{"id":133437,"date":"2017-05-09T19:57:10","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T01:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/09\/trump-plucks-another-thorn-from-his-side.html"},"modified":"2017-05-09T19:57:10","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T01:57:10","slug":"trump-plucks-another-thorn-from-his-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/09\/trump-plucks-another-thorn-from-his-side.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump plucks another thorn from his side"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Comey drew plenty of criticism from all quarters over the last several months, and with good reason, but his abrupt firing today from his job of FBI Director is noteworthy for a few things:<\/p>\n

1. Comey has been a thorn in Trump's side on repeated occasions. Though arguably his announcements that Clinton was back under investigation for email stuff (sigh) just weeks before the election had some incremental effect to elect Trump, his failure to turn up a major smoking gun or to push for Clinton's prosecution always seemed to stick in Trump's craw. [1]<\/p>\n

On the other hand, that's largely old news. Trump has already kept Comey on after the election. Nothing in particular about the email thing has changed since then.<\/p>\n

2. More importantly, Comey was unwilling to back up Trump's accusation that he had been wiretapped by Obama during the election, and though he didn't go out of his way to mess up Trump's narrative, he basically denied it when asked. <\/p>\n

3. And, of course, the FBI is leading the counter-intelligence investigation into Russian interference with the US election and, as part of it, the Trump administration \/ campaign involvement in same. Including the shenanigans of Mike Flynn, as we were reminded during the Yates testimony yesterday.<\/p>\n

What happens next with that investigation? Who knows? All we know is that the next FBI Director will be a Trump appointee. <\/p>\n

What could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n

4. And then there's how it was done — while Comey was in Los Angeles, speaking at the FBI office staff there, to learn that through the news<\/i> he had been fired immediately.<\/p>\n

While the President has the right to fire the FBI Director, it's not something that's been done for anything trivial, let alone in this fashion.<\/p>\n

While I've had my own irk at Comey, this stinks on ice.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

[1] https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/859601184285491201<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nF.B.I. Director James Comey Is Fired by Trump<\/a><\/span>
\nPresident Trump abruptly terminated Mr. Comey, who was leading an investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s advisers colluded with Russia to influence the election.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Comey drew plenty of criticism from all quarters over the last several months, and with good reason, but his abrupt firing today from his job of FBI Director is noteworthy for a few things: 1. Comey has been a thorn in Trump's side on repeated occasions. Though arguably his announcements that Clinton was back … Continue reading “Trump plucks another thorn from his side”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":136116,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/13\/trump-is-his-own-worst-enemy-his-opponents-best-ally.html","url_meta":{"origin":133437,"position":0},"title":"Trump is his own worst enemy, his opponents best ally","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 13-Apr-18 2:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Donald Trump continues to do more to both publicize and lend credibility to Comey's memoir than any other imaginable factor. His tweeting and public rhetoric not only ignores the Streisand Effect, but validates every point that Comey makes about his personality. Comey says Trump is untethered from truth; Trump asserts,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/trump-across-the-table.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":133634,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/08\/first-thoughts-on-the-comey-hearing.html","url_meta":{"origin":133437,"position":1},"title":"First thoughts on the Comey Hearing","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Jun-17 11:16am","format":false,"excerpt":"So I was able to watch about 95% of the hearing. My immediate take-aways ...... Public hearings are largely to let Senators posture in front of the press. That was on display here as usual, though they actually did seem to have actual questions that they wanted answered. I'd give\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133457,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/11\/so-to-give-him-credit-trump-is-finally-being-honest.html","url_meta":{"origin":133437,"position":2},"title":"So, to give him credit, Trump is (finally) being honest","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 11-May-17 9:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Unlike all the previous excuses -- Clinton! Recommendations! Long-Term Job Performance! -- Trump seems to have finally come clean as to why he fired Comey.1. He didn't want the Trump-Russia investigation. 2. He says he himself judged it to be \"a made up story.\" 3. So, in order to end\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":136107,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/13\/the-politics-of-personal-attack-and-presidential-power.html","url_meta":{"origin":133437,"position":3},"title":"The Politics of Personal Attack and Presidential Power","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 13-Apr-18 7:49am","format":false,"excerpt":"Comey's book, from the advance leaks (and the GOP's calculated smear campaign prepped against the author) doesn't really give us all that much except a gloss on a story we already know (and, honestly, most people believe): that Donald Trump has no respect for the law except as a tool\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/comey.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":133493,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/16\/another-day-another-wtf-trump-moment.html","url_meta":{"origin":133437,"position":4},"title":"Another day, another "WTF, Trump?" moment","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 16-May-17 9:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Today? Unclassified memos written by (now fired) FBI Director James Comey back in February about a chat he had with Donald Trump. The memos haven't been turned over to the meda, but were read over the phone to NYT reporters by two of Comey's \"associates.\"Actually, there are two such WTF\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133447,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/10\/the-rage-of-the-president-toward-a-disloyal-servant.html","url_meta":{"origin":133437,"position":5},"title":"The Rage of the President toward a Disloyal Servant","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-May-17 9:25pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm always a little hesitant about \"insider\" stories that portray High Drama in scenes that can't be confirmed except through anonymous sourcing. But between this and the parallel multi-sourced WaPo story [1], it's pretty clear that Trump's simmering anger against Comey -- between failing to follow through on Clinton's email\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}