Donald Trump and his Coterie of the Craven (part 16)

[nvmbr02]

Just now, Howl said:

Here's a thought.  Is Trump going to try to go after Hillary again, by putting someone in place in the FBI who decides to find that Hillary's use of a private server rises to the level of a criminal act?  Yes, it's a crazy thought, but it would energize Trump's Crooked Hillary base, and they would keep on loving him. 

I would say it is possible. It would be a good distraction. Trump's base goes crazy for any type of Clinton investigation, emails in particular. 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

11 minutes ago, Howl said:

Here's a thought.  Is Trump going to try to go after Hillary again, by putting someone in place in the FBI who decides to find that Hillary's use of a private server rises to the level of a criminal act?  Yes, it's a crazy thought, but it would energize Trump's Crooked Hillary base, and they would keep on loving him. 

I agree with @nvmbr02--it would be a good distraction from the Russia issue. Bonus for the tangerine toddler: he could have a couple of pep rallies.

 

I love Dana Milbank: "Trump, like Nixon, will fail"

Quote

This will not stand.

President Trump performed his latest impersonation of a Third World strongman, firing FBI Director James B. Comey late Tuesday in ham-handed fashion as it was becoming clear that the FBI probe into Trump’s ties to Russia, which Comey was overseeing, was becoming a bigger problem for Trump while new testimony exposed dubious behavior by the president himself.

The sacking brought immediate outrage and obvious comparisons to President Richard Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre, when the scandal-engulfed president ordered the Watergate prosecutor fired in a doomed attempt to keep that probe from ensnaring him. Trump, like Nixon, will fail, for a simple reasons: The institutions he is assaulting daily are stronger than he thinks. His autocratic instincts have been checked every step of the way. Trump will, inevitably, be spanked again.

He attempted a variant of the “Muslim ban” he spoke of during the campaign, ordering a halt to travel by people from certain Muslim-majority nations. He was shot down in court.

He ominously questioned the legitimacy of “so-called” judges because of the ruling and said they should be blamed for terrorist attacks, while his White House said his authority “will not be questioned.” The courts begged to differ; his revised travel ban, too, is snarled in court.

...

He released a budget that slashed major government functions and domestic programs. But American public opinion has turned sharply against Trump, making it easier for Democrats to oppose him. In the spending bill that Congress passed last week, Democrats successfully repelled Trump’s border wall, deportation force and cuts to Planned Parenthood, the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency and more.

The plain truth is Trump’s clumsy assaults on democratic norms are being resoundingly rejected. The Cook Political Report is already talking about the possibility of a “midterm wave” against Republicans, and it shifted ratings in 20 House races — all in Democrats’ direction. At town-hall meetings, House Republicans who were badgered by the White House into voting for “Trumpcare” last week are already backpedaling.

At Monday’s hearing on the Trump administration’s ties to Russia, only six Republicans spoke (versus nine Democrats) and not one of them attempted a real defense of the president’s actions on disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the panel’s chairman, openly mocked Trump’s claims that the election hacking might not have been done by Russia but by a “400-pound guy sitting on a bed or any other country.”

Many of us feared during the campaign that Trump would be a threat to democracy, operating outside the Constitution, using demagoguery to turn white Americans against immigrants and religious and racial minorities. That hasn’t happened, though not for lack of trying on Trump’s part. His instincts are authoritarian, but the Trump presidency has been one pratfall after another. He has proved to be a blundering bully and an inept autocrat.

At a single White House briefing Monday, the questioning revealed all manner of disarray. Conservatives, one questioner noted, were worried that the White House is “woefully behind” in filling administration posts and judicial vacancies. The education secretary and other senior administration officials weren’t even aware of a signing statement Trump issued on historically black colleges. Trump’s political website had, until this week, called the travel ban a “Muslim” ban even as the administration insisted it wasn’t. And 30 days into the 90-day period Trump’s opioid commission has to issue a report, no members of the commission have been named.

Now we may have the clumsiest moment yet of this presidency. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who had a sterling reputation when he was confirmed two weeks ago, instantly turned himself into a Trump stooge — Trump’s Robert Bork, to continue the Nixonian parallel — Tuesday evening. Questions about Comey’s performance are legitimate, but the timing of the firing, a day after a damaging hearing about Trump’s Russia ties, left the clear impression this was all about killing the FBI’s Russia probe.

Rosenstein has one chance to rehabilitate his reputation: He can name a special prosecutor to continue the probe. If he doesn’t, the wave of rebellion against Trump so far will become a tsunami, and it will swamp Trump’s protectors in the polls.

This president may think himself unassailable, but Americans are seeing him for what he is: a tin-pot tyrant.

 

[nvmbr02]

43 minutes ago, Destiny said:

I hate Comey as much as the next lady, but I sorta feel sorry for him. How humiliating. Can you imagine being fired and finding out, while you are presenting to the agency you got fired from, FROM TV?

 

Holy Sh!t!  If this is an accurate account then I truly do feel sorry for him.  

 

[Destiny]

Holy Sh!t!  If this is an accurate account then I truly do feel sorry for him. [emoji20] 

I have seen this story from a variety of sources, so I think it's probably accurate. So fucking unprofessional. I hate him, but this was unnecessarily humiliating.

[VelociRapture]

Few things:

1. Unnecessarily humiliating and absolutely trashy to handle his termination the way they did. I don't care how much you dislike someone. The President of the fucking country should have the decency to handle these matters more maturely.

2. I want to remind people that we still do not know the full story behind why Comey decided to disclose the email news when he did last fall. I think someone here has mentioned that there's a very good possibility that his hand was somehow forced by people within the FBI. I'm personally going to try and reserve judgement against him for that reason right now.

3. The White House claims they didn't realize the firing would be such a big deal. So they're either lying about that or they're bigger dumbasses that any of us knew.

[Mercer]

Very worrisome. Comey is no saint in his own right, but the timing of this and the players involved (particularly Sessions taking a starring role) make me highly suspicious of the motives here. 

I can't help but think it's to obfuscate regarding Trump's Russia ties, whether just to sow confusion into the investigation or because Trump doesn't think Comey will cover up for him and wants to make sure he's only being investigated by people who are thoroughly in his pocket.

[GreyhoundFan]

5 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

Few things:

1. Unnecessarily humiliating and absolutely trashy to handle his termination the way they did. I don't care how much you dislike someone. The President of the fucking country should have the decency to handle these matters more maturely.

2. I want to remind people that we still do not know the full story behind why Comey decided to disclose the email news when he did last fall. I think someone here has mentioned that there's a very good possibility that his hand was somehow forced by people within the FBI. I'm personally going to try and reserve judgement against him for that reason right now.

3. The White House claims they didn't realize the firing would be such a big deal. So they're either lying about that or they're bigger dumbasses that any of us knew.

Re: #2: My mom has insisted all along that Comey was the fall guy for some faction in the Justice Dept. We may never know if that's true.

Re:#3: They're probably lying. Oh, and they're huge dumbasses.

 

"The one thing we know for sure about Comey’s firing"

Quote

...

The stunning news confounds partisans who selectively praised and condemned Comey. Republicans were angry that he did not prosecute Hillary Clinton and then were mollified when the FBI director injected himself into the campaign days before the election. Democrats were relieved he did not prosecute but mortified that he chose to delve into facts of a case he was not prosecuting and then intervened at the end of the campaign to carry Trump, in their minds, over the finish line.

Trump’s letter firing Comey inserted his defiant and defensive spin that Comey had told him three times he is not under investigation. (We don’t know what instances Trump is referring to or what Comey might have meant.) The questions swirling around Comey’s firing will envelop the administration and Washington for the foreseeable future. Here is just an initial list of issues:

• If Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, how and why did he make the recommendation to fire Comey?
• Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein laid out a convincing case as to why Comey acted improperly and unfairly to Clinton last July. However, Trump thought Comey should have prosecuted her, so why would Trump now object that Comey had been unfair to his nemesis?
• How is Trump to select the person who will be investigating whether his campaign colluded with Russia during the campaign without invalidating the entire process?
• When was the decision to fire Comey made: before or after this week’s testimony?
• Will Comey be able to preserve evidence he collected so as to defuse suspicion this is a giant coverup?
• Will Comey testify about the status of his investigation as of Tuesday?
• Will the demands for a special prosecutor now become too loud to ignore?
• Will Comey, once fired, feel free to reveal information about the Russia investigation? If so, why would Trump risk firing him now?
• Will Republicans snap out of their partisan stupor to demand answers about Comey and insist on a replacement who is above reproach?
• Will the administration — which has now fired a national security adviser and an FBI chief and has been plagued by conflicts of interest and infighting — take on the aura of complete chaos and instability, impairing the GOP’s agenda and America’s international standing?

The only thing we can say with any confidence is that this will never be a “normal” presidency without controversy, scandal and a fair amount of mayhem.

 

[JMarie]

19 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

Few things:

1. Unnecessarily humiliating and absolutely trashy to handle his termination the way they did. I don't care how much you dislike someone. The President of the fucking country should have the decency to handle these matters more maturely.

2. I want to remind people that we still do not know the full story behind why Comey decided to disclose the email news when he did last fall. I think someone here has mentioned that there's a very good possibility that his hand was somehow forced by people within the FBI. I'm personally going to try and reserve judgement against him for that reason right now.

3. The White House claims they didn't realize the firing would be such a big deal. So they're either lying about that or they're bigger dumbasses that any of us knew.

#1 reminds me of how Berger broke up with Carrie via a post-it on Sex And The City

[GreyhoundFan]

Heading to bed, but wanted to share a few good tweets:

[PennySycamore]

I was around for the Saturday Night Massacre in 1973 and now I'm there's the Tuesday Night Massacre.   Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox triggering the resignations of the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General.  I have no trouble saying that this is a Constitutional crisis.  We're in far deeper shit than we were with Watergate.

[JMarie]

Hey, do you think we can fire Trump via a letter??

 

[candygirl200413]

So.... is this about to become my generation's version of Watergate?

Sessions played a role, they told him he had to come up with reasons to fire Comey. I read in the same article that Comey had a feeling this was going to happen. Also not surprise with how it was announced cause orange asswipe is the worst.

[fraurosena]

Holy shit guys! 

Sigh. Why did this have to happen on a day that I'm mostly offline?  

This is so transparant and obivously meant to bring the Russian connection investigation to a halt. These are the actions of a cornered cat. 

In a way, this is a good thing (yes, I always try and look for a silver lining). That it is possible for a president to fire someone who is investigating him is something that is truly wrong with your system, and now it has come to light. And now it has been seen, something can be done about it, when the time comes that the toddler has been toppled.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

The guardian is doing a live coverage of the angry tweeting. Some are hilarious, then you notice that realdonaldtrump wrote them  while writing the script for SNL I suppose.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2017/may/10/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey-reaction-live#comments

[GreyhoundFan]

"The shocking firing of James B. Comey puts new pressure on Trump and his team"

Quote

The firing of FBI Director James B. Comey brought to a stunning conclusion one of the most controversial chapters in the bureau’s modern history. But its timing raised fresh and potentially troublesome questions about the future of the investigation Comey was overseeing into possible links between associates of President Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.

There was a certain irony to the explanation offered for the dismissal, which was focused on Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. Many Democrats, including Clinton, believe what Comey did by reopening the investigation late in the campaign contributed to Trump’s victory last November. That’s one reason that, by the time of his dismissal, Comey had few public advocates and many detractors for his actions and his unwillingness to concede error.

That might explain why Trump’s order to fire Comey produced, initially at least, a somewhat muted reaction among elected officials in both parties, or at least reactions that offered no clear defense of the FBI director.

But as the hours passed and the shock of the announcement rippled more widely, Democrats and some Republicans began to raise concerns about the timing and therefore the possible implications of the action by a president whose administration has been clouded since its very start by the Russia investigation, with any number of Democrats accusing Trump of an abuse of power.

Those concerns about what could happen to the investigation into Trump’s campaign and the Russians were summed up most succinctly in a tweet by Robby Mook, the campaign manager for Clinton, who said, “Twilight zone. I was as disappointed and frustrated as anyone at how the email investigation was handled. But this terrifies me.”

The shock of the firing brought back immediate comparisons to the 1973 Saturday Night Massacre during the Watergate scandal, ordered by then-president Richard M. Nixon. Those firings generated an immediate firestorm and a powerful backlash against the embattled president, one step along the way to eventual impeachment proceedings and resignation from office.

In that case, the attorney general refused to carry out Nixon’s orders to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. In this case, Trump said he had acted on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and newly installed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

...

The firing of Comey has left the administration once again in a quandary about how to proceed with respect to the investigation into the Trump campaign and the Russians. The administration long has resisted such a course, but in the wake of Tuesday’s stunning moves, the president, the attorney general or the deputy attorney general will be called on to reassure the public that the investigation will continue as aggressively as it would have without a change in leadership at the bureau.

Meanwhile, Trump will be under pressure to yield to calls for a special prosecutor to take over the case, a decision that might create greater confidence in the independence of the investigation but that the president and his allies might see as a potentially more perilous course. It was notable that in his brief letter of dismissal to Comey, he went out of his way to declare that the FBI director had told him three times that he was not under investigation.

The president has tried to wish away the questions about possible collusion or cooperation between associates of his campaign and the Russians during last year’s election. He has been reluctant to accept, firmly, the conclusions of the intelligence community that the Russians interfered in the election with the purpose of hurting Clinton and therefore helping him. He has said there is no evidence of collusion.

Comey’s public statement earlier this spring that the bureau was looking into those allegations made it clear that, whatever the president said or tweeted, there was a serious investigation underway that was threatening to his administration. By dismissing Comey on Tuesday, the president has significantly raised the stakes, for the Justice Department, the FBI and ultimately his own administration, to demonstrate that the investigation will continue to its rightful conclusion without interference.

I hope and pray that, like Nixon's attempt to fire Archibald Cox, this eventually leads to the tangerine toddler's downfall.

[Howl]

The NYT has a good article that lays out the memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein -- who was sworn in as Deputy Attorney General on April 26th.  It's all reasonable, addresses Comey's mishandling and bungling of various sensitive issues related to Hillary Clinton and also notes that Comey refuses to recognize that mishandling.  This was confirmed when Comey testified this week that he would not change the way he handled the matter of Hillary's email investigation and his comments about it. 

Keep in mind that the FBI is part of the Department of Justice and the head of FBI reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence.  The now disgraced Mike Flynn was the original Director of National Intelligence appointed by Trump.  So much crazy. 

Rosenstein's memo lays out a perfectly reasonable rationale for the firing of Comey.   Up to this point, Rod J. Rosenstein has had a sterling reputation as a by-the-book kinda guy and has served in DoJ under Bush II and Obama.  Is he so sterling that he can ignore the implications with the timing of this, or are things in such disarray between FBI and DoJ that Comey had to go?   Were Comey's problems so bad that he was standing in the way of the Russia investigation?  Is Rosenstein settling an old beef when Comey usurped the role of DoJ last summer?  Last night, talking heads on CNN were excoriating Rosenstein.   From Rosenstein's memo: 

Quote

The [FBI] Director [Comey] was wrong to usurp the Attorney General’s authority on July 5, 2016, and announce his conclusion that the case should be closed without prosecution. It is not the function of the Director to make such an announcement. At most, the Director should have said the F.B.I. had completed its investigation and presented its findings to federal prosecutors.

There is so much WTF-ery with everything Trump, but this article gave me a moment's pause to think about the extent of Comey's bad behavior over time.   The NYT article is here: 

Deputy Attorney General’s Memo Breaks Down Case Against Comey

So much crazy, but I want to think about this more.  There's something deeply hidden in the background at FBI -- someone upthread noted that Comey's hand may have been forced by rogue elements within his own agency.  If so, how did that happen? Here's hoping someone will spill the beans.  

Russia, Russia, Russia! 

[formergothardite]

19 minutes ago, Howl said:

There's something deeply hidden in the background at FBI -- someone upthread noted that Comey's hand may have been forced by rogue elements within his own agency.  If so, how did that happen? Here's hoping someone will spill the beans.

I feel like there is something going on that we don't know about. None of this really makes a heck of a lot of sense. 

I beginning to think that the only way things are going to get done is if big info starts getting leaked. We would still have Flynn in power if that hadn't had been leaked. Sadly our government is so corrupt that leaks are the only way to force their hand. 

[sawasdee]

25 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

I feel like there is something going on that we don't know about. None of this really makes a heck of a lot of sense. 

 

I couldn't agree more.  The political stupidity of firing Comey at this juncture is incredible: it cannot help but focus attention on the Russian investigation. I can't help but feel that there is a very big shoe almost ready to drop, and the WH is scrambling to stop it.

If the investigation is now dropped or sidelined by a new FBI head, and no special prosecutor is appointed, then I think you truly do have a constitutional crisis on your hands. The checks and balances will have failed.

[CTRLZero]

I am still trying to figure out why Trump specifically pointed out that three times  Comey assured him he [Trump] was not under investigation.  He damn well should be under investigation, so was he [Trump] trying to make it appear that there was no reason for anyone to look further into any connections with Russia?

I'm so confused.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

Rosenstein memo makes sense EXCEPT that they kept their outrage for Comey's mishandling of the e-mail investigation well concealed until the day Sally Yates testifies in front of Senate about Flynn and Kislyak.

Think about it, Comey testified last week that for all he knew in that moment he did the right call with that letter to congress members in October. In doing this he publicly misstates numbers and details regarding the mails supposedly containing classified info that actually were in the infamous laptop. This makes him very vulnerable and after a week, on the day of Sally Yates testimony, leaks come out from DOJ saying that Comey misstated things and that soon  a letter to Congress will rectify. Then Trump fires Comey. My guess is that Trump called Sessions and Rosenstein and told them I'm firing Comey put together convincing motivations. Then in a letter written with the mellifluos rethorical subtlety and expertise of a four yo he fires him and makes sure everybody know it's NOT AT ALL because he was inquiring his own ties with Russia!

So why? Because Comey lied making the mail appear a more serious issue than it was or because he failed to come up with a case against crooked Hillary? Either way is fine by Humpty Trumpty, Comey is out and he gets to choose who will conduct the investigation on his administration, happy Trumpty.

[AuntK]

I can't help but think at some point there's going to be a "Deep Throat" who is going to leak enough information to bring down the current White House, just like the original "DT" did in 1974. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part, but I think there are a number of people who know enough details who could bring him down. ( Did you notice - Deep Throat and Donald Trump have the same initials?)

[GreyhoundFan]

"The Daily 202: Firing FBI director Comey is already backfiring on Trump. It’s only going to get worse."

Quote

THE BIG IDEA: After the president fired James Comey, the cloud hanging over the White House just got bigger and darker.

-- Donald Trump has surrounded himself with sycophants and amateurs who are either unwilling or unable to tell him no. He lacks a David-Gergen-like figure who is wise to the ways of Washington and has the stature to speak up when the president says he wants to fire an FBI director who is overseeing the counterintelligence investigation into whether his associates coordinated with Moscow. Without such a person, Trump just walked headlong into a political buzz saw.

-- Senior officials at the White House were caught off guard by the intense and immediate blowback to the president’s stunning decision to fire James Comey. They reportedly expected Republicans to back him up and thought Democrats wouldn’t complain loudly because they have been critical of Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Indeed, that was the dubious excuse given publicly for his ouster.

But as all three cable news channels showed live footage of Comey’s motorcade winding through Los Angeles traffic en route to the private plane that would bring him home to Washington, the West Wing shifted into damage control mode.

-- Post reporter Jenna Johnson, who was at the White House last night, filed a colorful dispatch that captures the chaotic and dysfunctional rollout: “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 … 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…

“After Spicer spent several minutes hidden in the bushes behind these sets, Janet Montesi, an executive assistant in the press office, emerged and told reporters that Spicer would answer some questions, as long as he was not filmed doing so. Spicer then emerged. ‘Just turn the lights off. Turn the lights off,’ he ordered. … Spicer got his wish and was soon standing in near darkness between two tall hedges, with more than a dozen reporters closely gathered around him. For 10 minutes, he responded to a flurry of questions, vacillating between light-hearted asides and clear frustration with getting the same questions over and over again.

“As Spicer tells it, (Deputy Attorney General Rod) Rosenstein was confirmed about two weeks ago and independently took on this issue so the president was not aware of the probe until he received a memo from Rosenstein on Tuesday, along with a letter from Attorney General Jeff Sessions recommending that Comey be fired. The president then swiftly decided to follow the recommendation, notifying the FBI via e-mail around 5 p.m. and in a letter delivered to the FBI by the president's longtime bodyguard. ‘It was all him,’ Spicer said of Rosenstein.” (No serious person believes this.)

Spicer then ducked a series of obvious follow-up questions: Was Sessions involved? "That's something you should ask the Department of Justice," Spicer said. Was Rosenstein's probe part of a larger review of the FBI? "That's, again, a question that you should ask the Department of Justice," he said. Did the president discuss Rosenstein's findings with Rosenstein? "No, I don't believe, I don't know how that sequence went — I don't know," he said. What was the president's role? "Again, I have to get back to you on the tick-tock," he said. When's the last time Trump and Comey spoke? "Uh, I don't know. I don't know. There's some — I don't know. I don't know," he said. What were the three occasions on which the president says Comey assured him that he was not under investigation? "I don't — we can follow — I can try, yeah," he said.

“As Spicer made his way toward the White House door, the swarm of reporters moved with him, shouting questions along the way,” Johnson concludes. “Spicer walked with his head down. … As he approached the door, aides warned reporters not to get too close.”

-- To put it mildly, the optics of firing Comey are terrible. Trump looks like he does not actually want to get to the bottom of Russia’s interference in the U.S. election and the potential wrongdoing of his own staffers.

In one of the hastily-arranged damage-control interviews, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made an especially revealing statement that underscored why so many people are worried. Asked by Tucker Carlson on Fox News how Comey’s termination will impact the Russia investigation, she replied: “I think the bigger point on that is, ‘My gosh, Tucker, when are they gonna let that go?’ It’s been going on for nearly a year. Frankly, it’s kinda getting absurd. There’s nothing there.” “It’s time to move on,” she added. “Frankly, it’s time to focus on the things the American people care about.”

As Sanders pretended on Fox that the Russian probes have found nothing, CNN reported that federal prosecutors – as part of the ongoing Russia probe – have now issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. “The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI's broader investigation that began last July into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia,” Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz and Pamela Brown reported. “The subpoenas issued in recent weeks by the US Attorney's Office in Alexandria, Virginia, were received by associates who worked with Flynn on contracts after he was forced out as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014.”

It emerged yesterday that Senate investigators have asked the Treasury Department’s criminal investigation division for any relevant financial information related to Trump, his top officials, or his campaign aides. "We've made a request, to FinCEN in the Treasury Department, to make sure, not just for example vis-a-vis the President, but just overall our effort to try to follow the intel no matter where it leads," said Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, per CNN. FinCEN is the federal agency that has been investigating allegations of foreign money-laundering through purchases of U.S. real estate. "You get materials that show if there have been, what level of financial ties between, I mean some of the stuff, some of the Trump-related officials, Trump campaign-related officials and other officials and where those dollars flow -- not necessarily from Russia." Until the Treasury Department responds with documents, Warner said, he plans to withhold support for Trump’s nominees.

Trump has also hired a Washington law firm to send a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee denying that he has connections to Russia, Spicer told reporters a few hours before the Comey news broke. He was responding to an announcement by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-.S.C.) that he planned to look into that issue.

-- Trump doesn’t grasp it yet, but firing Comey will only lead to more, and louder, questions about Russia, as well as what exactly Trump knew about Flynn and when he knew it. Sometimes it turns out that the simplest explanation is the correct one. Is it possible that the president kept his national security adviser in the White House for 18 days after he’d been warned by the acting attorney general that he had been “compromised” and was vulnerable to “blackmail” by Russia because he had authorized the conversations in question?

“The Comey putsch heightens the mystery at the center of the Flynn case,” David Ignatius, who first broke the news of Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador, writes in a must-read column. “Trump has been digging a hole for himself from the beginning on Russia-related issues. It’s an odd pattern of behavior. Trump may have done nothing improper involving Russia, but why does he act so defensive? In a book called ‘Spy the Lie,’ a group of former intelligence officers explain the behavioral and linguistic cues that indicate when someone is being deceptive. Interestingly, many of these are evident in Trump’s responses to questions about Russia’s covert involvement in U.S. politics. The authors’ list of tip-offs includes ‘going into attack mode,’ ‘inappropriate questions,’ ‘inconsistent statements,’ ‘selective memory’ and the use of ‘qualifiers,’ such as ‘frankly,’ ‘honestly’ and ‘truthfully.’ The authors’ point is that people who are innocent answer questions simply and directly.”

-- Our Justice Department beat reporters relay that Comey’s removal has also sparked fears inside the FBI that the Russia investigation might be upended. Trump, after all, will get to handpick the new supervisor of a probe into possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. “The investigation is still in its infancy, but the probe’s sensitive subject matter has already created a political quagmire for the Justice Department,” Ellen Nakashima and Matt Zapotosky report. “A number of current and former officials said that the FBI special agents and National Security Division attorneys who are conducting the Russia probe will continue the investigation. The probe, though, might slow down in the short term. Comey’s successor will undeniably play a major role. ‘No big-time decisions will be made until they appoint a new FBI director,’ said one former federal prosecutor. ‘It’s just a big thing. The FBI will make a recommendation to the Justice Department as to whether or not to go forward, and you’re going to want an FBI director to make that kind of decision, I would think.’ Inside the bureau, agents said that there was shock at the news of Comey’s dismissal and hope that it would not disrupt the Russia investigation.”

...

-- The timing is terrible for the White House in another way: A day after firing the FBI director overseeing the Russia probe, Trump has just one event on his public schedule today: An Oval Office meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “The sit-down between Trump and Lavrov, the first face-to-face contact the president has had with a senior official of the Russian government, will take place at 10:30 a.m. in the White House,” Philip Rucker and Karen DeYoung report. “It will be closed to the press. … Trump and Lavrov are … picking up on the conversation Trump had with Russian President Vladimir Putin via telephone on May 2. … Trump is expected to hold his first meeting with Putin in July, when both travel to Germany to a summit of the Group of 20 leading and developing world economies.” Every one of these meetings will now look more suspect.

...

-- The real story: “Several current and former officials said the relationship between the White House and the FBI had been strained for months, in part because administration officials were pressuring Comey to more aggressively pursue leak investigations over disclosures that embarrassed the White House and raised questions about ties with Russia,” Devlin Barrett, Adam Entous and Philip Rucker report. “Although the FBI is investigating disclosures of classified information, the bureau has resisted calls to prioritize leak investigations over the Russia matter, or probe matters that did not involve leaks of classified or otherwise sensitive information … A current official said administration figures have been ‘very aggressive’ in pressuring the FBI.”

“Trump was rankled by FBI director’s media attention” is the headline on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

“He had grown enraged by the Russia investigation, two advisers said, frustrated by his inability to control the mushrooming narrative around Russia,” Politico adds. “He repeatedly asked aides why the Russia investigation wouldn’t disappear and demanded they speak out for him. He would sometimes scream at television clips about the probe, one adviser said.” 

-- Comey learned he had been fired while addressing FBI employees in Los Angeles. “While Mr. Comey spoke, television screens in the background began flashing the news,” the New York Times reports. “In response to the reports, Mr. Comey laughed, saying that he thought it was a fairly funny prank."

-- Keep in mind: The classless way Trump axed Comey might contribute to a desire among some allies and supporters of the ex-director to leak additional damaging information about the president.

-- Another significant repercussion: Every piece of Trump’s agenda just became harder to get through Congress. Democrats will be less inclined than ever to work with this president, and the liberal base will become even less tolerant of red state incumbents collaborating with him. It’s going to be really hard to get to 60 votes for anything Trump wants for a while. Whoever Trump nominates as Comey’s replacement will face a brutal confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It will get saturation-level media coverage.

-- In the short-term, firing Comey will give fresh and significant momentum to Democratic calls for a special prosecutor. Chuck Schumer asked all 48 of his members to gather in the Senate chamber at 9:30 a.m. today to join him in calling for an independent prosecutor.

...

The article is super-long, but quite interesting, with lots of links. I think it's going to be hard for the toddler to cry his way out of this.

[SassyPants]

Comey has been silenced and will not testify tomorrow. McCabe will testify in his place. Such BS.

 

[fraurosena]

2 hours ago, Howl said:

There's something deeply hidden in the background at FBI -- someone upthread noted that Comey's hand may have been forced by rogue elements within his own agency.  If so, how did that happen? Here's hoping someone will spill the beans.  

Lets hope that Comey has a very deep throat then.

[47of74]

If the Democrats had enough members that they could all sit out and cause Congress to not have a quorum I'd say they should just say fuck it and stay home until Bitch McFuckstick agreed to a special prosecutor.  Yes I know that would be all sorts of political suicide.