In shock move, Trump fires FBI Director Comey

[webfact]

In shock move, Trump fires FBI Director Comey

By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason

REUTERS

 

FILE PHOTO: FBI Director James Comey testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey in the fallout over Comey's probe of Democrat Hillary Clinton's emails last year, saying Comey was no longer able to effectively lead the law enforcement agency.

 

Comey had been leading an FBI investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with Trump's campaign. His dismissal will likely fuel concerns about the integrity of the probe and renew calls for an independent investigation.

 

The FBI director had been embroiled in a controversy surrounding his probe into whether Clinton's use of a private email server while U.S. secretary of state during President Barack Obama's first term compromised national security.

 

"It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission," Trump said in a letter to Comey released by the White House.

 

Trump told Comey in the letter he accepted the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he could no longer provide effective leadership. Comey's term was to run through September 2023.

 

The decision, announced by White House press secretary Sean Spicer in a brief appearance before reporters, caught Washington off guard.

 

Comey had said in July the Clinton email case should be closed without prosecution, but then declared - 11 days before the Nov. 8 election in which Clinton was the Democratic nominee - that he had reopened the investigation because of a discovery of a new trove of Clinton-related emails.

 

Clinton and other Democrats say they believe Comey's decision help cost her the election.

 

The White House released a memo by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that provided the administration's justification for firing Comey.

 

"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 the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken," Rosenstein wrote.

 

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin went to the Senate floor on Tuesday to urge the White House to clarify whether the FBI investigation of Russian interference in the presidential campaign would continue now that Comey has been fired.

 

"Any attempt to stop or undermine this FBI investigation would raise grave constitutional issues," Durbin said. "We await clarification by the White House as soon as possible as to whether this investigation will continue."

 

Trump, in his letter to Comey, said: "While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau."

 

There are several Russia probes ongoing in Congress. The U.S House of Representatives’ main investigation has been stymied in recent weeks by partisan squabbles, while the Senate’s parallel probe has been slow-moving and equipped with a much smaller staff than previous high-profile congressional investigations.

 

(Additional reporting by Dusin Volz and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-05-10

[pegman]

555, So was this about Trump acting because of what was done to Clinton during the campaign or  solidifying his rule of the Banana Republic?

[Berkshire]

Of course this is outrageous, but when will we see some outrage from the Republican Party?  Will they ever put country before party?  Doubtful. 

[darksidedog]

25 minutes ago, webfact said:

"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 the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken," Rosenstein wrote.

So, not prosecuting Hilary is being cited as the reason. Bit late. We are six months down the track.

The fact that Comey was now in charge of allegations regarding Trump, and his team for possible Russian ties is just a coincidence?

Those allegations won't go away. The sacking of the man in charge of the investigation will undoubtedly raise suspicion it is being done to stymie that investigation.

I hope the investigation itself will continue, to determine the truth.

[pegman]

So does Trump show how much he is a champion of diversity by replacing Comey with the guy from Milwaukee?

[stevenl]

I think he should be fired, he made many mistakes, but not now. He is busy with an investigation into the Trump campaign and is on top of that personally being investigated.

 

IMO it should not be possible to fire him now. Somebody is firing the person investigating him. Reminds me of Nixon.

[Rhys]

...classic cxxholster 45...

[iReason]

Sudden Firing of Comey Brings Back Memories of Nixon’s ‘Saturday Night Massacre’

 

"Among people of a certain age, the sudden and strangely explained firing of FBI director James Comey by President Donald Trump brings back memories of another sudden action that portended more trouble for the president than the objects of his wrath."

 

"That would have been the Saturday Night Massacre of October 1973, when Richard Nixon ordered his Attorney General — and when he refused, his Deputy Attorney General, who also refused — to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox."

 

"Finally Solicitor General Robert Bork — of later Supreme Court fame — did the deed in firing Cox. But Nixon never quite recovered his equilibrium in coping with the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency nine months later."

 

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/05/mysterious-comey-firing-brings-back-memories-of-nixon.html

 

The White House is desperately circling it's wagons...

Hopefully the inept one will end up like Nixon.

[ilostmypassword]

21 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

So, not prosecuting Hilary is being cited as the reason. Bit late. We are six months down the track.

The fact that Comey was now in charge of allegations regarding Trump, and his team for possible Russian ties is just a coincidence?

Those allegations won't go away. The sacking of the man in charge of the investigation will undoubtedly raise suspicion it is being done to stymie that investigation.

I hope the investigation itself will continue, to determine the truth.

Actually according to the Washington Post it's not about his decision not to press for the prosecution of Clinton:

Officials said Comey was fired because senior Justice Department officials concluded he had violated Justice Department principles and procedures by publicly discussing the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of private email.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/comey-misstated-key-clinton-email-evidence-at-hearing-say-people-close-to-investigation/2017/05/09/074c1c7e-34bd-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html

[boomerangutang]

This is big news. Trump has fired the first broadside in his all-out political war to try and save his skin from investigation.  He will pull a lot of people (and their careers) down as he gets dragged closer to being busted.

[thaibeachlovers]

18 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Actually according to the Washington Post it's not about his decision not to press for the prosecution of Clinton:

Officials said Comey was fired because senior Justice Department officials concluded he had violated Justice Department principles and procedures by publicly discussing the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of private email.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/comey-misstated-key-clinton-email-evidence-at-hearing-say-people-close-to-investigation/2017/05/09/074c1c7e-34bd-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html

Congratulations on putting forth a reasoned comment that I can "like".

I doubt the resident anti Trumpers will follow your lead and expect that this thread will become just another ( yawn ) diatribe about the Donald.

Anyone wanting to hear what will probably be the only media opinion show supporting the Comey firing could do worse than tune in to the Tucker Carlson show.

 

As for myself, I thought he was a dead man walking since Trump was elected, and while a long time coming, this should have been a surprise to no one.

 

[tomwct]

Good move President Trump! Now get a non-political Constitutionalist Attorney in there to clean up the FBI. Lets re-open Hillaries EMail investigation and wind up the pay to play at Clinton Foundation. Open an investigation into the Fix for Hillary by AG Lynch. Re-open investigation into IRS for investigating Conservative Groups and finally investigation into NSA and spying on Americans by the

Obama Administration especially Susan Rice's activities. Actually on NSA and Rice seat a Grand Jury, so it won't be political. Go Trump!

[Luckysilk]

Comey was out of control and acting like he was the Attorney General, good riddance.

 

The FBI will continue its investigations and eventually nail Hillary.

[boomerangutang]

43 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Actually according to the Washington Post it's not about his decision not to press for the prosecution of Clinton:

Officials said Comey was fired because senior Justice Department officials concluded he had violated Justice Department principles and procedures by publicly discussing the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of private email.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/comey-misstated-key-clinton-email-evidence-at-hearing-say-people-close-to-investigation/2017/05/09/074c1c7e-34bd-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html

You're 1/3 right.  There are 3 reasons Comey was fired.  Two were stated in the official papers:

#1  because he came to a conclusion about HRC's email imbroglio which didn't please Republicans

#2  because he chose to later, in late Oct. to inform congress of Weiner's email tranche.

 

The third reason is not mentioned.  That reason is: Trump is doing every frantic thing he can to try and thwart/shut down an investigation into his treasonous activities .....and his money laundering for Russian oligarchs.

 

 

[Godolphin]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

I think he should be fired, he made many mistakes, but not now. He is busy with an investigation into the Trump campaign and is on top of that personally being investigated.

 

IMO it should not be possible to fire him now. Somebody is firing the person investigating him. Reminds me of Nixon.

I don't think even Nixon would act as blatantly as this stevenl.

 

This will be the biggest test yet of any Republican politician with a shred of integrity. If the GOP, collectively, allows this desperate abuse of power to go unchallenged then God help American democracy.

[darksidedog]

11 minutes ago, tomwct said:

Good move President Trump! Now get a non-political Constitutionalist Attorney in there to clean up the FBI. Lets re-open Hillaries EMail investigation and wind up the pay to play at Clinton Foundation. Open an investigation into the Fix for Hillary by AG Lynch. Re-open investigation into IRS for investigating Conservative Groups and finally investigation into NSA and spying on Americans by the

Obama Administration especially Susan Rice's activities. Actually on NSA and Rice seat a Grand Jury, so it won't be political. Go Trump!

 

1 minute ago, Luckysilk said:

Comey was out of control and acting like he was the Attorney General, good riddance.

 

The FBI will continue its investigations and eventually nail Hillary.

Time to face reality folks. The investigation into Hilary is closed! While what she did was dumb, the conclusion was there was no illegality found, so time to move on.

The investigation that is still ongoing is about Russian involvement with the election and how much people in Donalds team knew about it.

This move potentially could be considered an act designed to prevent that inquiry from reaching just conclusions, which would be a very serious matter if true. Way worse than negligent handling of emails, hence peoples concerns.

[boomerangutang]

3 minutes ago, Luckysilk said:

Comey was out of control and acting like he was the Attorney General, good riddance.

 

The FBI will continue its investigations and eventually nail Hillary.

                      I didn't much like Comey (because of the Weiner email thing - which helped Trump win the electoral votes).  But he seemed to be doing a semblance of a good job on the investigation, though very slow.  

                     You can bet that whomever Trump appoints to replace Comey will be 100% alongside Trump in trying to kill the Trump/Russia investigation.  

 

                 Obviously the US needs a truly independent investigator with full subpoena powers - something that Trump and Republicans will keep fighting to the bitter end.

 

                    This is the closest the US has come to its first-ever coup d'etat. It's beyond a Constitutional crisis.  Thanks Trump voters, for putting the America-debilitating ogre in the WH. 

[brewsterbudgen]

The next FBI Director - Chris Christie, Rudolph Guiliani, Sherif David Clark...?

[Somtamnication]

The road to a presidential impeachment has started to take shape. Hurry up, yanks!

[tonray]

The problem is not Trump, the problem is a system of checks and balances that have stopped working.The Congress, controlled by the right is unified in implementing their agenda that they have ranted about for 8 years. Even though I suspect that most in Congress despise Trump, derailing him now means wasting 2 years of a Republican administration and forcing great embarrassment to all. They will continue to look the other way when in reality they have stopped performing their oversight function and are just stalling until they can pass as much of their stuff as they want.

 

My suspicion is Trump will survive 4 years and depending on how effective they are in getting legislation implemented, perhaps another 4 because the DEMS have no answer to Congressional districting or Fox News and Breitbart brainwashing.

 

The system has failed America and we are no longer operating as the founders intended. I am very sad today.

[Godolphin]

18 minutes ago, Luckysilk said:

Comey was out of control and acting like he was the Attorney General, good riddance.

 

The FBI will continue its investigations and eventually nail Hillary.

Is there the slightest chance that this is about Trump protecting his own back and not about Hillary Luckysilk?

 

Would you concede that the dismissal was rather odd at this particular time, given that Comey was investigating Russian links to Trump's team and given the recent Flynn controversy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Briggsy]

7 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

The next FBI Director - Chris Christie, Rudolph Guiliani, Sherif David Clark...?

Ivanka.

[pegman]

27 minutes ago, Luckysilk said:

Comey was out of control and acting like he was the Attorney General, good riddance.

 

The FBI will continue its investigations and eventually nail Hillary.

So, what's the weather like in Moscow?

[boomerangutang]

Unless you're a hopeless Trump apologizer, you gotta love these guys. . . . . . .

 

 

[boomerangutang]

11 minutes ago, tonray said:

My suspicion is Trump will survive 4 years.....

2 years max.  In 2 years, there will no longer be logjam Republicans farting around the House of Reps, and the Dem majority will do what should be happening now ......drop kicking Trump and his entire team out onto the sidewalk.

[iReason]

All the President's men and women are immediately at the front lines revealing the real reason behind the firing:

 

 

"There's nothing there"

"It's time to move on"

 

I hope this mouthpiece of propaganda ends up in jail as well.

[Luckysilk]

5 minutes ago, Godolphin said:

Is there the slightest chance that this is about Trump protecting his own back and not about Hillary Luckysilk?

 

Would you concede that the dismissal was rather odd at this particular time, given that Comey was investigating Russian links to Trump's team and given the recent Flynn controversy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course it's odd, comey was the outspoken head and he crossed the line many times,  as far as we know those investigations will continue, things in Washington change so quickly it's hard to keep up.

 

I voted from Trump and figured he wouldn't be the typical polictian which was one of the many reasons I voted for him.

 

Unlile the loonies calling the Reps mass murderers et al I cannot defend every move he makes, only time will tell & I will be the first to pass judgement on the President.

[Dagnabbit]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

The FBI investigation was getting too close to trump. The USA democracy is now under severe threat from it's president. Either the democracy is permanently destroyed or trump is forced to resign or impeached. It starts now. 

 

American patriots of all political persuasions, which of course would not include trumpist loyalists, need to mobilize now before it is too late. It may already be too late. 

Utter nonsense

 

Libs are flip-flopping like fish over Comey. He was their pariah just before the election, now he's a symbol of democracy? Give us a break.

 

Comey clearly lied and now he's out. You need an honest man at the helm of the FBI and Comey was far from that.

[iReason]

CNN exclusive: Grand jury subpoenas issued in FBI's Russia investigation

 

"Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year's election, according to people familiar with the matter."

 

"CNN learned of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey."

 

"The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI's broader investigation begun last July into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia."

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/09/politics/grand-jury-fbi-russia/index.html

[tonray]

18 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

2 years max.  In 2 years, there will no longer be logjam Republicans farting around the House of Reps, and the Dem majority will do what should be happening now ......drop kicking Trump and his entire team out onto the sidewalk.

We will agree to disagree. DEMS do not have good prospects of retaking both the House and Senate and likely would still be the minority after 2018 elections. The leadership of Pelosi in particular has been ghastly in her ineffectiveness. And all the while Hilary still out there making speeches pretending she is the face of the party...they are hapless and hopeless. They need their own 'Trump', a complete black swan who takes the party by storm, right now, all the little Pelosi bootlickers are going nowhere fast. I deal in reality not what I would like to see.