Trump Wanted a Public Execution

[babylonsister]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/05/trump_s_firing_of_james_comey_is_a_warning_shot_to_everyone_in_his_administration.html

Trump Wanted a Public Execution
The president fired James Comey via letter, while the FBI director was giving a speech.
By Phillip Carter

snip//

So, it’s a very big deal that Trump summarily fired Comey on Tuesday afternoon. In Washington, there are firings, and then there are firings. Although the Justice Department’s memorandum recommending Comey’s departure carries merit, the timing and tone of Trump’s own termination letter makes Trump’s intention clear: The president wanted this to be a public execution of the sort Voltaire described in Candide as something “to encourage the others.” Consider that Comey was dismissed by letter while he was speaking to FBI employees in Los Angeles. He learned of his own sacking by watching it on television—a fitting outcome given the president’s employment history.

The FBI director now joins acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara as senior law enforcement officials who have been fired by Trump. While in office, Comey and Yates oversaw most of the tentacles of the investigative octopus looking into the Trump campaign, the Trump White House, and potential Russia ties. Bharara reportedly handled some parts of that octopus, too, and also would have exercised jurisdiction in the Southern District of New York over the Trump Organization. The seniority of these officials, and their potential investigatory relationship to Trump, suggests the most apt comparison here is to the “Saturday Night Massacre” initiated in 1973 by President Richard Nixon to try and block the Watergate investigation.

Why did Trump dump Comey now? All of the facts cited in the letters justifying Comey’s firing have been known for many weeks. The timing of his Tuesday termination suggests that Trump turned on him within the past few months, following the back-and-forth between Trump and Comey over whether the FBI (or some other agency) had wiretapped Trump during the 2016 campaign. Trump alleged as much in a tweet, but the entire intelligence community and Justice Department refused to back up the president. Comey went further, asking the Justice Department and the White House to publicly withdraw Trump’s statement, ostensibly to buttress the apolitical credentials of the FBI as it continued to pursue its Russia-related inquiries. For Trump, it seems, the matter continued to burn.

The legal cover for Comey’s firing came via a memo written by Rod Rosenstein. The deputy attorney general, who was confirmed on April 25, came to the Department of Justice with a sterling bipartisan reputation from decades in public service and a promise to the Senate Judiciary Committee to impartially oversee pending inquiries into Trump and Russia following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from these matters. Two weeks later, Rosenstein recommended Comey’s termination. It’s unlikely that any president, of any party, could have ignored the language and recommendations of Rosenstein’s letter, though it remains unclear at this stage whether the deputy attorney general weighed Comey’s merits with anything resembling real independence. Either way, the language in the Rosenstein memo was sober—far more sober than Trump’s own pointed letter, one that at once chided Comey for an erosion of “public trust and confidence” in the FBI while highlighting the director’s supposed assurance “on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation.” This was a letter guaranteed to shock the system, and to make every federal official at every level think twice about crossing the president.

Trump’s treatment of Comey may ultimately backfire. Even if Trump had legitimate reason to fire Comey—and he arguably did—his targeting of the one person in government capable of bringing down his presidency is suspicious on its face. Trump’s timing and tenor will lead anyone who’s paying any attention to suspect this was about more than the director’s corrected testimony regarding Clinton emails.

James Comey had the institutional position, investigative resources, and personal power to stand up to Trump and thoroughly investigate him and his associates. Now, Comey is gone, and no amount of hand-wringing can unfire a presidential appointee. If Congress cares about the rule of law, it must act quickly and decisively. It also must ensure the next FBI director is even more competent and ethical than the one who just got axed, because trying times lie ahead.

[MFM008]

1. no,no,no,no......

they just told me from the TV box, they didn't think this was that big a deal there in the white house.
I believe it.
Carnival barkers......

[bettyellen]

2. Intimidation.

[C_U_L8R]

3. Trump looks weak and scared

Yeah sure... he wants to be the feared strongman but he's just bloviating doofus. Fuck off Trump.

[WinkyDink]

4. "Wanted"? Oh, I thought you said "deserves"!

[countryjake]

5. Sen Warren says it's Rosenstein's turn to testify...

what documents did Comey request last week?

[no_hypocrisy]

6. If anything, Trump's consistent.

Marla Maples Trump discovered that DJ was divorcing her by picking up a copy of the New York Post.

http://www.mediaite.com/print/trump-told-a-tabloid-he-was-getting-divorced-before-he-told-his-wife/

[wildeyed]

7. Instead he made himself look guilty as sin.

Trump still doesn't seem to understand the difference between reality TV and ACTUAL reality. "You're Fired" might look TERRIFIC on the TV when an entertainer does it, but there are real world ramifications when you actually have a real job to do.

[tavalon]

8. I want a public execution

Of Trump.