In case you were wondering about the origin of the information that Comey enjoyed wide respect within the FBI, it’s mentioned in today’s Senate hearing. Quinta Jurecic covers it in a live blog on Lawfare, and here’s her encapsulation:
[Senator] Heinrich: Is it true, as White House is saying, the FBI agents no longer supported Comey?
[Acting FBI Director] McCabe: That is not accurate. I worked very closely with Comey and hold him in highest regard; working with him was “greatest honor and privilege of my professional life.” Comey enjoyed broad support within FBI and still does today. Vast majority of FBI employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection with Comey.
It’s fairly dry stuff, but can give a sense of how these hearings go – and what the various intelligence services are not willing to reveal in open session. It’s interesting in that the current Administration has put forth, among other reasons, the suggestion that the FBI employees had lost faith in Comey; this suggests yet another lie from Trump.
Ya gotta wonder how much further this is going to go. It feels like the whole debacle is going to come to a head like some horrid zit, and then explode, covering not just those who voted for Trump, but all the rest of us Americans, in a coating of dishonor and disgust.
BTW, this is interesting. A special election for a state house seat in an Oklahoma district which went for Trump in a big way – +50 points better than Clinton – was just held. It was won by the GOP:
After the votes were counted, Taylor won with 50.48 percent. The Tuesday election was the closest victory in the district since Newell’s first election victory when he garnered 61 percent of the vote. Seminole has been represented by a Republican since that election in 2010.
Another signal of an oncoming disaster? Is Team GOP falling apart – as well it should? Reportedly Senator McConnell will not consider any special investigations of the Trump Administration, as Steve Benen notes:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who’s done as much as anyone to shield Trump from any kind of accountability in the Russia scandal, said, “Today, we’ll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation, which could only serve to impede the current work being done.”
Oh. We’re apparently supposed to believe investigating the scandal would interfere with an investigation of the scandal.
McConnell isn’t alone. The entire Republican leadership in both chambers has decided to endorse Trump’s actions, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who broke his silence yesterday afternoon to endorse the White House’s position. …
These are the kind of introspective questions for which GOP leaders simply have no use. Trump is on their “team,” and there’s nothing else they need to know.
This is really an outstanding example of the bankruptcy of team politics, as I’ve noted before. Amazing incompetency and buffoonery, the power-hungry are positively leaping out of the bushes to slake their thirst – and a GOP so mesmerized by their own prizes that they fail to see the oncoming disaster.
Or Senator McConnell has a hand behind his back, fingers crossed. Is he that devious? I doubt it, but I’d love to be proven wrong.
