{"id":9378,"date":"2017-05-09T20:04:12","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T01:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=9378"},"modified":"2017-05-09T20:04:12","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T01:04:12","slug":"comey-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2017\/05\/09\/comey-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Comey Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

FBI<\/strong><\/em> Director Comey has been dismissed by President Trump while in the midst of investigating President Trump – power politics at its most despicable. Here’s the statement:<\/p>\n

THE WHITE HOUSE
\nOffice of the Press Secretary
\nADVERTISING
\ninRead invented by Teads<\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nMay 9, 2017<\/p>\n

Statement from the Press Secretary<\/p>\n

Today, President Donald J. Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office. President Trump acted on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FBI is one of the Nation\u2019s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement,\u201d said President Trump.<\/p>\n

A search for a new permanent FBI Director will begin immediately.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Benjamin Wittes and Susan Hennessey of Lawfare<\/strong><\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

The question before us now is whether Trump will get away with it. There is no question that the President has the legal authority to remove the FBI director. But there\u2019s also no question that removing the FBI Director in the midst of a high-stakes investigation of Russian influence in the inner circle of the President\u2019s campaign and White House is a horrifying breach of every expectation we have of the relationship between the White House and federal law enforcement.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, there is also no question that members of Congress, particularly members of the Senate, who are concerned about the integrity of that investigation and, more broadly, about preventing the gross political intervention in ongoing law enforcement and intelligence operations have tools at their disposal. We expect them to use those tools, as every American should.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jonah Goldberg on National Review<\/strong><\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

3) I keep reading that this is a \u201cNixonian\u201d move. I get it. But that\u2019s not clear. President Nixon fired people in the vain hope that he could stop the bleeding. There\u2019s no evidence that Trump was trying to kill an investigation \u2014 yet.<\/p>\n

4) Moreover, Nixon was a brilliant, cynical politician. I have a hard time seeing the political brilliance in this decision. Trump does not help himself with this line from his letter to Comey:<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I get what President Trump thinks<\/em> he\u2019s doing by saying this, but politically it\u2019s the equivalent of saying \u201cIt\u2019s not about the money.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kevin Drum<\/a>:<\/p>\n

So what’s the real reason? Well…the FBI is<\/em> investigating the ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign. If I were president while that was going on, I probably wouldn’t want someone running the agency who was eager to prove that he could get tough on my party too. Much better to have a friendly face running things. I imagine that Trump feels the same way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But it feels like a big old hand in the air saying GUILTY!<\/p>\n

\"\"

Should this be labeled FBI<\/strong> or Trump Administration<\/strong>?<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

I wonder if this really qualifies as a silencing of Comey, however. He knows what he knows – and the Senate can subpoena him for further testimony as a private citizen. I don’t know how much he’s bound not to answer as a former Director – but his information remains fresh and hot.<\/p>\n

But will the investigation continue? I suppose, like a headless chicken, it may run around until the deputy Director, Andrew McCabe, puts an end to it – if he does. But McCabe appears to be the choice of Comey, so we may see a very hurried choice by Trump for a new director. This must be confirmed by the Senate, however – and will the Senate permit itself to be hurried by an erratic Administration?<\/p>\n

The political drama continues, while we blow about like a pennant in a hurricane. Will Trump’s successor have an intellectual understanding that there are fundamental differences between governments and corporations? If not, this will just continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FBI Director Comey has been dismissed by President Trump while in the midst of investigating President Trump – power politics at its most despicable. Here’s the statement: THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ADVERTISING inRead invented by Teads FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 9, 2017 Statement from the Press \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9378"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9381,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378\/revisions\/9381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}