted by: Marko | May 11 2017 5:01 utc | 81
@h 66
Nawh, sounds like wishful thinking on your part more than fact. Actually Rosenstein was pretty pissed off and threatened to quit over the Comey-firing fiasco.:
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.
WaPo writes Trumps anger and impatience led to Comey's firing
Just wanna add a general note unrelated to you post. Putin sure got his money's worth! Lololol!
Okay, so no one can really say what is truth and what is fiction here, except for the fact that somehow are roads seem to coincidentally lead to Moscow. However, coincidences aside, if nothing happened, if there was no collusion, then Putin's getting ALL THIS mayhem inside Washington FOR FREE! Ahhhaha - no wonder he was getting such a chuckle out of it!
But who knows maybe he's really the sly cat that ate the canary!
All being said: Trump sure plays guilty - I've never seen so much display of consciousness of guilt coming from someone who has nothing to hide vis a vis Russian collusion. Maybe he's just that clumsy with his timing. Maybe he's short-sighted and is blind to how bad his timing appears.
Uh...may not. Today he was publicly flaunting his audacity. That's what you call getting dangerously smug.
Whatever distractions keep us from WWIII; I'm all for, but I just don't like corruption. I'd rather a leader who's clean AND friendly with Russia.
Posted by: Circe | May 11 2017 5:51 utc | 82
Re: Posted by: Peter AU | May 10, 2017 2:24:06 PM | 43
I agree. Trump may be waking up to what he's really up against.
There are a few that I trust in the Trump Administration more than others, pretty much in this order: Bannon, Conway, Trump, Tillerson, Sessions, Miller, Rosenstein (now), Spicer, Priebus, Mattis.
The 2 who I absolutely want to see out today are Andy McCabe (obviously) - how can this Corrupt Clinton Cabal Crony - CCCC - possibly even head the FBI in an interim basis?!?!?
And H.R.McMadMan.
These two have to be sacked yesterday.
Sure, plenty of you (Hello Circe) will say there are no redeeming features of any of them.
Fair enough, but hang on, we're not in World War III yet and the Americans have engineered the election of someone in South Korea who wants to talk to the North Koreans!
Surely that's going to simmer down the Korean situation in a hurry.
Surely no more problems on the Korean Peninsula is a good thing?
How legitimate is he? He's the son of North Korean immigrants is he not so he'd have oodles of cousins North of the border and surely not want to touch off any sort of conflict with the DPRK.
Surely all you fearful of war must be delighted the Trump Administration has engineered Moon's victory in South Korea?
Surely right?
Re: Posted by: Yonatan | May 10, 2017 4:32:18 PM | 54
These people could well be the most useful of idiots for a President Pence couldn't they.
Julian @ 84 said:"Sure, plenty of you (Hello Circe) will say there are no redeeming features of any of them."
Please add my name to your list. ALL Mr. Trumps merry men are anti-working class scumbags.
Not that I won't change my opinion should they do ANYTHING that benefits the working classes of America. I'm waiting.....
Posted by: ben | May 11 2017 6:56 utc | 85
Re: Posted by: h | May 10, 2017 7:14:03 PM | 66
You can add Andy McCabe to that list. He was leading the Clinton Investigation! (COVER-UP)
The whiff is strong. No wonder they're all going nuts. With Comey & McCabe out there is a chance - a chance - the incoming honchos at FBI will be looking for Clinton Corrupt Cabal blood.
Re: Posted by: Curtis | May 10, 2017 7:45:05 PM | 67
Debisdead 7 Typically the AG and FBI head run interference for the Prez and create new justifications for wrong-doing especially with regards to how our rights are abrogated.
There's no doubt about that.
Which is why Trump has been negligent in leaving Obama/Clinton holdovers Comey & McCabe running the FBI for the past 3 months.
Although - to be fair - Rosenstein was only confirmed 2 weeks ago.
Re: Posted by: ben | May 11, 2017 2:56:49 AM | 86
Fair enough - you have a different perspective to me.
I'm not worried about their merits in terms of the US working class. There's no doubt that's questionable.
I'm concerned about Neo-Con crazies provoking (or even starting) WWIII in their quest for world domination.
I say provoking, because I've always thought the most likely avenue to a global conflict is a series of misunderstandings provoked by NeoCon madness that results in a Russian retaliation to what they consider an existential threat (like the likelihood of an American first strike).
Their relation to the American working class is a fight for the American working class to take to them.
As I'm not a member of the American working class - that ain't my fight. So fight away.
The folks I've listed don't seem to me to be mad NeoCons bents on a global conflict for power - they seem like smarmy businessmen in it for a cut of the loot for themselves.
Re: Posted by: ben | May 11, 2017 2:56:49 AM | 86
Not that I won't change my opinion should they do ANYTHING that benefits the working classes of America. I'm waiting.....
By the way, I'd say not provoking WWIII (like Clinton would have done almost certainly) is a huge benefit for the American working class who won't be sent off in their hundreds of thousands to die on a foreign land, or indeed be incinerated on their own lands!
Re: Posted by: col | May 10, 2017 8:37:32 PM | 70
So why did Trump fire Comey yesterday?I don't know, but the short answer might be: Comey's boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, told Trump to get rid of Comey. Sessions made the call.
Sessions now has a specific plan to make the FBI over in the image he prefers. Sessions wants to shape the Bureau according to his agendas. Sessions has looked into the Bureau and he now knows which people he wants to fire. He wants to get rid of the Obama crowd. He wants loyalists. He doesn't want a Dept. of Justice that is going in one direction, while the FBI is going in another. Sessions wants a predictable FBI. His own.
Joel Pollak, writing at Breitbart, has a simpler answer to the question, why fire Comey now? Pollak writes:
"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."
In other words, now Trump can't be accused of firing Comey to stop "the truth" emerging about a Trump-Russia collusion, because there isn't any collusion.
Interesting, and I don't disagree with that assessment. But there's a part missing.
Rod Rosenstein was confirmed to be Deputy Attorney-General only two weeks ago - April 26 I believe.
Rosenstein was confirmed by the Senate 94-6. So he was a choice supported by the Democrats & Republicans.
It seems he wasn't too happy to be fingered with being behind the dismissal of Comey, but that isn't a huge surprise.
The FBI Director reports to the Deputy AG in any case. So whoeever was confirmed as Deputy AG would be the one held up as responsible for Comey's dismissal.
Once Trump & Sessions (& Bannon?) got Rosenstein in place, they ask him to assess Comey's suitability for the role and unsurprisingly he comes to the conclusions he does providing Trump & Sessions with cover to fire Comey.
And they can point to the "impeccably impartial" Rosenstein to justify this decision.
Someone the Democrats just fully endorsed to be the person Comey reported to.
I'd say Trump & Sessions have played the Democrats/ Media for fools.
Good on them.
Now get rid of that rat McCabe and start a proper investigation of the Clintons.
It's a matter of survival for Trump now. Take them out or they will clearly take you out and put Pence in your place.
Re: Posted by: KiwiCris | May 10, 2017 9:31:04 PM | 73
I know that basically since birth you USians have been fed the "Russians bad We good" but this is 2017 - the interweb has been around now for 20 years minimum in a form that opens up information to anyone that wants to look & learn. I have had my entire world view & my belief in history turned upside down. And to that end I just DO NOT UNDERSTAND this rabid anti Russian stance !
You don't understand it mate? Really?
Read up on Smedley Butler.
WAR IS A RACKET.
It's about Money & Power. The MIC. Military contracts which run into billions of dollars, and add up to trillions of dollars all told.
Money. Money. Money.
Having the Russian/ Iranian/ Chinese bogeyman is hugely profitable for some folks.
You should really take the time to watch George Webb's videos that outline how the Corrupt Clinton Crime Cabal skims money from all over the place. Here's hoping a new FBI Director will investigate the CCCC properly.
Sheriff David Clarke "If I'm made FBI Director Hillary Clinton will be in jail tonight" gets the job.
First Black FBI Director I believe?
Here's an interview with George Webb to get you started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYAN-9Lg6iw
Ever heard of Seth Rich? Poor fella. Probably didn't realise he was getting himself in way way way over his head.
@ Curtis | May 10, 2017 7:45:05 PM | 67
>>Trump lacks support from party insiders and power players. Those in the party who do support him do so reluctantly.<<
Not having any direct 'pulse on Amerika', it appears Mr. Trump's management style is one that cannot engender loyalty, only obedience. Democratically based governments just don't operate well that way. or at all. A constitutionally based Republic having divisions to power based upon negotiation and compromise among the power holders becomes subordinated to such autocracy. As you point out, the president has little real day to day political support, his public support happens only in every fourth November and can evaporate altogether quite rapidly in the mean time. Thanks for bothering to read what was written.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | May 11 2017 9:08 utc | 92
There is a possibility Trump fired Comey as part of paralying (or even taking over) the FBI, not to hide his guilt in being Putin's agent, which is preposterous, but because he wants to resort to political prosecutions. Loons who imagine the "evidence" of treason by Clinton is overwhelming, while the similar lack of evidence for Trump means fake news, would support Sessions' corrupt DOJ ginning up phony cases. And prosecuting enemy pols for business as usual while winking at their own guys' crimes would probably be hailed as the arrival of the Millennium, God's justice done on Earth.
Posted by: steven t johnson | May 11 2017 11:39 utc | 93
Julian @ # 92
Maybe I didn't explain properly. I'm well aware Of General Butler, his part in derailing Prescott Bush & co's attempted coup d'etat. And Webb, Seth Rich etc - I'm very familiar & I've read extensively - hence my remark about having had my entire world view & understanding of history turned on it's ear.
What I was trying to get at was that there are people who read this excellent blog of "b's" & continue to discuss/comment on the "Russians hacked the Election" (and I'm not meaning Col @ #70) I was saying with all the information out there on the web, people, in particular some who visit this site, shouldn't be anti Russian (it IS, like you say, crap coming from the Deep State) or even be giving any credence to the Russian electoral interference stories, instead should be treating them with the disdain they deserve.
Posted by: KiwiCris | May 11 2017 12:01 utc | 94
does anyone, Anyone here recall Comey's covering for Clinton in the emailgate "Investigations."??
Comey handed out immunity "candy treats" to All Clinton's top aides, his former law buddies? In effect closed down the discovery.
IMO Comey's firing clears the way. It is advisable HRC should now retain legal aid. Legal aid, because I read all the money was WTed to Qatar.
Assange hinted, 'leaks patterning Niagara Falls are coming.' See my comment @ 72
Let the leaks begin: May 11, 2017
Bangladesh prime minister says Clinton personally pressured her to help foundation donor
While secretary of state, Hillary Clinton made a personal call to pressure Bangladesh’s prime minister to aid a donor to her husband’s charitable foundation despite federal ethics laws that require government officials to recuse themselves from matters that could impact their spouse’s business.
The word ethics should not ever be used in a sentence with the name Clinton. Oxy.
The Clinton Global Initiative for Aids. Where did the $$billions go?
There is a riverBank in Qatar. I'll be making a deposit, very secured. Very.
Posted by: likklemore | May 11 2017 13:18 utc | 95
Julian@91:
"It's a matter of survival for Trump now. Take them out or they will clearly take you out and put Pence in your place."
So true. And one thing about Trump is that he is a survivor. This deplorable's money is on the President.
Posted by: Morongobill | May 11 2017 13:22 utc | 96
@84 Julian
Perhaps you could explain how the Americans engineered the Korean election. Evidently it's an article of faith for you and you expect it to be the same for us proles.
Was it similar to getting 65% of the French to vote for Macron by subterfuge and misinformation? I hope not. Things are really getting out of hand.
Posted by: peter | May 11 2017 14:13 utc | 97
@77 Jonathan
Thanks, great read. In another column she links to this which I think is terrific:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe
Posted by: spudski | May 11 2017 14:22 utc | 98
@ Julian 87
Me @ 96
it was the mutiny over Comey's management of the Clinton Emailgate that did him in. While many perceived Sessions was inactive after he was sworn in, Sessions was doing homework; listening, ferreting out who had to go:
James Comey ‘Threw the Reputation of the FBI Under the Bus,’ Says Bureau’s Former Assistant Director
The former assistant director of the FBI tells Breitbart News that President Donald Trump fired bureau director James Comey for legitimate reasons.“He was fired for cause in my view,” James Kallstrom informs Breitbart News. “When the referral came to the bureau close to a year ago, Comey knew at that point, if not soon after, that the Justice Department had no interest in conducting a criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton. They would never approve a grand jury and they would never approve an indictment.”
Kallstrom faults Comey for presiding over a “sham” investigation of Clinton. From granting unnecessary immunity deals to conducting an interview of Clinton not under oath to too slickly issuing a document dump the day after the Fourth of July, the FBI deviated from standard-operating procedure during the investigation of the former secretary of state’s reliance on private servers to send and receive classified material, Kalstrom says.{.]
(added emphasis)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I see action developing. The chef has ordered sous-chef to set the dinner table. Dinner is near ready to be served. Some appetizers will be served cold.
Posted by: likklemore | May 11 2017 14:57 utc | 99
Peter AU @43
Well said in a small space. The complexities of becoming the head of the government which Trump inherited are, even from the perspective of a distant observer, absolutely mind boggling. And although I know very little save what I glean from sites such as this, I suspect that a similar task faced Putin when he first came to power. The closest US comparison I can make is the tenure of Jimmy Carter. We know him now to be an honorable man, but when he came to power, even in less sophisticated times than this, he could not effectively change what had been and what was going to be the practices of a government apparatus intransigent. What he could have done he was unable to do.
Why then should it be a treason for Trump to learn from the manner in which Putin has succeeded rather than to become bogged down as sadly happened to Carter? Isn't it more treasonous to want his attempts to clean the swamp to fail, to crow when he fails, after he has been elected by the system we have in place for the election of our president? Name me a national leader that is more popular with his own people than Putin? Name me a diplomat with more status, more gravitas, than Lavrov? These are men to emulate, not castigate!
To emulate honorable leadership in a great nation is not a crime. It's a Dark Ages mentality that tries to convince us that it is.
Posted by: juliania | May 11 2017 14:58 utc | 100
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It would be interesting to know why James Comey was sacked now and not earlier before the "Russia interfered in the elections" narrative had much chance to damage Trump's presidency. He could have been sacked early on while the media's attention was focused on Trump's choices to fill the various Cabinet posts.
Posted by: Jen | May 10 2017 8:52 utc | 1