Why Trump Fired Comey

National Review ^ | 6-10-2017 | Andrew C. McCarthy

[sheikdetailfeather]

He believed that the FBI director misled the public to think that the president was under investigation. At last, at least for your humble correspondent, this week’s big hearing brought clarity. I now believe President Donald Trump fired Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey because he believes Comey intentionally misled the public into believing Trump was under investigation by the FBI. There is enough support for this theory that, had the president been forthright in explaining it when he dismissed Comey on May 9, there might have been considerably less uproar. Instead, Trump dissembled, as he seems hardwired to do. He thus bought himself a debilitating special-counsel investigation, despite its being increasingly patent that there is no crime to investigate. March 20 was the big day. Understanding why requires us to go back several weeks, to January 6, the day Trump and Comey first met. It was also the day the FBI, in conjunction with the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, issued a report called “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections.” The report was based on intelligence that had been gathered over several months. But it made clear to the public that the FBI was continuing to investigate. As the agencies put it, “new information continues to emerge, providing increased insight into Russian activities.” Thereafter, the continuing investigation was widely covered in the media, often on the strength of unlawful leaks of classified information.

[WHBates]

Levin didn’t accuse the President of lying in this matter, in fact he said no such thing. Where do you get this crap?

[Sequoyah101]

He fired him because he abused the office he held, could not be trusted, is a liar, brought shame to the agency, could not lead the agency etc.

Generally he has proven himself to be just a lousy person.

[RummyChick]

It is a good read

And it shows why trump is his own worst enemy at times.

This is likely true of many..if not most people. Human nature.

Bill kristol tweeted an article from Wapo about a deposition that was taken from trump. That depo shows why he should just shut up..listen to his high priced outside lawyers.. until he is cleared by special prosecutor team..that now includes dreeben.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"...had the president been forthright in explaining it when he dismissed Comey on May 9, there might have been considerably less uproar."

No. Bloody. Way.

None.

[Alberta's Child]

I'm generally not inclined to hold a dim view of a public official who lies to the media (or even the public) in situations where he has no legal obligation or moral duty to tell them the truth. Trump could have told 25 different stories about why he fired Comey, and none of them mattered because he didn't even need a good reason to fire him.

In this case, lying about why he fired Comey was better for all involved ... because telling the truth would have reflected poorly on a lot of people and done incalculable damage to the U.S. government. After seeing Comey's testimony to the Senate the other day, I'm certain that Trump would have been compelled to say the following if he wanted to be truthful about why he fired him:

"I fired FBI Director James Comey because he's an ineffective person in any capacity, he's a coward, he's manipulative, and he's just a plain old f#%&ing @sshole."

[CaptainK]

When confronted with the fact that Comey was despised by the Democrat establishment and questioned about their sudden hysteria over his firing, nothing is funnier than watching a Democrat say they would have been fine with Trump firing Comey on his first day in office.

[WMarshal]

No, Justice delayed is justice denied.

[FrankR]

All BS aside, it doesn’t matter WHY Trump fired Comey. Trump is the President of the United States of America, the FBI director serves at the pleasure of the President of the United States of America, the President of the United States of America has the Constitutional RIGHT to fire the FBI director.

All of these “humble correspondents” are reduced to looking for the sludge in the gutters to find something - anything - on Trump. The search for foibles on the President has taken on an aura of a “journalists scavenger hunt”.

They’re wearing the letters off their keyboards, trying to be “THE ONE” to take down the “KRAKEN”. These Pulitzer pundits spend inordinate amounts of time everyday, analyzing yesterday’s news, looking for an adjective, noun, or verb, that will cast a bad light on Trump.

It’s ridiculous, sophmorish, and petty, and I - and millions of others - am sick of it. Those who voted for Trump are not going to turn on him, based on the big foot expedition of the dems and the MSM. They collude with each other, interview each other, just to feed their “journ-O-list talking points by air/press deadlines everyday.

Are the ever going to cease, and desist?

No.

But many time attention-seeking children can be silenced by simply ignoring them.

[WMarshal]

First of all, there is no special prosecutor, Mueller is a special council which is fact finding. Second of all Trump can fire him at any time which he should.

[RummyChick]

I stand corrected on terminology.

Btw..I am not disputing that a POTUS can fire an FBI director.

[Alberta's Child]

I think we're seeing an interesting scenario play out here on a national stage.

1. Democrats and their Beltway cronies (media, establishment Republicans, etc.) want Trump to be the subject of perpetual investigations because they think it will make him a scandal-ridden, ineffective President.

2. Republicans who support Trump (even if they do it quietly for their own political reasons) want Trump to be the subject of perpetual investigations because it helps them pass effective legislation without any scrutiny in areas where Trump's agenda and their agenda overlap. For example, is anyone in the media even talking about the fact that the House voted to overturn Dodd-Frank while all the media attention was focused on Comey's testimony to the U.S. Senate?

And here is where it gets surreal, folks ...

3. DONALD TRUMP wants to be the subject of perpetual investigations because he comes out even better than unscathed at the end of every chapter of this story. The whole narrative helps him paint himself as a victim of a rigged system, the media, "The Swamp," and everything else his supporters find repulsive about Washington, D.C. These stupid investigations, the fake news about them, and the political/media outrage over them actually help him bolster his credentials with his supporters.

[Fantasywriter]

‘The National Review just can’t help but start even positive articles with a negative spin. Blaming President Trump for “a debilitating special-counsel investigation” is like claiming a nun who was brutally raped by an illegal immigrant Muslim from Somalia wanted it. Grow up National Review!’

Looks like I’m missing out on some prime bilge by refusing to read anything the fly weight Never-Trumpers at National Review publish. But you slogged through it at least far enough to nail them on yet another piece of Trump-hate-driven ‘analysis.’ I appreciate that—and you’re 100% right. The analogy is perfect; it summed the issue up very well.

[thinden]

On the one hand they will kill him. On the other hand he can Kill them.

His option..... will I live or will I die?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

as long as he’s been a fixer for the xlintonista regime, he knows they have their own code of omerta

[stylin19a]

I still think it's simpler than that.

Comey comes out publicly and says, where
Hillary is a target, is guilty is not cleared, but will not be prosecuted.

Trump is not a target, no evidence of wrong doing and can't get the Comey to say that publicly about the President of The Unted States.

If I'm Pres.Trump, I'm pissed and I fire Comey.

[CaptainK]

Trump is not his own worst enemy. If he was he, we would be talking about President Rodham Clinton. He can’t act in any way or say anything that doesn’t cause the press and the nevertrumpers to dive into a state of overdrive mass hysteria.

If Trump is exhaling CO2 they will claim he’s responsible for global warming.

[Carl Vehse]

Comey was fired for the reasons stated in the letter along with the documents from Sessions and Rosenstein.

If Sessions and Rosenstein had not sent such recommendations that Comey should be fired, it is likely that Comey would have been fired for those reasons and possibly others as well. But such speculations are just hypothetical.

[fireman15]

But you slogged through it at least far enough to nail them on yet another piece of Trump-hate-driven ‘analysis.’ I appreciate that—and you’re 100% right. The analogy is perfect; it summed the issue up very well.

Rick Lowry and company keep trying to redeem themselves in their own eyes. They made themselves irrelevant by starting this Never Trump nonsense. They think by writing long winded intellectual sounding analysis that they can sound intelligent again. But they demonstrated for all that they can't see the noses on their own faces even when looking in the mirror. They might as well toss the National Review name. They burned NR's reputation to the ground. Poor Bill Buckley must be turning over in his grave!

[Fantasywriter]

‘They might as well toss the National Review name. They burned NR’s reputation to the ground.’

You have a way with words. That’s exactly what they did. They must have imagined the National Review was about a thousand times more influential than it was. [Have to speak in the past tense, because whatever influence they *had* is long gone.] So they thought if they threw themselves to the ground hard enough, kicked their feet, hammered their fists and held their breath, people would jump off the Trump Train.

That was one of the bigger miscalculations in this last election cycle. Your analysis is dispositive; they failed to affect the election but succeeded in self-immolating. Too bad.

[Red Steel]

All BS aside, it doesn’t matter WHY Trump fired Comey. Trump is the President of the United States of America, the FBI director serves at the pleasure of the President of the United States of America, the President of the United States of America has the Constitutional RIGHT to fire the FBI director.

Right. Examining the dirty Democrat party's conduct and there ubiquitous liberal press over the years, every time there is a Republican President in office, they attempt to separate his cabinet and presidential appointees from the Executive Branch. They allude, imply, and lie creating illusions that presidential appointees are independent and not subordinate to the President. I've noticed it even here causing confusion by their propaganda.

[Hostage]

First thing I noticed too. Didn’t read further after that smear.