Trump fires FBI Director Comey as part of his ongoing effort to “drain the swamp”
05/09/2017 / By JD Heyes
In a move that surprised many and likely sent shock waves throughout the Deep State, President Donald J. Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, just a day after he testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee about the bureau’s ongoing probe into Team Trump-Russia “collusion” prior to the November election.
As reported by the UK’s Daily Mail, Trump was moved to act after Comey misled the subcommittee regarding close Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s emails to her now-estranged husband, former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner.
“You are hereby terminated and removed from office immediately,” Trump wrote in his letter dismissing Comey.
The report noted that Comey was let go after Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote the president a formal memo expressing their lack of confidence in him.
Trump also noted in his dismissal letter that he “greatly” appreciated that on three occasions Comey informed him “that I am not under investigation.” (RELATED: FBI’s Comey made inconsistent statements about Trump ‘dossier’)
“The FBI is one of our nation’s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement,” Trump also said.
As for Abedin, according to the Daily Mail, Comey said in sworn testimony that she made “a regular practice” of forwarding “hundreds and thousands” of emails to Weiner, “some of which contained classified information.”
However, the Department of Justice sent the Senate Judiciary Committee a letter late Tuesday refuting that and acknowledging that Comey’s statement was not accurate.
In addition, the bureau is looking into the former FBI director’s late October decision to advise Congress right before the election that his investigators were reexamining their probe into Clinton’s emails, specifically by looking at messages that were found on Weiner’s laptop. In July Comey essentially laid out potential criminal charges against Clinton over her mishandling of classified information via her homebrew unsecured email server – violations of U.S. law – but instead opted not to recommend to the Justice Department that she be prosecuted. His televised statement, itself unusual, came just a few days after Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, met Comey’s boss, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, on the tarmac of an airport in Arizona – a meeting many criticized her for taking and which many believe was indicative that Hillary would not be charged.
Turns out, she wasn’t.
Democrats especially – as well as Hillary herself – believe Comey’s October notification to Congress the FBI was reopening the probe cost her the election. However, an analysis by The New York Times on Monday said there is no good reason to believe that narrative because the facts don’t line up. That story came on the heels of a report just days earlier in which pollsters also said the Comey letter did not tip the balance of the election in favor of Trump.
In writing the president, Rosenstein said, “I cannot defend the Director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails.”
Added Sessions: “I have concluded that a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the FBI.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday Trump “has confidence in the director,” but Trump himself had tweeted, “FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!” (RELATED: James Comey clearing Hillary Clinton before election was a TACTIC to give her a weekend boost)
In fact, there is much truth to that. Comey had no control over President Obama’s politicization of the Justice Department and the U.S. intelligence community, but he did have some power to prevent it from happening to his agency. Given all that has happened – letting Clinton off the hook, the start-stop-and-start nature of the investigation into her misuse of classified data, the conflicting statements and the lack of evidence that the Trump campaign ever once “colluded” with the Russian government – it’s no wonder that major doubts have been cast on the FBI’s ability to remain impartial and aloof from partisan politics.
Some will applaud Trump’s firing of Comey – Hillary among them – and they may even see it as vindication of their suspicions that he caused her to lose.
They’d be wrong. Comey didn’t do Republicans any favors either when he gave her a pass last year despite overwhelming evidence she had violated U.S. laws governing classified materials.
The fact that mistrust in him was bipartisan is reason enough to ask him to step down. Trump did the right thing, and so did Sessions and Rosenstein.
J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.
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Tagged Under: fired, James Comey, Jeff Sessions, misleading Congress, President Donald J. Trump
