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President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

washingtonpost.com

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Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#311

Post by frostymarvelous »

anigbrowl wrote: post #219
mikeash wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Conflict of interest" is practically the man's middle name. Not only does he not avoid them, he seems to actively seek them out.

You probably shouldn't drink anything while reading this. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/10/eric-trump-nepoti...

A nitpick.

He didn't actually say "nepotism is a beautiful thing".

While I absolutely do not agree with Trump or his family and what they are doing, I hate to see when people, with a subtle twist change the meanings of what people say.

Trump has done enough to fuel negative press for decades. We don't need to make stuff up.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#312

Post by [deleted] »

awj wrote: post #137
liquidise wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 implication of this comment only holds if the replacement FBI Director drops the investigation. How can you possibly trust the authenticity of an investigation headed up by someone hand chosen by the person being investigated, who knows the person they pick will immediately be in charge of the investigation? If Trump is truly innocent, this is literally the worst thing he could have ever done for himself. This…

[deleted]

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#313

Post by losvedir »

anigbrowl wrote: post #227
losvedir wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So you're saying you find it plausible that Trump fired Comey an excess of administrative zeal on Comey's part might have led to Clinton's loss of the election. Yes, that is the stated reason: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/fbi-dire... edit: better source

I'm saying that I don't find the stated reason plausible, not least because most of the reasons offered in the letter were known many months ago. Comey could have been invited to submit his resignation back in January if Trump were worried about the appearance of impropriety. I don't want to turn this into a political slanging match but the appearance of propriety seems to be pretty far down his list of concerns.

I agree it's fishy, but "plausible" isn't a high bar to clear. I do think it's plausible. Regarding the timing, the request came from the Deputy Attorney General who started two weeks ago.

It's possible Trump waited until now to assign the request to him to write up, but it just doesn't seem like something he'd do. He's an impulsive blowhard and if he wanted to fire Comey I'd practically expect it over Twitter, not via some covert, deniable request to the Deputy AG.

This obviously rests heavily on our respective prior beliefs. All I can say is I will heavily reconsider my position if a bad AG is nominated. I think you should, too, if it turns out, say, the now-acting AG remains in office for the rest of Trump's turn, which seems like a reasonably positive outcome to me.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#314

Post by losvedir »

dllthomas wrote: post #282
losvedir wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So you're saying you find it plausible that Trump fired Comey an excess of administrative zeal on Comey's part might have led to Clinton's loss of the election. Yes, that is the stated reason: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/fbi-dire... edit: better source

Do you mean, "Yes, [I believe that it is plausible because it] is the stated reason [and that alone is sufficiently convincing]" or "Yes, [in case those in the audience didn't catch it,] that is the stated reason [if you can believe it!]" ?

The latter, but probably without the exclamation point.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#315

Post by jeremysmyth »

rwnspace wrote: post #187

381 points, 171 comments, 1 hour ago; as of writing. Why is this on the second page of HN, and not pole position? I assume/hope that there is some mechanism that stops new content from dominating other content too rapidly.

Probably user flags. This article fits the definition of "off topic" per https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html:

If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#316

Post by mikeash »

frostymarvelous wrote: post #311
anigbrowl wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably shouldn't drink anything while reading this. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/10/eric-trump-nepoti...

A nitpick. He didn't actually say "nepotism is a beautiful thing". While I absolutely do not agree with Trump or his family and what they are doing, I hate to see when people, with a subtle twist change the meanings of what people say. Trump has done enough to fuel negative press for decades. We don't need to make stuff up.

It doesn't say he said that. The quotes are only around "beautiful thing."

Here's the actual quote: "Is that nepotism? Absolutely. Is that also a beautiful thing? Absolutely. Family business is a beautiful thing."

I think the description is reasonable, and they make it abundantly clear that the first two words are a paraphrase.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#317

Post by [deleted] »

aykm84 wrote: post #194
jayess wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

Just so readers are aware, the Washington Examiner is a conservative leaning org. The "no evidence" quote was pulled from this sentence: "There was no evidence of that included in our report."[1] There is a difference between "not aware of evidence" and "no evidence". [1] https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2017/05/09/parroting-t...

[deleted]

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#318

Post by pottersbasilisk »

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.

Yea dont forget, Many agents said they despised how comey trashed the reputation of the fbi. He even said old friends at the fbi refused to shake his hands.

He muat have been fired to prevent a internal fbi mutiny.

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#319

Post by ealdent »

wonderwonder wrote: post #132
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…

This man cannot help making everything about him. If it was anyone else it would elicit a rueful shake of my head and a comment about a gross display of childishness and saying Na Na Na Na to the bullied kid. But as it comes from the president of the United States, it's terrifying.

Well, he is a narcissist, so everything is about him, right?

Re: President Trump Dismisses FBI Director Comey

#320

Post by unprepare »

tw04 wrote: post #165
nameless912 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an interesting card to play if that's indeed his goal. Trump doesn't get to appoint an "acting" head of the FBI AFAIK, he can only recommend a new director, and you can bet your ass that the DNC won't let that slide without a bigly fight at the confirmation hearing. This move really doesn't make a lot of sense, I don't know what Trump gains here other than a few weeks of pretending he won.

He's sending a message to the replacement. Do what I want or I'll can you. We'll see if it works.

Moot to the acting director though, who can only be gotten rid of for cause or by senate approving a nominee.

I believe the senate only needs a simple majority to approve the nominee, though, so it might not be that difficult for them to get rid of the acting head if they feel pressure

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