Joe Conason: Tuesday Night Massacre:Who Really Believes The White House Rationale For Firing Comey?

[babylonsister]

http://www.nationalmemo.com/white-house-firing-comey/

Joe Conason
Tuesday Night Massacre: Who Really Believes The White House Rationale For Firing Comey?
May 10, 2017 12:13 am


Does anyone believe the Trump administration’s explanation for the sudden firing FBI director James Comey last night? Certainly some will pretend to believe that Trump fired Comey now because of his controversial actions in the Hillary Clinton email investigation last year — the same actions that Trump praised for “restoring the reputation” of the FBI and has never criticized.

But no sentient person can accept the rationale offered by the White House for this dismissal.

snip//

This coup against constitutional legality bears all the hallmarks of a Trump operation, from incompetent presentation to gas-lighting defense to audacity that is stunning. Most audacious of all is the timing, which arrives just as the Russia probe increasingly threatens Trump and his cronies.

In the curt dismissal note the president sent officially firing Comey, he feebly attempted to suggest that the FBI director had cleared him of any wrongdoing in the Russia probe. Yet only weeks ago, Comey testified on Capitol Hill that the FBI is pursuing alleged collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

The Russia investigation is far from complete, but all indications are that pressure on Trump has been increasing. Among the latest developments is the news that grand jury subpoenas have been issued to associates of fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and that Senate investigators have asked the Treasury Department for financial information on Trump and his associates.

But perhaps the clearest sign of panic was an angry question tweeted by @realDonaldTrump on the morning before he fired Comey: “The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?” Evidently he could wait no longer for the answer he wanted.

[Solly Mack]

1. "Evidently he could wait no longer for the answer he wanted."

I've been calling Trump a tin-pot tyrant/dictator for a while now. That wasn't hyperbole.