Trump fires FBI director, James Comey

Yahoo News:

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FBI Director James Comey speaks to the Anti-Defamation League National Leadership Summit in Washington, Monday, May 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey Tuesday, ousting the nation’s top law enforcement official in the midst of an investigation into whether Trump’s campaign had ties to Russia’s election meddling.

In a letter to Comey, Trump said the firing was necessary to restore “public trust and confidence” in the FBI. Comey has come under intense scrutiny in recent months for his role in an investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s email practices, including a pair of letters he sent to Congress on the matter in the closing days of last year’s election.

Trump made no mention of Comey’s role in the Clinton investigation. But the president did assert that Comey informed him “on three separate occasions that I am not under investigation.”

The image below is alleged to be the letter of termination but I cannot confirm.

H/T Xanthippa

 

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

35 Replies to “Trump fires FBI director, James Comey”

    • …Sheriff Clark said that if he were running the FBI, Hillary would be in jail. Please make it so!!! Sheriff Clark would be the best FBI director ever.

      Works for me. Rolling the dice with David Alexander Clarke Jr. is a gamble I’m more than willing to take. Just the prospect of watching him tell BLM to sit down and STFU would be worth the price of admission alone.

      • PS: Is a modicum of schadenfreude allowed? Or is that just too politically incorrect?!?

        • “I have learned from experience that a modicum of schadenfreude can be most efficacious.”

          – The Other Baron

    • It was only one week ago that Hillary declared herself as the ”Resistance”. It will be interesting to follow. I think she’ll slink back into her dark hole.

    • We have never had a professional cop as FBI Director, they have always been lawyers. a cop would make a good change.

  1. As they say in the trade, “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”

  2. He needs to bring in a total outsider (like Sheriff Clarke) to take over and try to root out the political agents.

    • Not to mention someone who understands that Black Lies Matter is, indeed, a terrorist group.

  3. Sense of ‘shock and relief’ at FBI, but who will take over?

    Fox News’ Catherine Herridge: There’s a sense of shock and disbelief at FBI, Comey had become a polarizing figure. Key date in his firing was April 15, when Rod Rosenstein became deputy attorney general and started reviewing Comey files

    • I think Donald Trump just removed a DNC asset. The more the DNC go ballistic about this the more it proves DNC collusion with Comey’s office.
      Imagine the things Donald Trump is going to find out when someone MAGA is running the FBI.

      • He removed a loose cannon who was building a bastion of power where he could force the politicians to do what he wanted, rather like what Hoover did. The difference is that while people hated Hoover and questioned his honest no one ever had any reason to question his loyalty to the US. Comey was seen to be protecting politicians who sold out to the Russians and any other enemy of the US that would give them money.

  4. Did Comey seal his fate after the Clinton email scandal?

    Former FBI Assistant Director Ron Hosko and Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer of the London Center for Policy Research on the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

  5. MSNBC – Elizabeth Warren: James Comey Was Fired Because Of The Russians

  6. Somewhere in the background there is this almost boringly repetitious little voice that’s screaming whispering, “Good riddance of bad rubbish.”

    A final question: Comey showed loyalty to no one, not even to the American Constitution. Aside from Vladmir Putin, who is there on earth that this fatuous bastard thinks will actually trust him?

    Heave ho!

    • Independant Sen Angus King says he’ll push for former FBI Dir. James Comey to lead Senate probe into Russia/ WH ties

  7. Comey needs to be thanked.

    America was under Socialism. Every Black, Gay, Transgender, women, and Satan’s Day was celebrated.

    The workplace was rife with Political Correctness and people were sent on correctional courses whenever wrong words and thoughts were expressed.

    Terror.

    Yet here, Comely stood up, and told the world the a bare face truth, describing in detail that Hillary broke the law with her private server, and was not allowed by his political masters to recommend her indictment.

    Well, he could have simply resigned like many senior officers did with Obama. But they would then just be replaced Communists, the same as the dhimmis that fill up the ranks of Islam. They would have remained fixed on the Narrative.

    He is one heck of a brave man.

    America owes him big time.

  8. 10 MAJOR FBI SCANDALS ON COMEY’S WATCH

    The FBI interviewed almost every terrorist who successfully struck America
    May 10, 2017
    News just broke that President Trump is dismissing the director of the FBI, James Comey.
    Comey will inevitably be remembered for the controversial role he played in the 2016 presidential election, where his agency conducted surveillance of the Trump campaign as well as investigated the Clinton camp for mishandling classified materials, giving both sides arguments for how the FBI ultimately swayed the vote.
    But even before the 2016 campaign, the FBI endured a number of humiliations under Comey’s tenure. Most damning were revelations that the FBI was generally aware of almost every terrorist who successfully struck America over the last eight years.
    Here are 10 of Comey’s biggest embarrassments at the FBI:
    1. Before he bombed the Boston Marathon, the FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev but let him go. Russia sent the Obama Administration a second warning, but the FBI opted against investigating him again.
    2. Shortly after the NSA scandal exploded in 2013, the FBI was exposed conducting its own data mining on innocent Americans; the agency, Bloomberg reported, retains that material for decades (even if no wrongdoing is found).
    3. The FBI had possession of emails sent by Nidal Hasan saying he wanted to kill his fellow soldiers to protect the Taliban — but didn’t intervene, leading many critics to argue the tragedy that resulted in the death of 31 Americans at Fort Hood could have been prevented.
    4. During the Obama Administration, the FBI claimed that two private jets were being used primarily for counterterrorism, when in fact they were mostly being used for Eric Holder and Robert Mueller’s business and personal travel.
    5. When the FBI demanded Apple create a “backdoor” that would allow law enforcement agencies to unlock the cell phones of various suspects, the company refused, sparking a battle between the feds and America’s biggest tech company. What makes this incident indicative of Comey’s questionable management of the agency is that a) The FBI jumped the gun, as they were indeed ultimately able to crack the San Bernardino terrorist’s phone, and b) Almost every other major national security figure sided with Apple (from former CIA Director General Petraeus to former CIA Director James Woolsey to former director of the NSA, General Michael Hayden), warning that such a “crack” would inevitably wind up in the wrong hands.
    6. In 2015, the FBI conducted a controversial raid on a Texas political meeting, finger printing, photographing, and seizing phones from attendees (some in the group believe in restoring Texas as an independent constitutional republic).
    7. During its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified material, the FBI made an unusual deal in which Clinton aides were both given immunity and allowed to destroy their laptops.
    8. The father of the radical Islamist who detonated a backpack bomb in New York City in 2016 alerted the FBI to his son’s radicalization. The FBI, however, cleared Ahmad Khan Rahami after a brief interview.
    9. The FBI also investigated the terrorist who killed 49 people and wounded 53 more at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Despite a more than 10-month investigation of Omar Mateen — during which Mateen admitting lying to agents — the FBI opted against pressing further and closed its case.
    10. CBS recently reported that when two terrorists sought to kill Americans attending the “Draw Muhammad” event in Garland, Texas, the FBI not only had an understanding an attack was coming, but actually had an undercover agent traveling with the Islamists, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi. The FBI has refused to comment on why the agent on the scene did not intervene during the attack.
    UPDATE: Some select reaction from the Comey’s canning:
    Sen. Blumenthal on Comey Firing: ‘A Looming Constitutional Crisis That’s Deadly Serious’

    Mika Brzezinski: ‘Obviously We Have Clear Concerns About the Qualifications’ and the Psychology of Trump

    Colbert: Trump Shows No Gratitude to James Comey for His Election Win

    Dem Sen. Heinrich on Comey Firing: ‘This President Now Believes He’s Above the Law’

    Former FBI Agents Tells MSNBC: Trump ‘Believes He Has Absolute Power’

    https://news.grabien.com/story-10-major-fbi-scandals-comeys-watch

    • Thank you for the very informative post, Martin. I hope that your home is still above the waterline.

  9. NYT -Days Before He Was Fired, Comey Asked for More Resources for Russia Investigation

    WASHINGTON — Days before he was fired, James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in resources for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election, according to three congressional officials who were briefed on his request.

    Mr. Comey asked for the resources last week from Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who also wrote the Justice Department’s memo that was used to justify the firing of Mr. Comey this week, the officials said.

    Mr. Comey then briefed members of Congress on the meeting in recent days, telling them about his meeting with Mr. Rosenstein, who is the most senior law enforcement official supervising the Russia investigation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself because of his close ties to the Trump campaign and his undisclosed meetings with the Russian ambassador.

    The timing of Mr. Comey’s request is not clear-cut evidence that his firing was related to the Russia investigation. But it is certain to fuel bipartisan criticism that President Trump appeared to be meddling in an investigation that had the potential to damage his presidency.

    The F.B.I. declined to comment. But Sarah Isgur Flores, the Justice Department spokeswoman, said “the idea that he asked for more funding” for the Russia investigation was “totally false.” She did not elaborate.

    In his briefing with members of Congress, Mr. Comey said he had been frustrated with the amount of resources being dedicated to the Russia investigation, according to two of the officials. Until two weeks ago, when Mr. Rosenstein took over as deputy attorney general, the investigation was being overseen by Dana Boente, who was acting as the deputy and is now the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

    Mr. Comey has said he was hoping that he would find a supportive boss in Mr. Rosenstein, and according to the officials, pressed for more resources so he could accelerate the investigation, which is also examining possible collusion between Trump associates and the Russian interference campaign. It was unclear how Mr. Rosenstein reacted to the request, or whether the White House was informed of it.

    To a president who puts a premium on loyalty, Mr. Comey represented a fiercely independent official who wielded incredible power. Mr. Comey made his career standing up to members of the George W. Bush administration on matters of surveillance. And his advisers have cast his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as evidence that he was equally willing to criticize the Democratic nominee for president. 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Mr. Comey’s handling of the Clinton investigation was the stated reason for his termination, and the White House has insisted it had nothing to do with the Russia inquiry, which has become a major distraction for the Trump administration.

    Mr. Comey broke with longstanding policies by speaking publicly about the Clinton investigation twice last year. He also termed Mrs. Clinton’s handling of classified information as “extremely careless,” an estimation that went far beyond what authorities normally say in cases where nobody is charged.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/us/politics/comey-russia-investigation-fbi.html

  10. Dems threaten to bring Senate to a crawl over FBI firing

    Democrats are threatening to slow the Senate to a crawl in response to President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.

    “We clearly have the option of slowing down the proceedings of the Senate if there’s not proper response from Republicans,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said after a closed-door Democratic caucus meeting focused on Comey’s firing.

    Democrats fired a warning shot Wednesday.

    Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, objected to the Senate GOP’s routine request to allow 13 committee hearings to take place.

    “Because of the decision last night by the president of the United States to terminate the director of the FBI and the questions that its raised we gathered together, the Democratic senators on the floor, and listened as our leader at least suggested a path for us to follow as an institution facing this constitutional question,” Durbin said from the Senate floor.

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in an unusual move, stressed during his request that committees are “doing important work” including a hearing on North Korea.

    The Dems’ move also abruptly ended a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that had already started.

    Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) requested that McConnell ask Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to meet in a separate closed-door briefings with senators.

    Spokesmen for Durbin and Schumer did not respond to requests for comment on whether Democrats would try similar tactics this week. Murphy said there wasn’t “consensus” yet on playing procedural hardball.

    “I think this is 12 hours old, and I think we have to give a little bit of time for Republicans to have their own conversations and perhaps rise to the occasion,” he said.

    Wednesday isn’t the first time Democrats have tried to leverage the Senate schedule.

    Former Minority Leader Harry Reid(D-Nev.) warned last year that he would block committee meetings as part of a protest after Republicans refused to hold hearings or votes on Merrick Garland, former President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. Democrats quickly backed down from that threat.

    Republicans used the procedural tactic when they were in the minority to try stall former President Obama’s nominees.

    Senate committees can still meet, but under the Senate’s “two-hour rule,” they are limited to meeting during the first two hours after the Senate convenes.

    A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing ended abruptly Wednesday after word spread that Senate Democrats were planning a slowdown of committee business.

    Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suddenly adjourned the hearing before Democrats could carry out the plan.

    Ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) used that meeting to dig into her concerns over Comey’s firing.

    “At a minimum, the decision to fire Comey raises questions about the appropriateness and timing of firing the person in charge of an investigation that could — I won’t say would, but could — implicate the administration. To have this happen, and happen now, is beyond surprising,” she said during the hearing.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/332736-senate-dems-threaten-to-block-committee-hearings-over-comey-firing