(Go to the original article for all of the links and videos they talk about in this piece.)
May 11, 2017 11:26 am
23 Reasons Trump’s Firing of James Comey Is a World-Historic Shit ShowBy Eric Levitz
“It’s insane. The whole thing is just insane.” — Anonymous White House official.
By now, you are probably aware that President Trump fired the director of the FBI Tuesday afternoon — and
that his decision and the way it was executed were both bonkers, for a variety of reasons.
But there are so many insane aspects to the events of the last 24 hours, it can be hard to wrap one’s mind
around all of them at once. Fortunately, news days like this are precisely why God gave us listicles.
Here is a comprehensive rundown of all the reasons why Trump’s firing of James Comey is an extraordinary
shit show, even by our president’s formidable standards.
1. The president just fired the man tasked with overseeing the investigation into his campaign’s ties to
Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The president has the authority to fire the director of the FBI. But before Tuesday, that authority had only been
exercised once — and in that case, Bill Clinton only fired William S. Sessions after a Justice Department
investigation found him guilty of flagrant ethical violations.
Historically, presidents have avoided firing the head of the FBI out of respect for federal law enforcement’s
independence. After all, FBI directors serve ten-year terms precisely to ensure a measure of distance from the
Oval Office’s occupant.
Thus, firing an FBI director before any internal investigation produced a report of wrongdoing would be
precedent-breaking and extraordinary — doing so at a time when the FBI director was investigating the
president’s campaign is astounding, and an affront to the rule of law.
Can’t even fire people right anymore. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
2. The White House’s initial explanation for the firing insulted the intelligence of the American people.
Last October, Jeff Sessions applauded James Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation. The thensenator
told Fox Business that the FBI director had an “absolute duty” to release his infamous October letter —
and to make his controversial announcement explicating his rationale for not charging Clinton last July.
On Tuesday, Sessions advised the president that those two actions were so flagrantly inappropriate they were
grounds for firing Comey.
Watch Trump praise Comey in 2016 for how he handled the Clinton email probe.
3. The deputy attorney general who wrote the memo explaining the White House’s rationale for Comey’s
firing (reportedly) threatened to resign after realizing that responsibility for the decision was being
pinned on him and not Trump.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein outlined the case against Comey’s handling of the Clinton email
investigation in a three-page memo. The White House then presented that memo to the public, and suggested
that Trump and Sessions decided to fire Comey primarily on the basis of Rosenstein’s recommendation.
But as Rosenstein’s former colleague at the Justice Department, Eric Columbus, notes, the deputy attorney
general’s memo never explicitly recommends Comey’s dismissal. And, of course, the decision to fire the FBI
director began and ended with the president — not Rosenstein.
The career civil servant wasn’t eager to assume Trump’s responsibility: According to an administration source
who spoke with ABC News, Rosenstein was “so upset with the White House for pinning the firing of FBI
Director James Comey on him Wednesday that he was on the verge of resigning.”
4. Trump admitted Thursday that Rosenstein’s memo was just a facade – he was going to fire Comey for
being a “showboat” who sowed “turmoil” at the FBI, no matter what the Justice Department
recommended.
“I was going to fire him regardless of recommendation,” Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt, contradicting vicepresident
Pence, and nearly every other White House surrogate who had commented on Comey’s ouster.
“Look, he’s a showboat, he’s a grandstander, the FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that.
Everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil, less than a year ago — it
hasn’t recovered from that.”
5. Trump was (reportedly) furious at Comey for refusing to corroborate his baseless felony accusation
against his predecessor.
One Saturday in early March, the president misread a couple of news reports, and then publicly announced that
Barack Obama had illegally wiretapped him during the 2016 election. He later admitted that he had no basis for
making that allegation, beyond a series of newspaper articles that did not substantiate his claim in any way.
Nonetheless, one reason the president wanted to fire Comey, according to Politico, was that the “FBI director
wouldn’t support his claims that President Barack Obama had tapped his phones in Trump Tower.”
6. He also, reportedly, believed it was the FBI director’s job to declare him innocent of all wrongdoing —
and focus the bureau’s resources on tracking down leakers — if the president ordered him to do so.
As The Wall Street Journal reports:
Meanwhile, the White House was fuming about Comey’s failure to prosecute leakers, according to the
Washington Post:
7. The president apparently wants an FBI director who would relish the thought of rigging an election in
his favor.
The more James Comey showed up on television discussing the FBI’s investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and
Russia, the more the White House bristled, according to aides to President Donald Trump.
Frustration was growing among top associates of the president that Mr. Comey, in a series of appearances before a Senate panel, wouldn’t
publicly tamp down questions about possible collusion with Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race. A person with knowledge of
recent conversations said they wanted Mr. Comey to “say those three little words: ‘There’s no ties.’”
Several current and former officials said the relationship between the White House and the FBI had been strained for months, in part
because administration officials were pressuring Comey to more aggressively pursue leak investigations over disclosures that embarrassed
the White House and raised questions about ties with Russia.
8. The president began the second paragraph of his letter to Comey with the phrase, “While I greatly
appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation …”
lmao this would be a story for like seven decades if any other
president wrote it.
Trump reiterated this claim in his interview with Holt. But he also said that he had specifically solicited such
assurances from the FBI director — a breach of protocol and ostensible confession that the president was
worried the FBI might have some cause to investigate him, personally.
“I said, if it’s possible would you let me know, ‘Am I under investigation?’ ‘You are not under investigation,’”
Trump told Holt, summarizing a conversation he (supposedly) had with Comey.
9. … Comey’s associates say he told Trump no such thing.
Comey lets it be known that Trump lied in letter firing him - never
assured president he was not under investigation
10. Comey (reportedly) requested additional resources for the Russia investigation days before he was
dismissed.
Surely, this is a coincidence:
11. Hours before Comey’s firing, CNN learned that federal prosecutors had issued grand jury
subpoenas to associates of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Such crazy timing:
Days before he was fired, James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in money and
personnel for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election, according to three officials with knowledge of
his request.
Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business
records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year’s election, according to people familiar with the matter. CNN learned
12. Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation — and then advised the president to fire the
man leading the Russia investigation.
In early March, the attorney general announced, “I have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or
future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States.”
13. The president sent his personal bodyguard to fire the director of the FBI.
In addition to the security force provided to the president by taxpayers, Trump retains a guard loyal only to him.
Trump's longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller was sent to FBI HQ
to hand-deliver Trump’s dismissal letter to Comey:
The startling move, officials said, stemmed from a conclusion by
Justice Department officials that he had mishandled the probe of
Hillary Clinton’s emails. Comey was fired as he is washingtonpost.com leading a counte...
14. Most of the White House staff learned of the decision by seeing it reported on television.
The administration approached the task of firing the FBI director with less care and forethought than
schoolchildren tend to display when organizing pickup games of kickball. As Axios reports:
of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI’s broader investigation begun last July into possible
ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia.
The firing was done in such haste that his own comms shop couldn’t catch up, and the vast majority of White House staff learned about it
on TV when the news broke, per White House sources. There was a meeting in Spicer’s office with about 20 staffers after they announced
the news, which happened as Chuck Schumer was on TV giving his response to the news of the firing.
One White House staffer a few minutes ago: "Total and
complete chaos -- even by our standards."
This level of disorganization testifies either to the administration’s astounding incompetence or else to the
urgency with which it needed to dispatch the FBI director. And it is hard to think of a benign explanation for why
the White House would have felt such an urgency.
15. Comey also learned of his firing from television — in the middle of a speech to FBI employees in
Los Angeles.
According to the paper of record:
16. The White House press secretary was so uncomfortable defending the firing he hid from reporters
in the bushes, only emerging once they agreed to turn off the lights so they couldn’t film him.
Per the Washington Post:
17. Trump’s other top surrogate directly contradicted the White House’s official rationale for the firing.
“This has nothing to do with the campaign from six months ago,” Kellyanne Conway told Anderson Cooper
Tuesday night. “This has everything to do with the performance of the FBI director since the president has been
in the White House.”
Deputy Attorney General Ron Rosenstein’s memo explaining the rationale for the firing insisted that it had
everything to do with the campaign from six months ago.
18. The White House (reportedly) believed that firing the guy leading an investigation into the Trump
campaign would inspire accolades from elected Democrats and yawns from the media.
As Politico reports:
The president ostensibly believed that a good way to defuse media speculation about his Russia ties would be
to fire the man tasked with investigating them, the night before his meeting with Russia’s foreign minister.
Mr. Comey was addressing a group of F.B.I. employees in Los Angeles when a television in the background flashed the news that he had
been fired.In response, Mr. Comey laughed, saying he thought it was a fairly funny prank. Then his staff started scurrying around in the
background and told Mr. Comey that he should step into a nearby office.
After Spicer spent several minutes hidden in the bushes behind these sets, Janet Montesi, an executive assistant in the press office,
emerged and told reporters that Spicer would answer some questions, as long as he was not filmed doing so. Spicer then emerged.
Just turn the lights off. Turn the lights off,” he ordered. “We’ll take care of this … Can you just turn that light off?”
[T]he fallout seemed to take the White House by surprise. Trump made a round of calls around 5 p.m., asking for support from senators.
White House officials believed it would be a “win-win” because Republicans and Democrats alike have problems with the FBI director, one
person briefed on their deliberations said. Instead, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told him he was making a big mistake — and
Trump seemed “taken aback,” according to a person familiar with the call.
By Tuesday evening, the president was watching the coverage of his decision and frustrated no one was on TV defending him, a White
House official said. He wanted surrogates out there beating the drum. Instead, advisers were attacking each other for not realizing the
gravity of the situation as events blew up.
19. Speaking of which: The president freaking met with Russia’s foreign minister the day after Comey’s
dismissal — despite the fact that Putin’s regime is widely suspected of abetting an attempt to interfere
with the French election last week.
Beyond the insane optics of taking the meeting with Sergey Lavrov less than 24 hours after dispatching Comey,
the Russian foreign minister’s visit was inappropriate for the message it sends to our allies in Paris: Just this
week, the NSA announced that it believes Russian agents tried to “penetrate” France’s electoral “infrastructure.”
20. For advice on what to do about Comey, Trump (reportedly) turned to longtime confidante Roger
Stone — a (reported) subject of the FBI’s investigation.
Stone has admitted to exchanging direct messages on Twitter with an account run by Russian hackers. He also
published this tweet shortly before John Podesta’s hacked emails leaked.
Trust me, it will soon the Podesta's time in the barrel.
Trump denies that he sought Stone’s opinion of the FBI director, but multiple outlets have reported otherwise.
21. After a long night of Nixon analogies, reporters discovered Trump with Henry Kissinger Wednesday
morning.
Pool brought into the Oval. It's Trump and ... Kissinger.
22. A source close to the FBI director is saying that Comey was fired because he failed to demonstrate
loyalty to Trump — and was making too much progress on his investigation.
Source tells @jaketapper Comey fired b/c probe "accelerating"
& he never gave Trump "assurance of personal loyalty."
23. The FBI director had (reportedly) become increasingly concerned by evidence of collusion between
Trump associates and Russia.
This is getting lost: Comey was fired after he became concerned
about possible evidence of collusion.wsj.com/articles/james…
