Trump Fires FBI Director Comey

[mirth]

If Comey's assertion is true, then he should have done what the law requires. He should have reported this crime immediately to the AG or congress. Waiting until after he was fired makes this look like 'Revenge of the Comey' to me. With a very willing NYT happy to help-out in an anything-to-hurt-Trump way.

Bingo. If there was obstruction by Trump, Comey should have reported it immediately. His handling of things, from the Clinton emails to this, has been questionable to say the least.

[OJsDad]

Sen Kane was on TV this morning sayimg Comey didnt need report that to congress until after he got fired.

[Steelgrave]

Comey's handling of many things has been questionable, but I disagree that he should have left the White House and immediately got on the phones or that he was somehow obligated to make an immediate disclosure while an investigation may have been ongoing. As pointed out in the article, his creation of memos is evidential in nature and has been upheld in court. And seriously, if you are going up against the President of the United States, you probably want as much ammo as possible, not to mention how future conversations with Trump may have gone.

Painting Comey as a disgruntled, fired employee is just weak, sorry. That's the first stone every business throws, regardless of the circumstances. I said at the start of this thread there was enough to warrant firing Comey and I stand by that, however comparing Comey's record of integrity to Trumps documented lack of the same lends weight to Comey's version of the facts, IMHO.

[bbmike]

^Maybe, but it makes it look like even Comey himself didn't think he was being ordered to stop investigating right then and there. He may have thought that it could be headed that way and he needed to start documenting everything.

[Steelgrave]

And it may be just that. I think Comey was smart to document his meetings with Trump. Determining whether this constitutes a criminal act or rises to impeachment level is not Comey's call, but the memos will be a part of this story regardless of the outcome.

[mirth]

Sen Kane was on TV this morning sayimg Comey didnt need report that to congress until after he got fired.

So it's not possible obstruction unless he got fired? 

[OJsDad]

A couple of thoughts;

1.  We haven't seen the memo, we just know about it because it was leaked by someone that has seen it.  We don't know if Trump demanded that the investigation into Flynn ended then or if he was expressing his opinion that since Flynn was fired/resigned that the investigation wasn't needed any longer. 

2.  Trump did not fire Comey right away after that meeting.  It was 2 months later. 

[mirth]

A couple of thoughts;

1.  We haven't seen the memo, we just know about it because it was leaked by someone that has seen it.  We don't know if Trump demanded that the investigation into Flynn ended then or if he was expressing his opinion that since Flynn was fired/resigned that the investigation wasn't needed any longer. 

2.  Trump did not fire Comey right away after that meeting.  It was 2 months later. 

Yeah. I don't really trust much of what is being reported by the MSM. They definitely want to pile on Trump at every opportunity.

Still, Trump better hope the Republicans hold on to the House and Senate. If he makes it to the mid-terms and the Dems take over in Congress, impeachment proceedings are guaranteed.

And you have to wonder how long the Repubs will shield him. He's making it almost impossible to move the Republican legislative agenda and they are burning a lot of political capital on defending his behavior.

[Steelgrave]

And you have to wonder how long the Repubs will shield him. He's making it almost impossible to move the Republican legislative agenda and they are burning a lot of political capital on defending his behavior.

I imagine most Republicans don't have a lot of loyalty towards Trump, considering they didn't ride his coattails into office and he certainly didn't win them their seats. Trump represents an opportunity for them to advance their agenda and powerbase but is arguably a liability at the same time. If things reach critical mass or if a Democratic wave starts to form in Congress, a President Pence would certainly be preferable to them over a President (insert random Democrat here).

[OJsDad]

https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/864840873313533952

[Sir Slash]

The memo doesn't matter. Remember, Comey himself created a new requirement for prosecution in the Clinton E-Mail Scandal. It's not the act, it's the 'intent' that now matters. Unless he threatened directly to fire Comey if he didn't let Kelly off, then it was just poor choice of wording, like, "There are NO classified E-Mails on my personal server" or maybe, "I turned-over ALL of my work-related E-mails". Unless of course intent only counts for Democrats.  :-"

[Marty Ward]

If this turns out to be true, it could turn a lot of people against Trump and force an independent investigator.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/comey-memo-says-trump-asked-him-to-end-flynn-investigation/ar-BBBdmgu?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

This jumped out at me:

"Mr. Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Mr. Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo. The memo was part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president's improper efforts to influence an ongoing investigation. An F.B.I. agent's contemporaneous notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations."

For all of his missteps during the campaign, I have yet to see anything that makes me think Comey is less than an honorable man who has devoted his life to justice. In terms of credibility, a memo of this sort from a man such as Comey could be damning.

If Flynn had resigned before Trump asked if they could focus on leaks more than Flynn (which is how I read Trumps statement), why is that a problem? Or am I missing something where Trump said the end the investigation into Flynn?

[Steelgrave]

The memo doesn't matter. Remember, Comey himself created a new requirement for prosecution in the Clinton E-Mail Scandal. It's not the act, it's the 'intent' that now matters. Unless he threatened directly to fire Comey if he didn't let Kelly off, then it was just poor choice of wording, like, "There are NO classified E-Mails on my personal server" or maybe, "I turned-over ALL of my work-related E-mails". Unless of course intent only counts for Democrats.  :-"

Seriously? Of course the memo matters....as was pointed out in the article, such memos have been admissible in criminal court and Comey has long been known to be a meticulous memo-taker. As for "intent"  Trump asking the VP and the Attorney General to leave the Oval Office so he could speak privately with Comey and certainly doesn't reflect well on Trump's version. I won't even go into comparing Trumps character and record with truthfulness to Comey's....or practically anyone else I know. I'm not saying it's a smoking gun or evidence which should lead to impeachment, I'm saying that it's not something to be casually dismissed as "fake news". In a week, we've had a questionable firing of the FBI director with several different (and conflicting) stories as to the timeline involved in the firing, news that Trump released Israeli given intelligence to the Russians which may compromise an Israeli source, and now the Comey memo. Did I miss anything?

[Steelgrave]

If this turns out to be true, it could turn a lot of people against Trump and force an independent investigator.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/comey-memo-says-trump-asked-him-to-end-flynn-investigation/ar-BBBdmgu?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

This jumped out at me:

"Mr. Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Mr. Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo. The memo was part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president's improper efforts to influence an ongoing investigation. An F.B.I. agent's contemporaneous notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations."

For all of his missteps during the campaign, I have yet to see anything that makes me think Comey is less than an honorable man who has devoted his life to justice. In terms of credibility, a memo of this sort from a man such as Comey could be damning.

If Flynn had resigned before Trump asked if they could focus on leaks more than Flynn (which is how I read Trumps statement), why is that a problem? Or am I missing something where Trump said the end the investigation into Flynn?

If a person commits a criminal act (say stealing from an employer) and then resigns, it does not mitigate the crime. If the FBI was investigating Flynn for a criminal act, his no longer being NSA is irrelevant. As for what Trump may have said or not said, he contradicts himself so often as to strain credibility when it's his word against anyone else.

[Marty Ward]

If this turns out to be true, it could turn a lot of people against Trump and force an independent investigator.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/comey-memo-says-trump-asked-him-to-end-flynn-investigation/ar-BBBdmgu?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

This jumped out at me:

"Mr. Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Mr. Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo. The memo was part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president's improper efforts to influence an ongoing investigation. An F.B.I. agent's contemporaneous notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations."

For all of his missteps during the campaign, I have yet to see anything that makes me think Comey is less than an honorable man who has devoted his life to justice. In terms of credibility, a memo of this sort from a man such as Comey could be damning.

If Flynn had resigned before Trump asked if they could focus on leaks more than Flynn (which is how I read Trumps statement), why is that a problem? Or am I missing something where Trump said the end the investigation into Flynn?

If a person commits a criminal act (say stealing from an employer) and then resigns, it does not mitigate the crime. If the FBI was investigating Flynn for a criminal act, his no longer being NSA is irrelevant. As for what Trump may have said or not said, he contradicts himself so often as to strain credibility when it's his word against anyone else.

I understand that but from what I read Trump didn't ask the investigation be ended only that leak be given a higher priority. Would that be a crime?
Of course I could have this all wrong and with Trump what is said one day is contradicted the next.