The White House announced that President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump acted on the recommendations of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Comey came under fire during the general election for his handling the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. He angered conservatives by announcing that no criminal charges would be filed even though the FBI found the improper handling of classified documents by the Secretary of State. He later angered liberals by reopening the investigation shortly before election day.
The Attorney General determined that Comey could no longer effectively lead the Bureau.
“The FBI is one of our Nation’s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement,” President Trump said in a released statement.
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation typically serves one ten-year term under at least two administrations to keep the office non-partisan.
Comey was a bipartisan favorite for the role when appointed. He had served as Deputy Attorney General under President George W. Bush.
“Over the course of the last several months, Director Comey’s decisions on controversial matters have prompted concern from across the political spectrum and from career law enforcement experts,” U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a released statement.
“The handling of the Clinton email investigation is a clear example of how Comey’s decisions have called into question the trust and political independence of the FBI. In my efforts to get answers, the FBI, under Comey’s leadership, has been slow or failed to provide information that Comey himself pledged to provide.
“The effectiveness of the FBI depends upon the public trust and confidence. Unfortunately, this has clearly been lost.
“The FBI Director serves at the pleasure of the president. Under these circumstances, President Trump accepted the recommendation of the Justice Department that the Director lacked the confidence needed to carry out his important duties,” Grassley added.
Most people believe there is a much deeper story behind this.
“Most people” or “most Democrats”? You may be right, there could be, but I think we can agree that Comey lost confidence in those above him and below him.
The media is acting as though a President dismissing a FBI director is without precedent. It seems like there is a collective memory loss about Bill Clinton doing the very same thing and it isn’t as though he was without scandal either.
Right now the acting FBI director is a known Democrat who donated to Hillary Clinton. We’ll see who is appointed next.
No, I believe most people in general, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, find the justification oddly timed.
I certainly agree that Comey made errors in what was a difficult, tightrope-walking situation during investigations into Clinton. Had Comey been subsequently removed by Obama, I’m sure you would’ve understood and agreed with his decision (*wink*). Had Comey been removed after the election or perhaps at the start of Trump’s term, I think most people would have had less of a problem with that. But in the middle of investigations into the sitting administration when previously the same administration had praised Comey for his pre-election behavior, the timing invites legitimate questions about the underlying motives.
On Thursday, Trump gave answers in an extended interview in which he largely undermined the reasoning presented by the White House, including Vice President Pence, the day before. It’s now largely understood that Rosenstein’s memo was primarily a pretext to cover the main reasons Trump wanted to fire Comey at least in the week previous.
…. And this week, the story that Trump blurbed highly secured and highly sensitive information during an Oval office meeting with Russian diplomats and the Russian press. This is confirmed by multiple sources through multiple news organizations. On Monday afternoon/evening, the White House sends high level people like McMaster and Tillerson out to issue non-denial denials and on Tuesday morning the President tweets that any release of information was his intention. In a cycle of less than 24 hours, we see denial by surrogates and then rapid admission of the alleged acts by the President.
As with the Comey issue, will Senator Grassley continue carrying water for this Administration and suggest that the nation should continue to “suck it up and move on”?