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President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

washingtonpost.com

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Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#61

Post by Animats »

The FBI director is supposed to have a 10 year term. That went in after J. Edgar Hoover died. Nobody wanted another J. Edgar Hoover FBI Director for Life situation, but having the FBI director be a "pleasure of the President" appointment made it too political.

This makes Andrew G. McCabe acting FBI director. He's in the civil service, not a Presidential appointment. He was an FBI agent and worked his way up. From what little is available about him, he seems to be good at the job.[1] As civil service, he can only be fired for cause.

Appointing a new FBI director requires Congressional approval, and will be controversial.

[1] http://www.latimes.com/nation/na-la-fbi-deputy-director-2016...

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#62

Post by koolba »

stevenwoo wrote: post #39
Matt3o12_ wrote: post #7

Well I would be certainly interested in the circumstances especially considering that I always believed he was pro trump. Some even said he played an important role Trump won the election because he opened an investigation into Clinton's emails right before the election.

The one professional prognosticator who came closest to predicting a Trump win at 33% agrees with the letter playing an outsize role - https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probab...

There's also a follow up by I believe the NYT that downplays the letter. Per the trajectory of the polls leading into the date it was released, she wa on the way down both nationally and in the key swing states.

The release of the letter coincided with polls that showed that slide yet predated its release (in collection).

It's not that it didn't have an impact. Just that it probably wasn't the deciding factor.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#65

Post by Shivetya »

Trump had to dismiss Comey. Comey damaged the FBI in his recent sessions with Congress to the point the FBI was on the defensive trying to set the record right. Considering the erratic behavior with both the Clinton and Russia issues it is doubtful that Comey was capable of continuing in such an office.

Like or dislike Trump, there have been many on the Democratic Party side calling for Comey to be gone and the odd part is many are now rushing to the guy's defense. That and he was fired over incorrect testimony about a Clinton aide, testimony that painted her in a worse position than deserved.

Irrational is the best way to describe the reaction of many. I was really shocked by some in the press, it is near impossible to separate journalist from opinion editors when they cannot separate the roles themselves

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#67

Post by self-diversity »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #56
jjordan wrote: post #44

Say what you want about the politics, but it's inarguable that Comey, whether he wanted to or not, had become a partisan lightning rod for both sides. The unbiased credibility of the FBI was at stake with Comey at the helm, and this is probably a good move for the country.

The FBI was investigating the president for colluding with a hostile state to influence the election and aid them against the interests of the US. This is the worst thing to happen to the country since Watergate or longer.

Yeah you can tell the Trump-Russia connections are not a quixotic quagmire by how the stories continue to be filled with weasel words and spend 100% of their column inches not presenting any evidence at all.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#68

Post by dekhn »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #48
dekhn wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's not what he did. there already was an investigation. What comey announced right before the elections was that they had found more of clinton's emails in another, unrelated case. That invesigation was into Anthony Weiner, who was married to Clinton's advisor Huma Abedin. Weiner was sexting a 15-year-old, Abedin was forwarding some emails to weiner's computer to be printed out. In investigating weiner's computer…

Yep. If you believe that Comey's final investigation swung the election, you also gotta realize that the election was swung because Anthony Weiner is a sleezeball. The odds that sleezeball would be married to Clinton's top advisor...Bill actually officiated their wedding.

There were a number of unwise actions from the Clintons and their retinue (in this case as well as others). I honestly don't know what level of impact Comey's statements had on the election.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#69

Post by self-diversity »

cloudwalking wrote: post #51
colemannugent wrote: post #46

A friendly reminder to both sides that whatever the current administration does, the next can undo. This is especially important when the majority party decides to give itself more power and inadvertently gives their successors more than they intended.

This is not true. Rolling back regulations on green house gas emissions, removing regulations on clean water, denying healthcare to millions of people... Those deaths cannot be undone, the aquifers cannot be cleaned, and the carbon can't be removed from the atmosphere.

I have this weird dream, and I am well aware it will never come true, that people will learn how to aim their political anger correctly. There's enough of a problem to be solved and we don't need people muddying up the view of it with rampant misunderstandings based on emotion.
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