As Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein pointed out in great detail in his letter, James Comey had grossly violated DOJ rules and regulations with his public trashing of Hillary Clinton after deciding not to recommend charges against her for her private email server.
Rosenstein’s memo is extraordinarily persuasive. Comey was wrong, Rosenstein writes, to hold the July 5, 2016 press conference where he both criticized then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and stated that he recommended against bringing criminal charges against her for having sub-optimal IT practices while she was secretary of state.
“It is not the function of the Director to make such an announcement,” Rosenstein explains. “At most, the Director should have said the FBI had completed its investigation and presented its findings to federal prosecutors.” This policy exists for a simple reason — to protect the rights of people subject to investigation. “We do not,” Rosenstein states categorically, “hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation.”
Hillary Clinton is a human being with the same rights as everyone else. That means that she is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The FBI Director violated this most sacred principle when he dragged her reputation through the mud. Comey effectively punished Clinton without trial or conviction.
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The Justice Department has a firm policy against disclosing potentially compromising information against a candidate in the period immediately before an election. Comey didn’t just violate this policy, he almost certainly changed the course of American history. As Nate Silver writes, the Comey letter “might have shifted the race by 3 or 4 percentage points toward Donald Trump, swinging Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida to him, perhaps along with North Carolina and Arizona.” Even conservative estimates suggest that it had just enough impact to swing the election towards Trump.
Honestly, being fired is the least he deserved.
However, just as much as Comey was wrong to violate policy and protocol with his extended trashing of the Secretary and very likely changing the result of the election with his clumsy letter to congress about the Abedin emails, Rosenstein is just as wrong to push for Comey’s firing while the FBI Inspector General hasn’t yet completed his own inquiry and investigation into exactly these issues.
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The Justice Department inspector general will review broad allegations of misconduct involving FBI Director James B. Comey and how he handled the probe of Hillary Clinton’s email practices, the inspector general announced Thursday.
The investigation will be wide-ranging, encompassing Comey’s various letters and public statements on the matter and whether FBI or other Justice Department employees leaked nonpublic information, according to Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz.
This issue was being looked into, it was being addressed. The decision made by Deputy Rosenstein short-circuited this process and again, as he states Comey was wrong to put his own judgement in place of the prosecutors at the DOJ, Rosenstein has now just done that to the IG office.
Were supposed to believe Rosenstein just wrote this letter out of the blue without any prodding just days after Comey had asked him for a significant increase in resources in order to investigate Russia/Trump.
Three sources tell the New York Times that Comey recently asked the U.S. Department of Justice for “a significant increase in money and personnel for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election.”
According to the Times’ report, Comey’s request was made to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was the man who recommended to President Donald Trump this week that Comey be fired. After his meeting with Rosenstein, Comey also reportedly briefed members of Congress on his request.
In firing Comey — right after his request for money and personnel — Rosenstein has placed FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in charge, but he happens to have his own problems. First of all, the Inspector General was investigating him too.
Horowitz wrote that his inquiry will extend back to at least July — when Comey announced he was recommending the Clinton case be closed without charges.
He wrote that he will explore “allegations that Department and FBI employees improperly disclosed non-public information” — potentially a reference to Giuliani, who seemed to claim at one point he had insider FBI knowledge. Horowitz also said he would explore whether FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe should have been recused from the case. McCabe’s wife, Jill McCabe, ran for a Virginia Senate seat and took money from the political action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a fierce Clinton ally.
The FBI asserted at the time that Andrew McCabe had checked in with ethics officials and followed agency protocols. And, when his wife was first recruited to run, he was not yet deputy director. He was elevated to that post in February 2016, after his wife was out of politics.
That Hillary Clinton was present at a fundraiser for Terry McCauliffe that ultimately gave part of their cash to Jill McCabe doesn’t really mean that her husband would be personally beholden to Mrs. Clinton — that’s too many degrees of separation I would think — but it is something the IG has been looking into.
McCabe also happens to be the same person that went running to Rince Preibus to tell him that the New York Times report about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians were “Bullshit.”
Spicer: The Deputy Director of the FBI was at the White House for a 7:30 meeting — whenever it was — the morning that the story came out, he asked to see the Chief of Staff after the meeting privately and said in fairly colorful terms that the New York Times story was not accurate. As frankly any would at the time said — “Could you clarify that then? If it’s not true, could you clarify the story?” The Deputy Director then said “I’ll get back to you.” When he got back to us he said “Hey, we don’t want to get into the practice of having to refute every story.” Uh, the Chief of Staff said “Well, you’ve put us in a very difficult position. You’ve told us that a story that made some fairly significant accusations, was not true. And now you just want us to sit out there? And I think we have a right, and if there’s information, or if you’re saying that the stories not right, could you at least make it available to the media, or some folks in the media that, Yes, that’s stories not right, it made very, very serious allegations.”
McCabe himself broke DOJ protocol when he did this because contacts between the White House and DOJ over ongoing cases are limited to the Attorney General, his (or her) Deputy and the White House Counsel, Vice President and President.
b. Initial communications between the Department and the White House concerning pending or contemplated criminal investigations or cases will involve only the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General, from the side of the Department, and the Counsel to the President, the Principal Deputy Counsel to the President, the President or the Vice President, from the side ofthe White House.
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All communications between the Department and the White House or Congress that are limited to policy, legislation, budgeting, political appointments, public affairs, intergovernmental relations, or administrative matters that do not relate to a particular contemplated or pending investigation or case may be handled directly by the parties concerned. Such communications should take place with the knowledge of the Department's lead contact regarding the subject
At least he didn’t agree as Preibus later tried to turn him into a PR Flack for the White House even though heads of the House and Senate Intelligence committee Chairmen Devin Nunez and Senator Burr did go along with that brilliant move.
And on top of all that McCabe started with the FBI in 1996 in their New York field office while Rudy Giuliani was mayor, an office which has been called “Trumpland” due to it’s extreme anti-Clinton bias.
The FBI is Trumpland,” said one current agent.
This atmosphere raises major questions about how Comey and the bureau he is slated to run for the next seven years can work with Clinton should she win the White House.
The currently serving FBI agent said Clinton is “the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel,” and that “the reason why they’re leaking is they’re pro-Trump.”
So with McCabe now in the top spot at FBI — at least for a moment — there is the potential that the ongoing investigation of Russia’s influence on our election and links to Trump associates — which is now being headed up at Justice by Rosenstein himself due to the recusal of Jeff Sessions — just may be completely F.U.B.A.R.
All of this is why we now get ridiculous performances like the following from White House Consigliere Kellyanne Conjob.
In a long and combative interview on CNN, White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway battled with CNN host Anderson Cooper over the stunning firing of FBI Director James Comey by President Donald Trump, one time telling the CNN host, “You’re looking at the wrong set of facts, Anderson.”
Cooper pressured Conway over the White House’s contention that Comey was fired because of the way he handled an investigation of Hillary Clinton, saying, “As a candidate, Trump praised James Comey, Donald Trump talked about this on the campaign all the time. All of a sudden, the White House is concerned about James Comey’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s emails?”
“I think you’re looking at the wrong set of facts here, Anderson,” Conway shot back. “In other words you’re going back to the campaign. This is the president of the United States, he acted decisively today, he acted at the direction of his deputy attorney general. He makes complete sense because he has lost confidence in the FBI director and he took the recommendation of Rob Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who has been on the job for two weeks.”
Yeah, that’s like full on bullshit right there.
Trump loved him some James Comey and Anderson does actually play multiple clips of him saying so during the campaign, yet suddenly on the basis of this letter from Rosenstein which went up the chain through Sessions to the Trump in a single fracking day, again, without going through the IG’s office or the OLC, we’re supposed to believe he’s lost all confidence in Comey just that quickly?
And then in his letter firing Comey Trump doesn’t mention Hillary Clinton or her emails once, yet he does mention that Comey told him 3 times “he’s not being investigated” — which is like an obvious tell that yes, this is about the possibility he might start to investigate Trump — and then he has it delivered to Comey’s Office while he’s in L.A. for a meeting so he FINDS OUT HE’S BEEN FIRED BECAUSE IT’S ON THE NEWS CHYRONS BEHIND HIM AS HE’S SPEAKING!!??
Pardon my plain straight English but that’s some completely FUCKED UP BULLSHIT there.
This all happens on the same day that the DOJ issues Grand Jury subpoenas against Gen. Flynn and his associates in connection to Russia?
Washington (CNN) Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year's election, according to people familiar with the matter. CNN learned of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI's broader investigation begun last July into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia.
So Trump says this entire investigation is “Fake News” but I don’t think those are fake subpeonas that were just issued, and Kellyanne says this Comey’s firing has nothing to do with that investigation and everything to do with the previous investigation into Clinton’s email that helped make Trump President and we’re supposed to believe Donald is now just so upset about that now — just now — that he decided to fire Comey over that, but not over the Flynn/Russia subpoenas?
We’re supposed to believe this about Trump even after he went into a screaming fit when Sessions recused himself? Yeah, right. Nobody, but nobody, that isn’t total Trumpkin robot believes this shit.
Speaking of Trumpkins, there’s still Sarah Huckabee-Sanders who got Mika to respond with “You’re Not telling the Truth” this morning.
Specifically, Sanders tried to claim Scarborough had once said that there was no evidence tying Trump’s campaign to the Russian government — but Scarborough quickly interjected to point out he’d never said anything of the sort.
“I said there’s no obvious evidence of collusion out there right now,” Scarborough said. “If there were that obvious evidence of collusion, it would have already been leaked by now. I also said there have to be in-depth investigations because it may take, I think, probably an independent prosecutor to figure out the financial ties between Donald Trump and Russia.”
Sanders tried to bat down calls for an independent investigator by claiming that there have already been multiple investigations into the Trump campaign’s Russia ties that turned up nothing — despite the fact that none of the investigations so far have even concluded and are all still ongoing.
Trump didn’t fire Comey over his handling of the Clinton emails investigation, press conference and letter to congress — it would be easier to believe if it was because he didn’t call for her to be indicted — the truth is he had lots of other reasons.
President Donald Trump was growing increasingly angry about the ongoing investigation of his associates’ ties to Russia, and he was furious when Comey testified that the FBI was investigating his campaign, reported Politico.
Trump was also furious that Comey refused to support his claims that former President Barack Obama had tapped his phones at Trump Tower, the website reported.
He was frustrated that the narrative had spun out of his control and repeatedly asked aides why the investigation wouldn’t just disappear, and one adviser said Trump would scream at the television when reports aired about the probe.
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Trump decided to fire Comey and did so quickly, but the spokesman insisted the president had not asked for the letters in advance and White House officials had no idea the letters were coming.
However, several sources close to the situation told Politico that Trump had talked about firing Comey for over a week, and the letters were written to justify the move.
Classic Trump misdirection head fake maneuver. This is his signature move, do one thing while pretending it’s something else entirely. And the angrier Trump gets over this, the more wild he’s likely to behave. This is only just the beginning.
Many people have compared this to the Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre — it’s already been coined the Mother’s Day Massacre — when he ordered the firing of Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, but the difference now is that back then both the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General refused to do it and resigned in protest instead. That’s why then Solicitor General Robert Bork had to come in to fire Cox.
This time the Attorney General and his Deputy were the ones to sign off on the firing right up front. No need for them to resign in protest, they we’re both down with the sickness from the start. This is likely to get worse, much worse before it’s finally over.
Let’s also remember that it took him only one day to fire Sally Yates over her refusal to enforce the Muslim Ban, and just a single day to fire Preet Barahar after promising to keep him on as the New York U.S. Attorney where he would have been in charge of investigating any financial wrong-doing at Trump Tower, something which he’d previously done when it came to a Russian money laundering ring operating on the 61st floor. These firings didn’t all happen on the same day as they did back in 1973, but they all only took one day — however it took 18 Days for Michael Flynn to be fired?
And now we’re supposed to trust Trump to pick a new FBI Director whose going to be more independent that Comey was, even though chances are based on his rate of making appointments we’re going to have to trust Reince Preibus’ best buddy McCabe on that for the time being? Or we’re supposed to trust Rosenstein to pick a independent Special Prosecutor?
On top of this giant feces cake, Trump today is meeting with Russian Ambassador Kislyak and refused to let U.S. media in to view, film or ask questions but let the Russian media see everything.
One day after firing the man overseeing the FBI investigation into his presidential campaign’s ties to the Russian government, President Donald Trump spent Wednesday morning meeting with Russian government officials in the Oval Office.
However, no American media outlets were allowed to cover the event — and only photographers from Russia’s state-run media were allowed to snap photos, such as the one posted by the Russian embassy’s official Twitter account.
Yeah, that’s straight up flaming bullshit right there.`
Wednesday, May 10, 2017 · 5:17:31 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
And the hits keep coming as the FBI admits their investigation also includes Trump’s call for the Russians to hack Hillary’s emails.
“I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said in front of supporters in Florida. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
According to court filings obtained by The Sparrow Project, those remarks are now part of an FBI investigation.
Following Trump’s July statement, Buzzfeed News investigator Jason Leopold and researcher Ryan Shapiro sued the FBI to release all documents pertaining to the remarks.
In its response to the lawsuit, the FBI confirmed the existence of an ongoing investigation.
“Because of the existence of an active, ongoing investigation,” the court filing says, the agency has the right to “withhold all records responsive to the Russia Request, because releasing any responsive records (or portions thereof) ‘could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.'
Who’s not being investigated again?
Wednesday, May 10, 2017 · 5:40:39 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
Ding!!! After Trump fired Comey White House staff scrambled to explain why — and Spicer hid in the bushes.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer wrapped up his brief interview with Fox Business from the White House grounds late Tuesday night and then disappeared into the shadows, huddling with his staff behind a tall hedge. To get back to his office, Spicer would have to pass a swarm of reporters wanting to know why President Trump suddenly decided to fire the FBI director.
For more than three hours, Spicer and his staff had been scrambling to answer that question. Spicer had wanted to drop the bombshell news in an emailed statement, but it was not transmitting quickly enough, so he ended up standing in the doorway of the press office around 5:40 p.m. and shouting a statement to reporters who happened to be nearby. He then vanished, with his staff locking the door leading to his office. The press staff said that Spicer might do a briefing, then announced that he definitely wouldn't say anything more that night. But as Democrats and Republicans began to criticize and question the firing with increasing levels of alarm, Spicer and two prominent spokeswomen were suddenly speed-walking up the White House drive to defend the president on CNN, Fox News and Fox Business.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017 · 5:55:31 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
Comey invited to testify in front of Senate Intel Committee.
Fired FBI Director James Comey has been invited to appear before the Senate Intelligence Community next Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
One source tells ABC News’ Michael Del Moro that while Comey has been invited to testify, he has not yet given word about whether he will accept the invitation.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017 · 3:14:07 PM PDT · Frank Vyan Walton
A former Intel Official has told NBC’s Ken Dilianian about the brutality of this firing.
“The way this was done, I think was to send a message to the FBI agents left behind,” the unnamed former intelligence official told Dilanian. “It’s not just that they removed him—it’s that they did it in the most thuggish and humiliating way possible.”
“No notice, no nothing—instant execution,” the official continued. “The body guard delivers the letter to headquarters.”
“I think that was designed to send a message: Cut this shit out, or this will happen to you.”
“This is like the horse head in the bed,” the official continued, referring to the iconic scene from Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather.”
Wednesday, May 10, 2017 · 9:39:39 PM PDT · Frank Vyan Walton
Rosenstein threatened to quit after being used as Trump’s scapegoat for the Comey firing.
But in contrast to the White House’s assertion that Rosenstein was the catalyst for Comey’s ouster, the Washington Post reports that Trump met with Sessions and Rosenstein on Monday and directed this attorney general and deputy attorney general to make a case against Comey for him.
According to the Post, when the White House narrative on Tuesday suggested Rosenstein was the impetus behind the president’s move, Rosenstein threatened to quit. Wednesday, the administration altered its timeline of Trump’s decision, but continued to cite Rosenstein’s role in Comey’s dismissal.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017 · 9:45:49 PM PDT · Frank Vyan Walton
CNN’s John King has reported that Trump was “White Hot” angry at Comey’s testimony because he said he was “nauseous” over changing the outcome of the election and he wasn’t paying enough attention the the “leaks”.
A longtime friend who talked to the President over the weekend described him as "white hot," a mood that set the table for Comey's firing. Trump did not seek a wide range of viewpoints on Comey, several people familiar with the matter told CNN, unlike his approach on many difficult choices.
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Several people familiar with the decision say the President grew increasingly frustrated at Comey after his congressional hearing last Wednesday when he testified that he was "mildly nauseous" over the idea that he helped sway the election. Even the health care victory in the House one day later couldn't take his mind off Comey, two people close to Trump said.
"He wouldn't hear it (that he should be encouraged)," the friend said. "It's Russia. Russia. Trump and Russia." The President complained, with expletives, about Comey's "mildly nauseous" answer and said his answer when pressed on leaks convinced the President he was far less concerned about the leaks than Trump thought he should be.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017 · 9:51:29 PM PDT · Frank Vyan Walton
Jason Chaffetz — of all people — has asked the DOJ Inspector General to investigate Comey’s firing.
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee is calling for the Justice Department's inspector general to look into the circumstances surrounding President Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey.
"Previously I asked Inspector General Horowitz to review the FBI’s actions in advance of the 2016 election," Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said in a statement Wednesday.
"Today I sent a letter urging IG Horowitz to expand the scope of his review to include the decision to fire Director Comey. I look forward to receiving the IG’s findings."
Horowitz was already investigating Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation, the very same issue noted by Rosenstein and used as a pretext for Trump to fire him when it was really about him paying more attention the Russia investigations than leaks or IMO, “Obama wiretapped me at Trump Tower.”
Thursday, May 11, 2017 · 4:59:58 AM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
Members of the FBI are reacting as if Trump declared War on Them.
A new Washington Post article offers an intimate look into the immediate before and after of President Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey, and many of the revelations from the 30-odd officials within the White House and intelligence communities who spoke on conditions of anonymity are explosive.
According to one anonymous intelligence official, Trump “essentially declared war on a lot of people at the FBI. I think there will be a concerted effort to respond over time in kind.”
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It also raised another, perhaps more serious, question: “Why had Trump discussed the Russia probe with the FBI director three times, as he claimed in his letter dismissing Comey, which could have been a violation of Justice Department policies that ongoing investigations generally are not to be discussed with White House officials?”