Contributor’s Links post for January 11, 2019

Daily Links Post graphic

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We muse use it while we can.

About Eeyore

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

111 Replies to “Contributor’s Links post for January 11, 2019”

  1. “Farewell, Admiral Ace Lyons”
    Center For Security Policy – January 11, 2019
    https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2019/01/11/farewell-admiral-ace-lyons/

    “Admiral James “Ace” Lyons, Jr. 1927-2018”
    Secure Freedom Radio Podcast – January 11, 2019

    Today, at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery, the Admiral James “Ace” Lyons, Jr. was laid to rest beside Renee, his beloved wife of sixty-four years.

    In this special episode of Secure Freedom Radio, Frank Gaffney speaks with those who shared the privilege of knowing and working one of America’s most indefatigable freedom-fighters: Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Thomas McInerney, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin and former Director of Project Hope, Dr. John Howe. The show will conclude with the Adm. Lyons’ last interview on SFR, recorded on October 1st, 2018.
    https://securefreedomradio.podbean.com/e/admiral-james-%e2%80%9cace%e2%80%9d-lyons-jr-1927-2018/

  2. Soon, the GILETS JAUNES protests will start.

    The movement is branching out to the Gypsies who are very upset with the arrest of the ”Flying Boxer” Dittinger who is a ”Gypsy”. Three inner-cities are called upon to show up tomorrow and all the Gypsy community.

    A woman who was brutalized on the ground and whose son was beaten with police ”bâtons” is suing the Police. Her lawyer saw the video and it’s a clear case of unwarranted police brutality. The Flying Boxer witnessed the scene and that’s when he flew over the guard rail and went after the police.

    The Gypsies can be quite difficult to handle, just saying.

  3. Hungary to release, expel Syrian migrant jailed for 2015 riot (memo, Jan 11, 2019)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190111-hungary-to-release-expel-syrian-migrant-jailed-for-2015-riot/

    “Authorities in Hungary will next week release a Syrian man jailed for his role in a 2015 border riot and expel him from the country, a court spokesman said on Friday, Reuters reports.

    Ahmed Hamed, a Syrian national who holds residency in Cyprus, crossed into Hungary on Sept. 16, 2015 from Serbia when hundreds of migrants forced open the border gate while throwing rocks at police firing water cannon and teargas.

    Convicted of illegally crossing the border and for being an accomplice in what the court called a “terrorist act”, Hamed was handed a five year prison term, a decision that drew criticism from the European Parliament and Amnesty International.

    Hamed will be released conditionally on January 19, when he fulfils two-thirds of his sentence, the earliest possible date set in his sentence, court spokesman Laszlo Soros told Reuters.

    Soros said Hamed would be expelled, without giving further details…”

  4. Germany’s Merkel: EU-Turkey migrant deal “not working properly” (memo, Jan 11, 2019)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190111-germanys-merkel-eu-turkey-migrant-deal-not-working-properly/

    “German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday a deal between the European Union and Turkey to stem massive migrant flows is dysfunctional and criticized Greece’s legal system for underperforming on deportations, Reuters reports.

    The EU and Turkey struck an accord in 2016 after more than a million refugees and migrants arrived from the Middle East and Africa to Greece’s shores the year before.

    Under the agreement, anyone crossing to Greece from Turkey who does not qualify for asylum must be sent back and for every Syrian refugee being returned to Turkey from the Greek islands, another will be resettled to the EU.

    “Unfortunately it’s not working properly,” Merkel said in response to questions from students at the German School of Athens. “As it is not working, we have this pressurised situation on the Greek islands.”

    Management of the refugee crisis has bruised unity in the 28-nation bloc: Mediterranean countries coping with most arrivals often feel helpless while wealthier northern nations complain people reach their soil unchecked and those on the EU’s eastern flank refuse to host new arrivals.

    Merkel concluded a two-day visit to Athens where she also met with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

    “The Greek legal system is very complicated and somehow the sending back (of migrants) is not working,” she told the students.

    “Everyone knows once you’re on a Greek island, you can get to the mainland, and once you’re on the mainland you can then somehow get to Germany, Sweden, Austria or somewhere else, so then we are supporting illegal migration,” she said.

    Merkel said she spoke to Tsipras about those issues.

    “There are many Iraqis, many Afghans and many others for whom we have no solution in the deal. Europe needs to take care of that too,” she said. “It’s a bit complicated but in the long term it’s not acceptable that some European countries say this problem doesn’t interest us.””

  5. Canada announces plans to welcome more than 1 million new immigrants (khaama, Jan 11, 2019)
    https://www.khaama.com/canada-announces-plans-to-welcome-more-than-1-million-new-immigrants-03092/

    “The parliament of Canada has announced plans to welcome more than one million new immigrants as permanent residents in coming three years.

    The decision has reportedly been taken to offset Canada’s aging population and declining birth rate while growing its labor force.

    Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) has said “Thanks in great part to the newcomers we have welcomed throughout our history, Canada has developed into the strong and vibrant country we all enjoy.”

    The Canadian officials have said the country will likely welcome 350,000 new immigrants during the current year while the number would grow to 360,000 in 2020 and 370,000 in 2021.

    At least 286,000 new immigrants were welcomed during the year 2017, according to the officials.

    The latest announcement by Canada follows the restrictive immigration policies adopted by certain western countries including United States.

    This comes as there has been an unprecedented rise in the levels of refugees during the recent the recent years with the UNHCR figures showing around 68.5 million people have been forcibly displaced.”

  6. Turkey issues arrest warrants for 102 FETO suspects (aa, Jan 11, 2019)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/todays-headlines/turkey-issues-arrest-warrants-for-102-feto-suspects/1361656

    “Turkish prosecutors on Friday issued arrest warrants for 102 suspects for their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup.

    The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul issued arrest warrants for 50 suspects who allegedly communicated with FETO members via pay phones.

    Separately, arrest warrants were out for 52 FETO suspects in southern Adana province on the same charges.

    Security forces launched simultaneous operations in 20 provinces to nab the suspects.

    FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

    Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.”

  7. Muslim congresswomen pave way for future generation (aa, Jan 11, 2019)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/muslim-congresswomen-pave-way-for-future-generation/1361593

    “The elections of congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar set a path for other Muslim women to be able to pursue careers in American politics, the two said Thursday.

    Speaking at a reception hosted by the Council of American Islamic Relations, the congresswomen discussed how their elections changed the narrative of Muslims in the country.

    “We now feel in many ways that we belong here and this is our country just like anyone else,” said Tlaib.

    Tlaib and Omar, who are both Democrats, won their races while campaigning on a progressive platform of increasing the minimum wage, environmental advocacy and healthcare coverage for all.

    While there have been Muslims in Congress prior to their elections, the two made history by becoming the first Muslim women to hold the office.

    “We seek to tell a different story about Muslim women here in the United States of America,” Omar said.

    “Our young women are now believing that their place is on the House floor,” Tlaib said.

    The legislators also discussed their faith, mentioning that while they were proud Muslims, they were not perfect.

    “I will never be your perfect Muslimah,” Tlaib said. “But mashallah, I believe so much in our faith, and it gives me so much strength every day.”

    The representative was referring to an incident where she used profane language aimed at President Donald Trump, calling for his impeachment.

    “I ask Allah to give me strength to get up every single day, because Trump is in my community, and I think to myself ‘I’m exposing my faith in such a profound way,’” Tlaib said after shedding tears.”

    • “I will never be your perfect Muslimah,” Tlaib said. “But mashallah, I believe so much in our faith, and it gives me so much strength every day.”

      ‘We’re gonna impeach the motherfucker’

      The two-faces of Islam.

      Males: Psychopaths
      Females: Sociopaths.

      • Intimidated to dominate.
        Intimidated to coerce.
        Kill where they congregate
        Say three times the verse.

    • Tlaib’s whole, “I will never be your perfect Muslimah”, schtick is a flat-out m****rf*****g lie.

      As with many well-conducted scientific experiments, steady room temperature would be quite “perfect”. The only significant variable is scheduling.

  8. Turkey: Actors and actresses are Erdogan’s new targets (DW, Jan 11, 2019)
    https://www.dw.com/en/turkey-actors-and-actresses-are-erdogans-new-targets/a-47052898

    “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is cracking down on artists, strongly rejecting any criticism, even from those with conservative backing. But what does he hope to gain from the increasingly aggressive tirades?

    The most recent verbal feud involving the Turkish president sounds amusing at first. Film star Rutkay Aziz, 72, had a suggestion for Erdogan: “The president should try listening to Mozart and Beethoven. It might do him some good.”

    And, since the president opposes drinking alcohol, journalist Yilmaz Özdil wrote in a column for the kemalist-nationalist daily “Sözcü”: “If Tayyip Erdogan had had just one beer, the situation in Turkey would be much better today.”

    Erdogan’s response to both comments, given in front of AKP delegates on Tuesday, was free of humor: “Coercing a president whose disposition and attitude is unambiguous into drinking beer or listening to Mozart is nothing but the epitome of fascism.”

    ‘The epitome of fascism’

    Aziz’s reaction came via Turkish Arti TV broadcaster, which is based in Cologne, Germany. He never offered a piece of advice to Erdogan, he says. “I was told that Erdogan was going to visit a concert by world-famous pianist Fazil Say. What did I think about that? I replied that that was a very good idea. He’d be able to listen to Mozart and Beethoven. That’ll do him good.”

    Aziz is unable to understand why Erdogan called him a fascist: “It’s impossible to fathom what is meant by fascism in this case. Am I a fascist? Is Mozart a fascist? If the latter was the case, I’d be in favor of protecting Mozart in the name of humanity.” For Aziz, this concludes the case. He told DW: “I put a period behind the whole affair and do not wish to make any further comments.”

    ‘Insult’ and ‘incitement’

    Deniz Cakir, an actress who regularly appears in a TV series, became a target of Erdogan’s wrath after taking part in a battle of words with women wearing headscarves, a story that was picked up by newspapers close to the government.

    The president went on to accuse Cakir of having told women with headscarves to “leave for Saudi Arabia.” And this, said Erdogan once more, “is nothing but pure fascism. That’s the attitude of the Republican People’s Party CHP.” The social democratic and Kemalist CHP is the largest opposition party in Turkey. The Public Prosecutor’s Office has now launched an investigation against Deniz Cakir over accusations of “slander.”

    It’s possible that the actual incident was quite different from what happened according to Erdogan and his public prosecutors. After all, Cakir wrote on Twitter: “What has been stated in public is not true.”

    Last week, Turkey’s cultural scene was rocked by an even more far-reaching incident. Müjdat Gezen, 76, and Metin Akpinar, 78, are two of the country’s acting legends; their films and theater appearances are appreciated by conservatives and progressives alike. The two veterans distance themselves from current government policies. Appearing in Halk TV, a broadcaster close to the opposition, they directed critical remarks at the president. Subsequently, Erdogan labeled them “would-be artists.”

    Actors calling for more democracy

    Gezen and Akpinar, however, were not just ridiculed by the president. An official investigation was launched against them, on grounds of “defamation of the president, threat of revolt and murder.”

    After questioning, the two actors were released — but they are not allowed to leave Turkey. Their passports were confiscated, and once per week they have to report to the police. The Public Prosecutor’s Office submitted a report on its investigation into “incitement to armed rebellion against the government of the Republic of Turkey.”

    “Incitement to armed rebellion”? What was it the two actors had actually said? “The only way of overcoming polarization and chaos is through democracy,” Akpinar had said on “The People’s Arena” television program. “If we don’t succeed, we might see the same things that happen in all kinds of fascism. The ringleader will even be suspended by one of his legs, or he’ll be poisoned in a dungeon.”

    Similarly, his colleague Gezen had not called for a revolt, but had criticized Erdogan: “He berates all and sundry, permanently raising his finger and telling everyone to know their limits. I’m telling you, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, you cannot put our love of our fatherland to the test. Know your limits.”

    Theater critic Atilla Dorsay told DW that in all democratic countries, both government and civil society respect the role of artists. It is only dictatorial regimes that try to oppress them: “Artists who criticize the government even a little bit are condemned in pulpits, in courtrooms and in prison — that is the sad reality of Turkey.”

    Erdogan taking advantage of polarization

    Erdogan, for his part, is increasingly directing aggression at cultural and artistic figures — despite the fact that the country is experiencing politically and economically rough times. Gülfem Saydan Sanver, Pollie Award recipient of the American Association of Political Consultants, says that has to do with the upcoming local elections.

    During previous election campaigns, Erdogan consistently tried to position himself at the center of every discussion, Sanver explained. “If we look at the outcome of the most recent elections, we see that Erdogan benefits from the polarization of society he foments. Publicly accusing those artists is a part of that strategy.”

    Erdogan was creating the impression that society’s conservative circles were under threat. For one thing, he was trying to consolidate his own electorate; for another thing, he was barring the opposition from taking their messages to the people.

    “In addition, Erdogan wants to hush up the repercussions of the economic crisis,” Sanver said. “He is well aware that a climate of fear plays into the hands of the existing government, because a society in fear will always support the existing system. Harsh words directed at artists and launching investigations against them send the message that criticizing the government comes with a high price tag.”

    • If Tayyip Erdogan had had just one beer, the situation in Turkey would be much better today.

      Once again proving Humphrey Bogart’s crowning theory of how:

      The whole world is three drinks behind

  9. Teenager hospitalised with ‘life-changing injuries’ in Enfield HORROR stabbing (express, Jan 11, 2019)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1070973/Enfield-stabbing-London-knife-crime-horror-injures-teenager-police-investigating

    “A 17-YEAR-OLD boy is in hospital with potentially “life-changing” injuries after being repeatedly stabbed at an Enfield bus station, the Met Police have confirmed.

    Officers were called to the scene shortly before 7pm this evening following initial reports of a fight. The attack happened at Edmonton Green bus station. In a statement, the police said: “Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and found a 17-year-old with stab injuries.

    “He was taken to hospital, where he was initially in a critical condition.

    “However his injuries are now not thought to be life-threatening, but may be life changing.”

    There have been no arrests so far.

    A crime scene remains in place as police investigate the attack.

    The leader of Enfield Council, Councillor Nesil Caliskan, responded to the assault on Twitter.

    She said: “I’m hearing reports of another stabbing in Edmonton this evening. It is too often.

    “My thoughts are with victims, the grief and pain families will inevitably face, and my community in Enfield who are anxious and frightened.”

    A women who works in a nearby shopping centre tweeted a photo showing an emergency respondent at the scene, with what appears to be medical equipment scattered around the floor.

    Speaking to Express.co.uk she said: “I was just passing after work, luckily I left a few minutes later than usual or I would have been standing in that exact spot waiting for my bus home.

    The whole bus station was taped off.

    “The ambulance was on scene with the person in the back.”

    London experienced its largest number of murders in a decade last year, with 132 people being killed.

    About 60 percent of these were the victims of stabbings.”

  10. REVEALED: Sudanese immigrants are increasingly having their visas revoked on character grounds and are now among the top five nationalities for cancellations (dailymail, Jan 12, 2019)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6583401/Sudanese-immigrants-increasingly-having-visas-cancelled-character-grounds.html

    “An increasing number of Sudanese immigrants are having their Australian visas cancelled through ministerial discretion, according to new figures.

    Ministerial discretion was used 56 times to cancel a visa on character grounds in the last financial year, according to figures from Department of Home Affairs.

    There have been eight visas cancelled in the three months to September 30.

    Those figures showed people from Sudan were among the top five nationalities with the most visas cancelled by a minister, with fewer than five cancellations last year, according to The Australian.

    However, no Sudanese citizens had visa cancellations via ministerial discretion for the two previous financial years, 2015-16 and 2016-17.

    New Zealanders and Brits lead the list, making the majority of those figures with at least 30 since July 2017.

    Tonga and Lebanon were also among the top highest nationalities to have their visas cancelled under ministerial discretion.

    Ministerial cancellations are different to mandatory cancellation of visas which involve a serious criminal record.

    If a minister ‘reasonably suspects that the person does not pass the character test’ a visa may be cancelled as part of the the Migration Act…”

    • The New York Times – F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia

      WASHINGTON —In the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests, according to former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.

      The inquiry carried explosive implications. Counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr. Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence.

      The investigation the F.B.I. opened into Mr. Trump also had a criminal aspect, which has long been publicly known: whether his firing of Mr. Comey constituted obstruction of justice.

      Agents and senior F.B.I. officials had grown suspicious of Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening an investigation into him, the people said, in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude. But the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s firing in May 2017, particularly two instances in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry, the people said.

      The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, took over the inquiry into Mr. Trump when he was appointed, days after F.B.I. officials opened it. That inquiry is part of Mr. Mueller’s broader examination of how Russian operatives interfered in the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates conspired with them. It is unclear whether Mr. Mueller is still pursuing the counterintelligence matter, and some former law enforcement officials outside the investigation have questioned whether agents overstepped in opening it.

      The criminal and counterintelligence elements were coupled together into one investigation, former law enforcement officials said in interviews in recent weeks, because if Mr. Trump had ousted the head of the F.B.I. to impede or even end the Russia investigation, that was both a possible crime and a national security concern. The F.B.I.’s counterintelligence division handles national security matters.

      If the president had fired Mr. Comey to stop the Russia investigation, the action would have been a national security issue because it naturally would have hurt the bureau’s effort to learn how Moscow interfered in the 2016 election and whether any Americans were involved, according to James A. Baker, who served as F.B.I. general counsel until late 2017. He privately testified in October before House investigators who were examining the F.B.I.’s handling of the full Russia inquiry.

      “Not only would it be an issue of obstructing an investigation, but the obstruction itself would hurt our ability to figure out what the Russians had done, and that is what would be the threat to national security,” Mr. Baker said in his testimony, portions of which were read to The New York Times. Mr. Baker did not explicitly acknowledge the existence of the investigation of Mr. Trump to congressional investigators.

      No evidence has emerged publicly that Mr. Trump was secretly in contact with or took direction from Russian government officials. An F.B.I. spokeswoman and a spokesman for the special counsel’s office both declined to comment.

      Rudolph W. Giuliani, a lawyer for the president, sought to play down the significance of the investigation. “The fact that it goes back a year and a half and nothing came of it that showed a breach of national security means they found nothing,” Mr. Giuliani said on Friday, though he acknowledged that he had no insight into the inquiry.

      • The cloud of the Russia investigation has hung over Mr. Trump since even before he took office, though he has long vigorously denied any illicit connection to Moscow. The obstruction inquiry, revealed by The Washington Post a few weeks after Mr. Mueller was appointed, represented a direct threat that he was unable to simply brush off as an overzealous examination of a handful of advisers. But few details have been made public about the counterintelligence aspect of the investigation.

        The decision to investigate Mr. Trump himself was an aggressive move by F.B.I. officials who were confronting the chaotic aftermath of the firing of Mr. Comey and enduring the president’s verbal assaults on the Russia investigation as a “witch hunt.”

        A vigorous debate has taken shape among some former law enforcement officials outside the case over whether F.B.I. investigators overreacted in opening the counterintelligence inquiry during a tumultuous period at the Justice Department. Other former officials noted that those critics were not privy to all of the evidence and argued that sitting on it would have been an abdication of duty.

        The F.B.I. conducts two types of inquiries, criminal and counterintelligence investigations. Unlike criminal investigations, which are typically aimed at solving a crime and can result in arrests and convictions, counterintelligence inquiries are generally fact-finding missions to understand what a foreign power is doing and to stop any anti-American activity, like thefts of United States government secrets or covert efforts to influence policy. In most cases, the investigations are carried out quietly, sometimes for years. Often, they result in no arrests.

        Mr. Trump had caught the attention of F.B.I. counterintelligence agents when he called on Russia during a campaign news conference in July 2016 to hack into the emails of his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Mr. Trump had refused to criticize Russia on the campaign trail, praising President Vladimir V. Putin. And investigators had watched with alarm as the Republican Party softened its convention platform on the Ukraine crisis in a way that seemed to benefit Russia.

        Other factors fueled the F.B.I.’s concerns, according to the people familiar with the inquiry. Christopher Steele, a former British spy who worked as an F.B.I. informant, had compiled memos in mid-2016 containing unsubstantiated claims that Russian officials tried to obtain influence over Mr. Trump by preparing to blackmail and bribe him.

        In the months before the 2016 election, the F.B.I. was also already investigating four of Mr. Trump’s associates over their ties to Russia. The constellation of events disquieted F.B.I. officials who were simultaneously watching as Russia’s campaign unfolded to undermine the presidential election by exploiting existing divisions among Americans.

        “In the Russian Federation and in President Putin himself, you have an individual whose aim is to disrupt the Western alliance and whose aim is to make Western democracy more fractious in order to weaken our ability, America’s ability and the West’s ability to spread our democratic ideals,” Lisa Page, a former bureau lawyer, told House investigators in private testimony reviewed by The Times.

        “That’s the goal, to make us less of a moral authority to spread democratic values,” she added. Parts of her testimony were first reported by The Epoch Times.

        And when a newly inaugurated Mr. Trump sought a loyalty pledge from Mr. Comey and later asked that he end an investigation into the president’s national security adviser, the requests set off discussions among F.B.I. officials about opening an inquiry into whether Mr. Trump had tried to obstruct that case.

        But law enforcement officials put off the decision to open the investigation until they had learned more, according to people familiar with their thinking. As for a counterintelligence inquiry, they concluded that they would need strong evidence to take the sensitive step of investigating the president, and they were also concerned that the existence of such an inquiry could be leaked to the news media, undermining the entire investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election.

        After Mr. Comey was fired on May 9, 2017, two more of Mr. Trump’s actions prompted them to quickly abandon those reservations.

        The first was a letter Mr. Trump wanted to send to Mr. Comey about his firing, but never did, in which he mentioned the Russia investigation. In the letter, Mr. Trump thanked Mr. Comey for previously telling him he was not a subject of the F.B.I.’s Russia investigation.

        Even after the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, wrote a more restrained draft of the letter and told Mr. Trump that he did not have to mention the Russia investigation — Mr. Comey’s poor handling of the Clinton email investigation would suffice as a fireable offense, he explained — Mr. Trump directed Mr. Rosenstein to mention the Russia investigation anyway.

        He disregarded the president’s order, irritating Mr. Trump. The president ultimately added a reference to the Russia investigation to the note he had delivered, thanking Mr. Comey for telling him three times that he was not under investigation.

        The second event that troubled investigators was an NBC News interview two days after Mr. Comey’s firing in which Mr. Trump appeared to say he had dismissed Mr. Comey because of the Russia inquiry.

        “I was going to fire Comey knowing there was no good time to do it,” he said. “And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself — I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.”

        Mr. Trump’s aides have said that a fuller examination of his comments demonstrates that he did not fire Mr. Comey to end the Russia inquiry. “I might even lengthen out the investigation, but I have to do the right thing for the American people,” Mr. Trump added. “He’s the wrong man for that position.”

        As F.B.I. officials debated whether to open the investigation, some of them pushed to move quickly before Mr. Trump appointed a director who might slow down or even end their investigation into Russia’s interference. Many involved in the case viewed Russia as the chief threat to American democratic values.

        “With respect to Western ideals and who it is and what it is we stand for as Americans, Russia poses the most dangerous threat to that way of life,” Ms. Page told investigators for a joint House Judiciary and Oversight Committee investigation into Moscow’s election interference.

        F.B.I. officials viewed their decision to move quickly as validated when a comment the president made to visiting Russian officials in the Oval Office shortly after he fired Mr. Comey was revealed days later.

        “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said, according to a document summarizing the meeting. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”