Off Topic Trumpy pumpy.

Comment: How President Trump's Decision to Fire James Comey Could Backfire 1/26

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Trump fires FBI boss James Comey
Video provided by Seven News
President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey rocked Washington on Tuesday, raising questions about the future of the investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia and potentially setting off a chain of events that could envelop his administration.
Comey, whose investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server helped lift Trump into the White House, was leading the federal counterintelligence investigation into whether advisers to the President had sought to collude with Russian officials in their efforts to swing the 2016 election. The ouster of the nation's top cop prompted comparisons to Watergate, as Democrats pilloried Trump for sidelining the official overseeing a probe that could threaten his presidency.
But the shock move is fraught with political peril as well. Calling the firing a cover-up, a slew of Democrats called for the appointment of a special prosecutor, who would have broad authority to investigate the Trump campaign and administration. At a minimum, such a probe would indefinitely extend questions about Trump's ties to Russia, and it could result in criminal charges.
"This is Nixonian," said Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, one of several Democrats who likened the move to the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, in which President Richard Nixon fired the special prosecutor appointed to the Watergate investigation, prompting top Justice Department officials to resign in protest. Said Senator Richard Blumenthal on CNN: "We face a looming constitutional crisis."
Trump's decision ostensibly came at the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who laid out the case for sacking Comey in a memo that detailed his mishandling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server. But those complaints about Comey's conduct, echoed by Republicans and Democrats alike, concern events that took place before the 2016 election. And they did not dissuade Trump from retaining Comey, whom he has praised on multiple occasions when he took office in January.
Trump's own statement Tuesday appeared to support his opponents' suggestions that the decision was driven by the Russia investigation. "You are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately," Trump wrote to Comey in a letter released by the White House. "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."
Further clouding matters, Trump's former longtime security guard and current Director of Oval Office Operations Keith Schiller hand-delivered that termination letter to the Bureau Tuesday, according to an administration official. At the time, Comey was in Los Angeles, where he was visiting the local FBI field office and speak at a recruitment event late Tuesday. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the letter was also emailed to the FBI. Officials said Comey learned the news from television. Senior members of Congress were only informed of the news minutes before the White House announced it, Spicer confirmed.
Sessions had previously recused himself from the election probe over his failure to disclose to Congress meetings with Russian officials in 2016. As a result, the Russia investigation will now be led by Rosenstein, a widely respected career prosecutor who served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. In a memo accompanying Trump's letter, Rosenstein laid out the case for Comey's firing.
"I cannot defend the Director's handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken," Rosenstein said. "Almost everybody agrees that the Director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives." The FBI, Rosenstein added, "is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them."
Rosenstein's indictment stemmed primarily from Comey's decision to circumvent then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the Department of Justice to announce his recommendation that no charges be brought against Clinton, as well as to criticize her handling of classified information. "It is not the function of the Director to make such an announcement," Rosenstein wrote. He criticized Comey's October 28 letter, which announced the reopening of the Clinton investigation. According to Spicer, Rosenstein's memo was presented to Trump today.

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© Getty Images US President Donald Trump. "No one from the White House" directed Rosenstein to lay out the case for Comey's firing, Spicer told reporters late Tuesday. He directed questions about Sessions' role to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Spicer also did not address why Trump decided to can Comey now, when the underlying facts have remained unchanged for months. "It is his recommendation in concurrence with the Attorney General that the president based his decision on," Spicer said.
The White House is opposed to Democratic calls to appoint a special prosecutor. "There is clearly at this point no evidence of a reason to do that," Spicer said. "Right now, on multiple occasions, they said the president isn't under investigation."
Rosenstein, who was confirmed by the Senate only two weeks ago in a 94-6 vote, now has a pivotal decision before him. With the Russia probes in both the House and the Senate sputtering, the deputy attorney general faces pressure to appoint an independent special prosecutor. During his Senate confirmation hearings, Rosenstein signaled that he was willing to do so if he deemed it appropriate.
An independent counsel with free rein to poke around the nooks and crannies of a presidency can have devastating consequences. It was the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the Whitewater land deal that ultimately led to Bill Clinton's impeachment for an unrelated extramarital affair.
Even senior Republicans expressed dismay at the firing, though they stopped short of calling for a special counsel. "I am troubled by the timing and reasoning of Director Comey's termination," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, whose committee is probing Russia's actions in 2016. "I have found Director Comey to be a public servant of the highest order, and his dismissal further confuses an already difficult investigation by the Committee."
Senator John McCain added that he was "disappointed by Trump's decision. "I have long called for a special congressional committee to investigate Russia's interference in the 2016 election," McCain said. "The president's decision to remove the FBI Director only confirms the need and the urgency of such a committee."
The White House appeared to be caught flat-footed by the outcry. "Comey had lost the confidence across the board," said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. "When you have that happen, you can't serve in that capacity."
The irony of Comey's firing is that the figure who helped propel Trump to victory - infuriating Democrats in the process - could now set in motion a chain of events that Democrats hope could lead to the unraveling of his presidency. Administration officials distributed Democrats' prior cries for Comey's dismissal as evidence the fallout was a mere political frenzy. Trump's decision "should be welcomed by Democrats," Spicer said.
As recently as May 3, Spicer assured reporters that Trump remained confident in Comey's leadership. Now a President who believes the Russia probe is designed to undermine his legitimacy - on Monday he tweeted that it was a "total hoax"- has made the gamble to transfer control of the investigation to an official who has been on the job for just two weeks.
"We think he is beyond reproach and that his credentials are impeccable," White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said of Rosenstein. "This is a decision he made to put the memo together that was presented to the attorney general, the attorney general presented it to the President, and the President took the decisive action that leaders do when they are faced with new facts and information."
The White House may have hoped the move would put the Russia story to bed. "There is no there-there," said Sanders on Tuesday night. "It's time to move on."
Instead, they may have ensured that won't happen.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...ould-backfire/ar-BBAXzNe?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=iehp

 

everyone seems to forget the fact that trump has the house and senate majorities on his side (nominally) he can do what he likes.

REALITY CHECK to the yanks who thought voting for a loon was a good idea.

 

In what type of world can someone fire the person who is in charge of investigating him?

Why get a person accountable to the president to investigate his team in the first place?

The person appointed must be accountable to only a body like the Senate or the Congress and indpendent of the president.

 

Donald Trump is executive president, he can do and undo, but may have consequences.

 

It's why he's gunning so hard for "leakers" ...highlighting it to be illegal and painting it as unpatriotic and criticising the media for accepting it.

If you've got The FBI, NSA, DoJ and both sides of the house on a tight lead the only thing to worry about is an increase in leaks in response. Prosecute leakers or undermine their credibility as well as undermine those that will publish the leaked info and it's game set and match...

 

I wonder whether there has ever been a president that was so openly dodgy and unsuitable? I am sure there must have been a few who have been but unknown to the general public and have had a dodgy dark side. We always talk about prominent politicians having skeletons in their closets but this one seems to have multiple skeletons lying in full view of the public

 

Lol...Nixon...possibly Bill Clinton..once they got uncovered at least: both pretty brazen and adamant they'd done nothing wrong . Kennedy wasn't nearly the man getting hit in the head by a bullet then made him out to be...pretty unsavoury and authoritarian character all around. Despite the Hollywood gloss.

Think this is the first that knows he doesn't have to care. Nixon thought the same but had a Republican party that still believed in the constitution/country first ideal...the modern equivalent are a bag of weasels.

Tbf..the modern democratic party are no better ...otherwise H Clinton would have got no where near the nomination.

 

ah but you have high standards there

despots don;t have Independent bodies.. .thats why they are despots.

 

IMO this is all a smokescreen to distract

Nobody cares really

a) comey did actually act like a total dick exceeding his authority all over the place on clinton.

b) trump has both houses. he's never getting dinged on this


BUT hang on whats getting hidden... Trump just decided to arm kurds... i.e the PKK in the end to fight on his behalf in syria and iraq so.... oh oh... TURKEY have half the kurds homeland desired territory... what do we all think is coming in 5 years?

YUP kurds in civil war in Turkey using us arms... oops...

Yeah lets all look over here guys... (trump waves comey at press) what is the ****er really doing that should be paid attention to?

 

I hope Ivanka gets locked up. That'd be one fine prison/lesbo flick.

 

But hang on.

The fact that we have some investigation means there is a level of scrutiny. In a dictatorial regime you wouldn't even have the mention of an investigation never mind the start of one.

Trump may hope/want to rule like the CEO of his hotel company but he can't or at least should not be allowed to.

At the end of the day, we'll see the mettle of these American politicians. Will they go down the pan dragged by trump or will they stand up and fight for the constitution?

 

The only thing imo between us and a dictatorship for next years is the courts

Also imo investigation is a term used by desplts to look rational to others

 

You mean democratic or constitutional surely. Trump could never appear rational in a million years.

I still cannot believe that someone like Trump has been elected US president. How could voters not see that he can only look after no 1 and that all his promises were just bluster and that he only says what he thinks improves his image? So much for democracy. If an electorate like the USA provides this outcome what chance others in so called underdeveloped countries?

 

Despite being Turkish myself I think I'm going to back the orange one on this. The Kurds seem to be one of the most sane groups in the region. (All things relative). They may be a threat to Turkey/Syria/Iraq in their desire for a homeland but they're not a threat to the West.

I think the West's courtship with Turkey is at an end. Erdogan is steering the country in the wrong direction. Turkey is further away from EU membership than it has been in decades. They may be a NATO ally, but it appears they are having sex with Russia on their lunch break.

I don't care about pissing Turkey off at the moment. Not while Erdogan is in power. Doesn't deserve respect. Arm the Kurds.

 

most sane?

Which kurdish section are we talking about? thats the issue. The mudjas in Afghanistan were porb most sane people us could find then too.

If you give out weapons what happens? 2 years later the us find IS driving their humvees down the road to take Mosul form the Iraqis. My point is you hand stuff over, don't be shocked people use it to do what they like after or give to to others.

I think you are seaking from the point of view of a threat to US cos turkey is part of europe (sort of) and holding back a tide of refugees cos germany paid them to. The ramifications of yet another civil war here cannot be underestimated

France's issues are 90% caused by isis in syrai who are allowed to flourish because of iraq.... and lybia.. etc

I would agree The door on EU licking turkey balls should be over. but regionally it would be utterly mad to have air bases in turkey while arming guys who will inthe end train their forces fightiing isis then use the weapons to come pouring over the border.

Where chaos reigns extremists will flourish.

We need more men in suits and army uniforms in the middle east cos the moment someone says democracy anywhere religious extremists rise and take over.

 

Its in my view a classic two party system where nobody esle can come in AND to top it a collegiate system where states with low pops can group and dictate to the majority.

It is bascially trump was awful but enough hated clinton and her husband that they would vote for anything and did.

plus he appealed to every scrap of hatred and bile he could.

we must see that the turn out in us elections has been 50 odd percent for a very long time. if we compare to france that was 70% or so... the us hasn't turned out 70% since 1900... as in 1900 not the 1900s.

in short the two party system has failed them... its undemocratic and peopel don't vote. half the yanks bleating didn't bother to cast a vote...

Trump got 46% of that 50% of votes and clinton got 48%. she got more votes but lost but in the end 62,984,825 yanks voted for the guy. call it 63 mil out about 235million people or 27% of people decided that election. the other 73% lost or didn't give a bollox.

 

So the Kurds are not the ones who eat the still-beating hearts of their vanquished opponents then?

 

thats common in a lot of cultures

it is typical yank tinkering due to not being willing to do it right (thought a total UN failure as it has been for years)

 

My bet?

Inccidental Recording/Surveillance ....

Trumps team and the GOP in general have non stop talked about the legality of it, the procedures for redaction and unveiling...

Why?

The watergate moment/s are there.

They've all been caught.

 

This one's a jaw dropper.


"US President Donald Trump has warned fired FBI chief James Comey against leaking material to the media.

He tweeted that Mr Comey had "better hope there are no 'tapes' of our conversations", suggesting such tapes, if they existed, might contradict him.

Mr Comey, who had been leading an inquiry into possible collusion between Trump election campaign officials and Russia, was fired on Tuesday.

Mr Trump has insisted Mr Comey told him that he was not under investigation."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39899542


Amazing. It sounds like trump is totally paranoid and spent at least three separate occasions badgering Comey about whether he is under investigation.

It is truly bizarre how this guys thumbs have not been cut off cos he keeps tweeting and sticking his foot in his mouth