and now it really begins ...

[drjohncarpenter]

Here we go ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/comey-misstated-key-clinton-email-evidence-at-hearing-say-people-close-to-investigation/2017/05/09/074c1c7e-34bd-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html

It's just 110 days.

[rickeap]

This is what a dictator does.The US and the world need to be wary of this maniac.

[poormadpeter2]

This is what a dictator does.The US and the world need to be wary of this maniac.

Indeed. But the Democrats can't cry foul too loudly - they were critical of him for seemingly affecting the election results when he reopened the email investigation with a couple of weeks to go.

[Mike C]

This is what a dictator does.The US and the world need to be wary of this maniac.

Indeed. But the Democrats can't cry foul too loudly - they were critical of him for seemingly affecting the election results when he reopened the email investigation with a couple of weeks to go.

Bingo. And that is exactly what Trumped tweeted this morning. Under the relevant statute, the FBI Director can be fired for cause which is what the AG's memo recommending the firing detailed. Michael Goodwin of the NYPost nicely summarized the cause in his column below.

http://nypost.com/2017/05/09/why-james-comey-had-to-go/

[Mister Moon]

Cringeworthy president.

What an spectacle.

[drjohncarpenter]

This is what a dictator does.The US and the world need to be wary of this maniac.

Indeed. But the Democrats can't cry foul too loudly - they were critical of him for seemingly affecting the election results when he reopened the email investigation with a couple of weeks to go.

Democrats and Republicans alike can cry foul in regards to democracy. It is being subverted.

Today is day 111.

[Mike C]

Maybe Trump was just listening to the wise counsel of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer who told Bloomberg on November 2, 2017: “I do not have confidence in him any longer."

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-02/schumer-says-he-lost-confidence-in-fbi-s-comey-over-e-mail-probe

Or maybe the musings of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who called Comey "a Republican operative"? (http://www.mediaite.com/tv/harry-reid-tears-into-republican-operative-comey-hes-the-reason-clinton-lost/) If true, they why would Trump sack him?

Just curious, how exactly is democracy being subverted? The investigations by the FBI of alleged Russian hacking are continuing.

[brian]

I am surprised Trump fired him. If Hilary Clinton had won and then fired him I wouldn't have been surprised.

[FatherJack1980]

Here's quite a good article about the firing: https://www.vox.com/2017/5/9/15601432/trump-fires-james-comey-explained

[Trump] repeatedly asked aides why the Russia investigation wouldn’t disappear and demanded they speak out for him. He would sometimes scream at television clips about the probe, one adviser said...

I wonder if there was a small portable television in the truck

[drjohncarpenter]

Nothing to see here ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/10/trump-has-now-fired-3-officials-who-were-investigating-his-campaign-or-administration/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.177fe783d69f

[Mike C]

Nothing to see here ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/10/trump-has-now-fired-3-officials-who-were-investigating-his-campaign-or-administration/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.177fe783d69f

Key prargraph in the article is as follows:

"It's hard to say that the three officials were fired specifically because they were investigating Trump. In Yates's case, it seemed obvious she'd be fired as soon as she defied Trump's travel ban order; Bharara was set to be one of just a few U.S. attorneys who kept their posts from the Obama administration; and politicians on both sides of the aisle had called for Comey's resignation at various times since the election."

[drjohncarpenter]

It is becoming apparent that the president fired the FBI director to obstruct a federal investigation about possible collusion with a foreign power in order to fix an election.

[Mike C]

It is becoming apparent that the president fired the FBI director to obstruct a federal investigation about possible collusion with a foreign power in order to fix an election.

Now, that's funny. The investigation, in the words of Acting Director McCabe, is ongoing. So where is the obstruction?

As far as fixing the election, can you please point to me one piece of evidence showing that the Russians (either a state official or hired actor) tampered with a voting machine in the country?

Surprisingly, until 9:30 p.m. on Election Night, the Obama White House and Clinton Campaign downplayed the actions of the Russians hacking the DNC as they thought Mrs. Clinton would win.

BTW, two weeks ago President Obama publicly endorsed Macron on the eve of the French election. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/04/obama-endorses-macron-in-french-election-taking-a-side-in-europe-again/?utm_term=.e8f9ee714dae

I thought you were against leaders of foreign governments interfering with democratic elections?

[drjohncarpenter]

And it gets worse:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html

We're at day 115. One cannot imagine this chaos in the White House going on much longer.

[Mike C]

Another false report by the Washington Post which is on a jihad against the Trump administration. Just like their report last week that Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein threatened to quit if Comey was not fired. Or, their report that Comey requested more federal funds for the Russian hacking investigation. Acting Head Andrew McCabe refuted that report in front of Congress last week.

Where was the Post's similar breathless reporting when the Obama administration revealed the name of a CIA operative in a press release forcing his immediate removal from deployment?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-mistakenly-identifies-cia-chief-in-afghanistan/2014/05/25/ac8e80cc-e444-11e3-8f90-73e071f3d637_story.html?utm_term=.5a022b041207

[drjohncarpenter]

And it gets worse:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html

We're at day 115. One cannot imagine this chaos in the White House going on much longer.

Some are desperately trying to dismiss this latest bombshell, despite the fact that the Washington Post was begged by U.S. intel to not be specific about what information was given to the Russians, and despite the fact that the White House called the NSA and CIA to explain what happened.

Because the president has extensive declassification authority, his revealing the information to the Russians is legal. Still, members of his administration moved quickly to try to contain the fallout, the Post reported.

Thomas Bossert, the president's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism, called the NSA and the CIA, and directed an aide to request the relevant portion of the discussion to be removed from official transcripts, hoping to prevent further spread of the information.

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-05-15/report-donald-trump-revealed-classified-intel-to-russian-officials-in-white-house-visit

What chaos. What a mess. Democracy is being tested like never before.

[Mike C]

And it gets worse:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html

We're at day 115. One cannot imagine this chaos in the White House going on much longer.

Some are desperately trying to dismiss this latest bombshell, despite the fact that the Washington Post was begged by U.S. intel to not be specific about what information was given to the Russians, and despite the fact that the White House called the NSA and CIA to explain what happened.

Because the president has extensive declassification authority, his revealing the information to the Russians is legal. Still, members of his administration moved quickly to try to contain the fallout, the Post reported.

Thomas Bossert, the president's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism, called the NSA and the CIA, and directed an aide to request the relevant portion of the discussion to be removed from official transcripts, hoping to prevent further spread of the information.

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-05-15/report-donald-trump-revealed-classified-intel-to-russian-officials-in-white-house-visit

What chaos. What a mess. Democracy is being tested like never before.

Wow, how dare the President declassify information that was already being discussed in news reports last week?

[drjohncarpenter]

Current investigations on Donald Trump. Stunning. And definitely not normal.

170516_current Trump investigations.jpg

[Mike C]

Current investigations on Donald Trump. Stunning. And definitely not normal.

170516_current Trump investigations.jpg

Obstruction of Justice? For what? What underlying crime is Trump and his administration covering up? Speaking with Russian Officials after winning the election is not a crime.

[drjohncarpenter]

And more evidence of obstruction of justice comes to light:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html

As glad as I am that I did not support this candidate, I pray that this chaos is going to stop. And soon.

[Mike C]

And more evidence of obstruction of justice comes to light:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html

As glad as I am that I did not support this candidate, I pray that this chaos is going to stop. And soon.

The alleged statement is a future wish not a command ("I hope"). It is weaker than my cup of Joe this morning.

If you want the chaos to stop, maybe the media should disclose their annomouys sources.

[TJ]

It takes a special kind of stubbornness and/or self-deception to witness months of embarrassing missteps and conclude that the main problem here is a hostile media. Of course it's possible to cherry pick certain criticisms that haven't been as fairly covered by the media as they might have been, but can anyone seriously look at this guy's first months in office and not conclude that he is way out of his depth? Does anyone really think that all the criticism (increasingly from the right too) is unjustified?

Trump's supporters are now in an odd position where they can't even rely on White House talking points to defend/excuse/explain much of what Trump does. If they do so, they are likely to look foolish when Trump contradicts his colleagues via an ill-conceived late night Tweet or unguarded moment in a television interview. The President of the Unites States' word no longer means a damn thing and that should be sad to everyone. It's a lottery whether what comes out of his mouth is true or not, or whether he'll say the same thing next time he's asked. No one was really conned though. Those character flaws were evident before the election for anyone who cared to pay attention. For reasons that I'll never understand, tens of millions of people didn't care and very many of those still don't. It's time for those people to start caring and stop blindly defending everything that he does. Just maybe he would actually raise his game if his supporters made it clear that they would no longer tolerate his now very tired act.

[FatherJack1980]

Here's a fine timeline about the Comey matter

..

I agree with Putin when he said "President Trump is acting in accordance with his competence" and Trump makes George Bush jr. look like a scholar

[Mister Moon]

(...) and Trump makes George Bush jr. look like a scholar

Ha, ha. That's true.

You know, with all due respect to persons with mental disorders, I always looked at Bush Jr. as a borderline kind of guy, with all those awful smartasses behind him (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz) really doing the job.

I never thought I would live to see a worse POTUS than that.

Really, really amazing that so many people can vote for such a clown.

[mike edwards66]

Read my lips. This will come to nothing. Comey had to go. There was NO collusion. Trump will make America great again.

You know, with all due respect to persons with mental disorders, I always looked at Bush Jr. as a borderline kind of guy....Really, really amazing that so many people can vote for such a clown.

That's deeply disrespectful to about 62 million Americans. And even the Americans that didn't vote for either Bush or Trump, would not take kindly to your words. If the election was tomrrow, Trump would win again. And with a bigger margin. God bless America.