President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey • Hacker News Board

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#121

Post by John23832 » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:47 PM UTC

liquidise wrote: post #92

TheBiv wrote: post #4

"Trump just fired the man leading a counterintelligence investigation into his campaign, on the same day that the Senate Intelligence commitee requested financial documents relating to Trump's business dealings from the treasury department that handles money laundering." -Comment from reddit that sums up how strange this is.

The implication of this comment only holds if the replacement FBI Director drops the investigation. The FBI Director themselves are not conducting the investigation, but have instructed the investigation to be conducted. It stands that we should expect the investigation to continue in Comey's absence. Should it cease, this comment would gain merit. The reasons cited for the dismissal appear valid on their face: the h…

The structure of the FBI is created by the Director. To remove the Director of the FBI, is to essentially force a restructure of all the top agents and top management of the FBI. Those top agents run investigations.

If that's not an efficient way to stall an investigation, I don't know what is.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#122

Post by anigbrowl » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:48 PM UTC

fooey wrote: post #20

Seemed to be confirmed as real, so here are letters being floated as from Trump, Sessions and Rosenstein firing Comey and blaming the Clinton investigation Trump: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_apTsDXoAAVKYn.jpg AG Sessions: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_apUYrXgAAihp2.jpg Deputy AG Rosenstein: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_apVImXcAIKhfm.jpg Dear Director Comey: I have received the attached letters from the Attorney Ge…

We're so concerned that Comey might have messed up the election that we won, a victory that we remind people of at every available opportunity. Bad James Comey! Very naughty!

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#123

Post by wavefunction » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:49 PM UTC

CDRdude wrote: post #86

Animats wrote: post #61

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 wha…

>As civil service, he can only be fired for cause. I'm not clear on what "for cause" means for an acting director of the FBI. Wasn't the justification for firing Comey that he mishandled the Clinton email investigation? It looks blown out of proportion to me, but that might count as cause.

Comey was a political appointment rather than the guy who will temporarily replace him as Acting Director (who has civil service protection) and can't be dismissed as Acting Director, only replaced by appointing a new Director of the FBI.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#124

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:49 PM UTC

CDRdude wrote: post #86

Animats wrote: post #61

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 wha…

>As civil service, he can only be fired for cause. I'm not clear on what "for cause" means for an acting director of the FBI. Wasn't the justification for firing Comey that he mishandled the Clinton email investigation? It looks blown out of proportion to me, but that might count as cause.

[deleted]

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#125

Post by nameless912 » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:49 PM UTC

acdha wrote: post #96

fooey wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The looming senate fight to confirm a replacement is going to be absolutely massive.

That depends on how well the GOP sticks together: they only need a simple majority vote to confirm.

There are already a few cracks showing in their ranks. A few senators might defect, it really depends on whether they believe that the short-term toxicity will wear off before 2018 rolls around. And considering how well the Democrats have been doing with these fights over the last couple of months, it's very possible that a few of them will care more about their 2018 plans than about getting on Trump's good side. Especially if there's writing on the wall we don't know about.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#126

Post by the_cat_kittles » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:51 PM UTC

jayess wrote: post #106

TheBiv wrote: post #4

"Trump just fired the man leading a counterintelligence investigation into his campaign, on the same day that the Senate Intelligence commitee requested financial documents relating to Trump's business dealings from the treasury department that handles money laundering." -Comment from reddit that sums up how strange this is.

James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Monday that he still has not seen any evidence of any kind of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian foreign nationals. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-N.C., asked if Clapper's prior statement was correct, when he said on NBC that there was "no evidence' of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.…

but he didn't know of the FBI investigation at first, and is not privy to the details of that one.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#127

Post by rrggrr » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:51 PM UTC

Comey's book deal is going to be enormous. His great, great, great grandchildren will be buying Maserati's with the proceeds. He just needs to withstand another six months of testifying on the hill in front of at least two standing committees and probably a special committee.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#128

Post by sacheendra » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:52 PM UTC

jayess wrote: post #106

TheBiv wrote: post #4

"Trump just fired the man leading a counterintelligence investigation into his campaign, on the same day that the Senate Intelligence commitee requested financial documents relating to Trump's business dealings from the treasury department that handles money laundering." -Comment from reddit that sums up how strange this is.

James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Monday that he still has not seen any evidence of any kind of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian foreign nationals. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-N.C., asked if Clapper's prior statement was correct, when he said on NBC that there was "no evidence' of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.…

Why does he use language like "We did not include any evidence in our report"?

Does this imply that there was evidence and he did not include it?

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#129

Post by anigbrowl » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:52 PM UTC

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.

Your point is not without merit, but this was an abrupt firing rather than a regretful request for resignation. I believe it would be a mistake to judge this by the normal standards of administrative decision-making.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#130

Post by luke0016 » Tue, May 09, 2017, 10:52 PM UTC

newsat13 wrote: post #29

Can someone clarify if comey is pro trump or not?

He's neither. He, like most other members of the U.S. government, is someone simply interested in doing their job to the best of their ability. He's not immune to making mistakes. But, he's also not pushing some partisan agenda.

Once you get a degree of separation or two away from the politicrats, you end up with regular, ethical and moral people actually trying to make things work. That may be surprising to some, but, if you think about it, it's already pretty obvious that the people at the top do a poor job of representing anyone else, including their subordinates.