Trump fires fbi director; wanna talk about everything but the repugnicans taking our Healthcare
See how they want to distract us with any other issue other than the repugnican dogs taking our Healthcare. They want to attack talkshow hosts who bbring it up (Jimmy Kimmel) and stall on a vote hoping we'll forget so they can push it on through! How can we forget when many of OUR LIVES depend on it! But they don't care! They voted to automatically make their pay go up every year but we can't get HHealthcare. God curse them and make them suffer as they want us to suffer!
Now this guy was investigating trump and you're surprised he fired the guy? He shouldn't have been able to do that. Now Americans, we need to demand a Recall Election! We can demand it to replace trump with a democrat rather than another repugnican dogg. Just like Comey, trump you're fired!
Trump fires FBI director Comey, raising questions over Russia investigation
US president cites Comey’s handling of Clinton email investigation,
as ‘Nixonian’ move condemned by Democrats and civil society groups
James Comey testifies in front of the Senate judiciary committee during an oversight hearing on the FBI last week.
Photograph: Zach Gibson/Getty Images
Donald Trump
has fired James Comey as FBI director in a move that has raised
concerns over the independence of the bureau’s investigation into links
between the Trump campaign and Russia in the run-up to last year’s US
presidential election.
The president cited Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email
investigation as the reason behind his decision, but Democrats were
quick to cry foul, and there were vociferous demands for a special
prosecutor to be appointed to oversee the Russia inquiry. One Senate
Democrat described the move as “Nixonian”.
On Tuesday, CNN reported
that a grand jury had begun issuing subpoenas to associates of Michael
Flynn, the former national security adviser at the centre of the ongoing
inquiry into Russian meddling in the election. If confirmed, the report
suggests that the FBI’s investigation into the Trump camp’s links with
Moscow has entered a significant new phase.
In a letter to Comey, the president wrote: “While I greatly
appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not
under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the
Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the
bureau.
“It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission.”
Trump and Comey’s love-hate relationship
The dismissal of America’s top law enforcement official came days after he testified on Capitol Hill about Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state and the FBI’s investigation into Russian election interference.
Comey incorrectly testified that former Clinton aide Huma Abedin
“forwarded hundreds and thousands” of emails to her husband’s laptop,
including some with classified information. On Tuesday, the FBI informed
the Senate judiciary committee that only “a small number” of the
thousands of emails found on the laptop had been forwarded there, while
most had simply been backed up from electronic devices. In a recent interview, Clinton partly blamed Comey’s letter in late October notifying Congress that the FBI was studying the emails on the laptop, for costing her the presidential election.
Comey had also been fiercely criticised for holding a press conference last July
in which he said Clinton would not be charged but criticised her as
“extremely careless”. The move was seen as infringing on the role of the
justice department and attorney general.
The timing of Comey’s dismissal was related to the recent
confirmation of Rod Rosenstein as deputy attorney general, according to
the White House. In a memo released on Tuesday, Rosenstein wrote: “The
director was wrong to usurp the attorney general’s authority on 5 July
2016, and announce his conclusion that the [Clinton] case should be
closed without prosecution.”
The memo added: “Compounding the error, the director ignored another
longstanding principle: we do not hold press conferences to release
derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal
investigation … the director laid out his version of the facts for the
news media as if it were a closing argument, but without a trial.
“It is a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do.”
A statement from the White House said: “Today, President Donald J
Trump informed FBI director James Comey that he has been terminated and
removed from office. President Trump acted based on the clear
recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and
Attorney General Jeff Sessions.”
The search for the next head of “our crown jewel of law enforcement”
will begin immediately, the statement said. Comey’s deputy, Andrew
McCabe, takes over in the interim.
Former FBI director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill
in Washington before a Senate judiciary committee hearing. Photograph:
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Comey, 56, who was nominated by Barack Obama
in 2013 to a 10-year term, reportedly found out he had been fired from
breaking news alerts on TV screens as he delivered a speech to FBI staff
in Los Angeles. He was “caught flat-footed” but carried on talking to
the agents, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Soon after, in another bizarre turn, a letter was hand delivered to
FBI headquarters in Washington by Keith Schiller, Trump’s former
bodyguard who worked for Trump’s security team for nearly two decades
before joining the administration.
The last US president to fire an FBI director was Bill Clinton, who
dismissed William Sessions in 1993 over financial irregularities.
Comey’s dismissal raises questions over the future of the FBI’s
investigation into alleged ties between Trump associates and Russia
during the presidential election.
While the Republican majorities in the House and Senate could hold back congressional investigations and a new FBI
director to kill off its counter-intelligence investigation, a grand
jury is not under Trump’s control. He may not be able to stop the
Russian collusion affair from going to court.
Under US law, grand juries (which are larger than normal 12-person
court juries) have sweeping powers to compel witnesses to appear, to
call for the presentation of documents and to issue indictments.
Most Republicans backed the president, including the Senate judiciary
committee chairman, Chuck Grassley, who said: “The handling of the
Clinton email investigation is a clear example of how Comey’s decisions
have called into question the trust and political independence of the
FBI ...The effectiveness of the FBI depends upon the public trust and
confidence. Unfortunately, this has clearly been lost.”
But broad condemnation from Democrats and dissent from some
Republicans is likely to intensify pressure for the appointment of a
special prosecutor.
Justin Amash, a Republican congressman from Michigan, tweeted: “My
staff and I are reviewing legislation to establish an independent
commission on Russia.” He described the justification given in Trump’s
letter to Comey as “bizarre”.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer talks to media
following Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of FBI director James Comey.
Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP
Democrat Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House intelligence
committee, said: “The same president who has called the investigation
into the Russian hacking of our democracy and the potential complicity
of his campaign a ‘fake’ cannot pretend to have made such a decision
uninfluenced by his concerns over Comey’s continued involvement in the
investigation.
“It is more imperative than ever that an independent prosecutor be appointed.”
Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said: “This is
Nixonian. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein must immediately
appoint a special counsel to continue the Trump/Russia investigation …
this investigation must be independent and thorough in order to uphold
our nation’s system of justice.”
‘Why now?’ Chuck Schumer on James Comey’s dismissal
Chuck Schumer, Democratic minority leader in the Senate, said he told
Trump, who called to notify him before making the firing public,
“you’re making a very big mistake.”
He added: “If deputy attorney general Rosenstein does not appoint an
independent special prosecutor, every American will rightly suspect that
the decision to fire director Comey was part of a cover-up.”
Schumer has taken the unusual move of asking all Democratic Senators to be in their seats at 9.30am on Wednesday, NBC Nightly News reported.
Trump accused Schumer of hypocrisy. He fired back on Twitter: “Cryin’
Chuck Schumer stated recently, “I do not have confidence in him (James
Comey) any longer.” Then acts so indignant. #draintheswamp”
Civil society groups also expressed alarm at the day’s events.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union, said: “The independence of the FBI director is meant to ensure
that the president does not operate above the law. For President Trump
to fire the man responsible for investigating his own campaign’s ties to
the Russians imperils that fundamental principle.”
The president only has one publicly scheduled item on his agenda on
Wednesday: a meeting with Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia.
No comments:
Post a Comment