Excuse me…but isn’t the president, in actual fact, the chief prosecutor?
In all the Comey brouhaha beating on our senses is an organizational issue that none of the pundits seems to have picked up on: the simple fact that Donald Trump was really and truly James Comey’s boss. The media and the urban elites seem perfectly happy to grant James Comey and the federal attorney general the unlimited power of making a determination of prosecution for any suspected federal wrongdoing. If a high-profile case gets killed in Comey’s office or the attorney general’s office, there may be some blowback in the media and the general population, but no one ever challenges the legal authority of either the director of the FBI or the attorney general to make such prosecutorial decisions.
Think about that: the media are willing to grant these two presidentially appointed individuals this virtually unlimited power of prosecutorial discretion, yet when it comes to their boss, the man with hiring and firing powers over them, the liberal media contend that he has no such rights. According to them, even though he is the highest executive authority above these people who exercise such broad discretionary powers, he, our president, has none, zero, zip, nada. He can’t voice a single concern about how a particular case is proceeding or express discomfort that a loyal friend may be wrongly prosecuted. He, as the boss of these two government officials who exercise this virtually limitless discretionary power of prosecution, must remain haplessly mute. The liberal media and the Democrats say he has no legal means of intervention to suggest to his employees that he may possess information, or simply an understanding of the situation that they do not, that leads him as chief executive and chief legal officer, as their boss, to believe that further investigation is unwarranted.
The question begging to be asked here is, just when did a president lose his authority as the chief executive of this country to insert his input, his opinion, his direct orders, in fact, into a federal legal investigation? I would suggest that, in the eyes of the media, that long established power mysteriously disappeared the moment a Republican became president. I would further suggest that this whole Russia business is a concerted plan by the dirty-tricks Democrats to keep President Trump and his administration preoccupied and off-balance so that he is unable to enact the political changes he promised those who elected him. Their hope is to make him look like an ineffectual and failed president, vulnerable to losing the election for his party in 2018.
They should know it’s not working; nothing irritates this old voter more than seeing some smarmy California congressman get on a TV talk show and whine about how Trump’s travails are holding up the normal conduct of government when that snake knows full well that it is his party’s carefully planned program of political obstruction that is holding up legislation the country needs. It is my further belief that James Comey and his testimony are an integral part of that carefully organized program. Typically, the Democrats put their cards on faux heroes. Hoping for a high-ranking insider who could give Trump a shiner, they instead got their more typical Democrat whiner, a larger than normal guy whose drama-queen testimony left a large part of the nation shaking their heads in hopeless wonder that he was in charge of our national Federal Bureau of Investigation. Bet he went through the female course at Quantico.
Talk about the need for an inquiry…
Crossposted at American Thinker
Category: Politics
Comey, Comey…wasn’t he the guy the DNC portrayed as the Anti-Christ after Hillary lost the election?
I thought it was Macedonia’s fault and that whole country was the Anti-Christ?
Yep and they were right…at least an ass istant anti christ! He is a phony, lying, dishonorable, no integrity, piece of cockroach shyt….!!!imho
They kinda forget the many times BHO used his power to stop/decline an investigation and exercised executive privilege to keep himself from answering for his own wrongdoing.
the hypocrisy is thicker than maple syrup
Like when? Maybe they forgot because it did not happen. Obama never stopped an investigation into wrongdoing for any person in the administration. Or for Hillary.
Executive privilege is another matter but it cannot be invoked to stop or prevent an investigation.
You have an interesting memory.I’m not going to argue with you about it.
Did we forget about walking gun across the boarder
I do believe he invoked executive privilege
Guns that would be
And the name of the operation
Was fast and furious
Operation Wide Receiver.
👍👍
Nope. Wide Reciever was quickly recognized to be a bad idea and was stopped. Obama and Holder resurrected it as Fast and Furious. Brian A. Terry died for their sins.
Idiot Idea from both.
My point
Well both bushes have one thing in common with the DNC. New World Order
And BIG Government
Since this piece of shit admitted to “leaking” info to the press, I am praying President Trump sets the DOJ on his ass. Comey is a smarmy, clintoon stooge who needs to be made an example of. Well, him, lynch, rice, clapper, holder and the rest of the treasonous fucks whose malfeasances will bear rotten fruit for years to come.
I found the way he presented himself as some sort of sheepish femboy unsettling to say the least. Can’t help but think it’s a facade with an ulterior motive.
At least he didn’t show up to the hearing in his romper.
Comey is a cocksucking political hack… a Donk bitch boy with an agenda and does whatever the fuck he wanted to do.
The DOJ needs to be crawling up his ass with a flamethrower for his bullshit as head of the FBI.
He did Lie to congress.. I’m counting at least three times
Plus I’m starting to wonder what he mayhave covered up as far as the clintons go back in the 90s to present
It is not illegal to leak unclassified non-operational security information or non privacy act information.
You seem to all want to live in North Korea where it is a crime to reveal information that embarrasses government officials.
In America it is not a crime. Hell, it is damn near a duty.
Our government is supposed to be accountable to an INFORMED populace.
Depends on the status of non-disclosure agreements and such. There’s all sort of unclass’ed material here where I work that I cannot talk about due to a NDA.
Do you know anything about the reality of such disclosure in this particular instance?
I find it hard to believe that information release in general is not covered in some way and that he has violated an agreement.
..that he has not violated..
typos…fukk yeah
This. Why would you say it is not illegal? Did you ever work for the government or military?
Hmmm seems your wrong again Lars.. all FBI employees sign a NDA… his leak violated that.. I know that’s difficult to understand, but try really hard, and you might get it!
Comey typed the notes on a government computer, after an official meeting with his boss, and discussed the meeting with senior FBI officials. Its a government document, not his document, and releasable only by the government not the whims of a former employee.
Tell that to David Petraeus.
I think leaking his memo could be prosecuted under 18 US Code Chapter 101 SS 2071…but I’m no lawyer.
That’s it ^^^
Any communication with the POTUS can be restricted forgot the title but I do believe his ass may fry
I thought Comey was fired because of his association with Clinton and his investigation that started and then came to an abrupt halt.
I would like to think that the democrats are like a wave hitting a breakwater, smashing against it ineffectively until the storm is over.
I do think they badly underestimate Trump. This is June and they still haven’t gotten rid of him. Pity them.
Actually getting rid of President Trump would be the worst thing the Democrats could do at this point from a political strategy perspective. Most people recognize he’s a fool and generally incapable of leadership, and his approval ratings show this and that’s having an effect on the GOP’s long-term prospects. VP Pence, on the other hand, seems much more capable overall.
If I’m being cynical, I’d think the political push by the Democrats to really get at President Trump will happen a few months before the midterm elections at the earliest. And if not then, they’ll wait until just before the next Presidential elections.
They’re the same people who not only pushed for a Hillary Clinton presidency, but we’re sure they had it in the bag right up to the last minute, LC. How wise do you really think they are?
^^^^ The same people who colluded with the press to ensure that Trump’s name was at the top of the GOP ticket because Trump was Hillary’s preferred opponent. The same people who waited until late October to release the locker room talk audio. They are quite brilliant.
I think they’re selfish, foolish, and generally contemptible…. but still able to see how a strongly disliked opposition President is a plus for their own re-election chances.
And to be fair, while Clinton had some pretty strong negatives before her campaign, I can almost understand the DNC putting her forth as the candidate at the beginning. Back then, it wasn’t clear she’d run such a terrible, misguided campaign. And even with that, that vast majority of people who looked at the polling data -myself included- expected a win for her. It’s just that the polling has never been off by this much before. Drawing logical conclusions from faulty data doesn’t mean your logic is off, just that you need to be more skeptical of the input data.
All in all, I think enough Democrats are rational enough -and selfish enough- to recognize the political value in a Trump (vs. Pence) presidency. Not all of them, but enough that they’ll try to capitalize on it.
The polling was off, LC, because the people who voted for Trump weren’t interviewed pre-election by the media. If you look at Illinois, only a few counties voted majority for Clinton, and most of them were in the northeastern part of the state, next to Cook County, which is democrat country. There was one democrat majority in the south. The rest of the state was GOP.
LC. The data was fine, it was the key assumptions used to build the polling models which was off.
Assumptions 1. The 2016 electorate will look similar to the 2008 and 2012 elections not 2010 or 2014. (This proved false the partisan and independent breakout was closer to 2010/14).
Assumption 2. Clinton would sustain the levels of minority support enjoyed by Obama. (This proved false as voting patterns moved back towards pre Obama figures).
FWIW, I’ve been looking at the polls out of Georgia for the open seat there, looks like pollsters are making similar assumptions with regard to what the electorate will look like on the 20th.
His approval ratings are higher than Bill Clinton’s at this point in his first term. Does that mean America were calling for Clinton to be removed from office? Oh, wait, Clinton was a Democrat President and they’re judged by a different standard.
The latest Quinnipiac poll has him even lower, actually. But for better or worse, I think it’s hard to compare the two because we’ve got 24/7 news coverage from media, blogs, etc., and we’re so polarized now, even more so than in the Clinton era.
I find it interesting that Quinnipiac over-sampled dems by 10%, dems 33%, Republicans 23%. And, alleged “independents” 36%? Where anyone can self-identify over the phone as an “independent”. Which makes their findings questionable.
Sorry, I forgot to provide a link to show how Quinnipiac did the poll. https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/us/us05242017_demos_Umcxf522.pdf/
I hadn’t looked up the details; that’s a fair point. Overall, a few points in either direction don’t change the fact that he’s still ‘unpopular’ right now. And I think comparisons with Clinton’s first term are lacking due to how polarized we are. If President Trump ever surpasses a 70% approval rating, I’ll eat my hat.
Polling had Clinton as the shoo-in candidate.
Why believe these are any more accurate?
Short answer? I don’t think they’re necessarily more accurate,.. but it doesn’t matter. This boils down into the differences between general polling and electoral college math using localized polls.
Remember, Clinton did win more popular votes, outperforming President Trump in what this kind of polling captures. The polling was accurate there, it just failed when you get into the very thin margins by which states are decided, flipping the EC.
In other words, if an approval rating poll says 35%, an error margin of +/- 2% doesn’t really change the narrative at all. But that 4% range covers no less than ten flipped states in the Electoral College in 2016. More than enough to flip the whole result.
No difference in narrative; vast difference in binary result.
You missed the point
The pollsters, who are very much well aware of the vote by electoral college, thus by states, -completely- blew the by-states call. They had Clinton winning states handily, where she lost rather clearly.
They -blew- the call, repeatedly, and no aggregate “popular vote” can cover just how badly the pollsters mis-read the thinking of the people of the USA.
And they have not caught up yet with the change. Some of them are outright push-polling, trying to convince everyone how unpopular” Trump is.
And yet, he still draws huge crowds. That sends a clear signal that something is off in polling, because the supposedly popular Clinton drew…. Bupkus.
The over-sampling of one side is just icing on the meadow-muffin.
10 points is not “a few points”. And, we still have those self-identified “independents”. That’s 36% of the survey.
OK, LC, but I think you missed my point.
While I thought Trump was not the best choice for that job, he was certainly better than the alternative. I think he’s tough enough to withstand what the democrats try to do and get on with doing the job at hand.
I don’t think he’s a fool, but I do think he is too reactive and I wish he rein in the twitterpating. I can’t tell if he’s baiting the democrats when he does that, or what his purpose is, but I know they and the media pounce on it, and that may be his intent.
Fair enough. I didn’t like Clinton, either, though quantifying ‘worse’ depends on the time-frame we’re talking about. I think Clinton would’ve been worse long-term, and acceptable short term, and Trump, for me, is the reverse.
If I could believe he were baiting the Democrats I’d be a bit happier, even if I disagreed with him on policy. It’d show a man capable of controlling himself and planning, instead of a reactionary one. Occam’s razor seems to favor the latter explanation though.
There is clearly a learning curve to the Presidency, though, and though I feel he’s an utter fool at this point, I don’t mean it in the sense that he can’t learn. Hopefully he can do that and become a better President. For now, I find him fairly embarrassing.
HRC has a multi-decade reputation as a rule-defying, treacherous, vindictive snake.
The Dems rigged their primary to annoint her. Apparently, the majority
of them are OK with both the corrupt candidate and the corrupt process.
It would appear from Trump’s relatively successful presidency so far that your contention that he is an incapable fool is wishful thinking and partisan bullshit. If he does not know what he is doing, then I am fine with it based on the results so far. He has already outshone the feckless Mouthy Mulatto he replaced.
I think we’ll disagree with the assessment on his Presidency being ‘relatively successful’ at this point. I certainly hope he becomes successful, but he’s got a long ways to go to reach that mark.
And no, I hold people on both sides of the political fence to be incapable fools – Hillary Clinton and the DNC leadership being example ‘B’ on the other side. It’s not partisan bullshit, it’s the majority opinion these days. Even fools can win elections – look at Pelosi as another example of that.
“Its the majority opinion” as stated by the same folks who said that Clinton would win handily.
Why should I believe it?
“……generally incapable of leadership…..”
Wait!…What??? Incapable of leadership? The CEO and head of a successful, world-wide, multi-billion dollar corporation, incapable of leadership?
LC / Lars / Kommisar / poodledick, who writes your Libtard, DildoCrat, agenda biased, unfunny, comedy material?
If you prefer, I’ll clarify that to ‘political leadership’ — which he’s proven quite incapable of, given the difficulty he’s had in getting things done even with a Republican House and Senate.
Would you consider George Soros a leader? He’s considerably more successful than President Trump in business, but I don’t think he’d make a good (political) leader either.
And I’m not Lars. Nor a Democrat, for that matter.
That was the white house staff original lie to excuse Trump.
However. You Orange-Julius Caesar said it it had nothing to do with Hillary.
And the Hillary excuse was transparently bullshit. If you were not a mindless authoritarian sycophant you would recognize it.
Hey Babbles McButthead, just remember that four American Citizens DIED in Benghazi while the previous POTUS slept in preparation to go to a campaign rally in Vegas the next day. Americans died, he and Hillary lied.
Get rid of Trump? Why would democrats want to do that yet? Trump is the best thing to happen to democratic politicians since the great depression.
Trump is terrible for the country but no one in the last century has done more for increasing support and funding for liberal political organizations and politicians than Trump.
Trump will also be the cause of the destruction of the political careers of Jeff Sessions and Paul Ryan.
If I cared more about liberal partisanship than I did my country I would think Trump was a glorious president.
Democrats just have to keep Trump from harming the country or getting us into war for one year. By this time next year republicans will be too concerned about the midterms to associate themselves with the perception that they support Trump.
He will not be able to get a damn thing done.
Then, after the midterms dems will control the house and Trump will need bi-partisan support to accomplish anything.
Democrats are the reason this country is in the sad state it is. President Trump’s success will only highlight just how self-serving and vile the democrats are hence the 24/7 hair on fire shit we’ve been subjected to. The jug eared fuck disgraced and degraded the Office of President as well as this county for 8 miserable years. President Trump is having to clean up that mess. And care to explain how “Trump is terrible for the country”? I hear a lot of noise about how terrible he is, he needs to be impeached, yet haven’t seen shit to support either of those claims. Now the jug eared fuck should have been impeached for all his crimes/lies/double dealing. For instance:
Carried out military interventionism in Libya without Congressional approval – which in turn created ISIS
Lying about the Benghazi attack
Increased the national debt more in one term than Bush did in two
Illegally put thousands of guns into hands of criminals
Lied about letting people keep their health insurance
Lied about the cost of Obamacare
Gave tax dollars to campaign contributors and lobbyists, and falsely claimed the money was for “green energy”
Rewarded his fundraisers by giving them federal jobs
Etc, etc., etc.
President Trump is a saint compared to that fucking sack of shit.
First off, Comey was a life long Republican prior to taking the FBI post.
Of course Trump is the boss- as the President, the Attorney General and the entire DOH (to include the FBI) work for him.
I think there are two problems here- obstruction of justice, and undue influence.
With regard to obstruction, I don’t think this meets that burden of proof. Trump allegedly said ‘I hope you can see your way to dropping this’, and Comey took that as a directive. I don’t think that is enough to prove obstruction.
The undue influence is another matter. The President should avoid influencing or even appearing to influence this type of investigation because it can effect the outcome. Here’s what I mean:
I don’t think Flynn colluded with the Russians. I think what he did broke protocol and tradition, was really unwise, and showed a lack of integrity in that he didn’t tell Pence the whole story- in other words, a party foul. I don’t think he wittingly colluded with the Russians.
But what if he had? What if Flynn was either wittingly or unwittingly colluding with the Russians? Trump’s influence could have stopped the investigation and we would have had a major espionage case go uninvestigated.
I find it very hard to believe that no one in the White House told Trump to leave this alone and let the investigation run it’s course. It may have been painful, but eventually Flynn would have been exonerated, and Trump would have been truly vindicated.
Instead, he looks like, in Paul Ryan’s words, “He is new to this”, like the intern we hired got our coffee order mixed up.
Trump needs to check his ego, stop tweeting, listen to the professionals, and get on with being president.
It’s not obstruction of justice when the CINC has the authority to halt an investigation. Obama did it on several occasions.
That’s kind of an important point. It is the CINCs prerogative for better or worse to get involved in such matters.
How would this be different than an officer wanting to NJP someone and you as the CO or even the XO looking at it and deciding it shouldn’t be pursued? You would be acting within the bounds of your authority.
As I said, he totally has the authority to stop the investigation. Having the authority to do something doesn’t make it legal OR smart. For the record, I don’t think Trump obstructed justice in this case. I do think that what he did was ill advised, and will not help him or us in the long run. Also, keep in mind that this was a counter intelligence investigation that could have led to a criminal investigation. That is a world apart from Non-Judicial Punishment. NJP, as the name implies, is essentially for non-criminal or minor offenses- the equivalent of a misdemeanor in the civilian world. The case you describe would be obstruction if there was sufficient evidence to make a case or if the investigation was too immature to determine if the evidence was there. Also, XOs don’t have UCMJ authority and it would be totally inappropriate for an XO to make such a decision. Like the 1SG they can recommend and advise, but not decide. Sure, as a commander with UCMJ authority you can decide what to pursue and what cases to overlook. Company commanders have a lot of authority. They can decide when to investigate, and for many issues they not only decide guilt or innocence but they assign and execute the punishment. Field Grade commanders have broader powers and can impose greater sentences. In other words, in a very real sense, commanders are the cops, the prosecutor, the judge, and the jail. That puts a lot of power in one person’s hands, and often creates a moral hazard. Higher commanders CAN take actions out of a lower commanders hands if they want- but the outcome is still based on evidence and testimony. If they tell that lower commander what outcome they want or to drop an investigation or ignore evidence there is a problem. Thus the concept of undue influence. Undue influence is actually one of the traps they warn you about when you take command. Usually it occurs when higher commanders influence the actions of lower commanders: Battalion Commander to Company Commander: ‘Hey Bob, I heard… Read more »
Also, XOs don’t have UCMJ authority and it would be totally inappropriate for an XO to make such a decision.
they do it all the time..its called XOI. Maybe the Army doesnt do that? The vast majority of my experience is USN/USMC in such matters, thankfully.
Interesting responses…I was asking simply because I really didn’t know. Thanks.
Never heard of XOI, so I looked it up. It’s an XO Inquiry, and it looks to be a Navy thing.
That said, the key is who has UCMJ authority. In the Army, the lowest level is generally company or detachment commander. UCMJ authority is appointed on orders in writing.
What I read says that an XOI is a pre-NJP procedure. The XOI hears evidence and can give admin punishment or send the Sailor to Mast, which is NJP.
“Having the authority to do something doesn’t make it legal…”
Actually, it pretty much does. By definition. Even the President doesn’t have the authority do do something illegal.
Having the power to do something is another story.
“Even the President doesn’t have the authority do do something illegal”
You’re mincing words. It happens all the time; it’s called abuse of power or abuse of authority.
What do you call it when someone uses their authority to commit an illegal act either for personal or political gain?
“mincing”?
.
“to soften, moderate, or weaken (one’s words), especially for the sake of decorum or courtesy.”
.
“(of the gait, speech, behavior, etc.) affectedly dainty, nice, or elegant.”
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mincing
Not bloody likely.
More like spliting hairs, nit picking, niggle, quibble, ….
Someone has to. It’s a critical job, so someone has to do it. )
Lynch is guilty of Obstruction of Justice according to Comey’s testimony. On top of that, Comey is guilty of Misprision of Justice for not reporting Lynch’s actions.
I’m not so sure. What felony did Lynch commit? She didn’t asked Comey to drop the investigation, just to refer to it as a ‘matter’. He still pursued the investigation.
That said, if Lynch letting the investigation continue but asking Comey to soften his language constitutes a felony, then Trump’s actions would certainly be a felony
” What felony did Lynch commit?”
Perhaps misprision. One could argue that she intentionally concealed knowledge of a crime by granting immunity to witnesses re Hillary’s emails without a quid pro quo.
Someone violated the law by removing classified from a secure environment, removing classification markings, and placing the information on an unsecured network. Who? As far as I am concerned, the investigation was closed prematurely. That could be intentional concealment of a crime.
“The question begging to be asked here is, just when did a president lose his authority as the chief executive of this country to insert his input, his opinion, his direct orders, in fact, into a federal legal investigation?”
In this particular case under investigation, 1787.
In Article II, Section 4 of the COTUS –
“The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
Congress has the ultimate authority to remove and Federal Officers for criminal behavior through impeachment. While Trump may have been Comey’s boss, Comey could claim he was acting on Constitutional grounds. If Trump tells him to stop this creates a big problem. As a Federal Law Enforcement Comey would actually have a duty to report a malfeasance to the Congress. That isn’t what he did but he did get fired in the end.
Now he is talking to Congress. If he coughs up and can show “these Federal Officers were doing bad things” and “the president fired me before I could come to tell you fine gents” then that could potentially throw Trump under the bus and Trump could face impeachment.
This is a safeguard to the Constitution I rather like. This prevents the president from becoming a power unto himself.
This particular case was propaganda. Not being Hillary Clinton is hardly a high crime.
I can’t say that with an authority that is true although I tend to believe it to be more true than not. I have a feeling that if there were something there then “Something” would have popped up by now. If Comey has a “big reveal” coming he sure is holding the suspense and enjoying his moment in the sun.
Having been on both sides of this issue (being a subordinate of a suspected corrupt boss and being a boss where a subordinate accused me of wrong doing) the key here is document, document, document. Get witnesses involved whenever possible.
Releasing to the media is a horrible bad idea end game gambit.
Regardless of whether the charge is true or not if Trump did interfere with an investigation in to a high ranking civil officer than that is a big problem.
What got Clinton impeached was not the initial probe of Whitewater but actions that were uncovered later that he gave false testimony about.
yes and no…he is the president and not the first one to act in this manner.
I understand what you’re saying though and Clinton was the subject of the investigation in the case your cite, but in this case Trump was not under investigation according to Comey
its a fookin soap opera
The difference between high crimes and misdemeanors and what went on between Trump and Comey is that Trump isn’t Nixon and this isn’t Watergate, no matter how much the media want it to be.
Of course this isn’t Watergate. Even Watergate wasn’t Watergate.
But it allegedly may have been quid pro quo bribery. This is the toughest kind to prove. But if proven it would have fallen under the purview of the Congress.
Speaking of obstruction of justice, in all the focus by the crowd of hyenas on Comey, no one noticed that Issa’s committee released its report on Fast and Furious yesterday. If you can read what is in that, and NOT think Holder and Obama should be indicted, you are remarkable. And brain-dead.Supporting memos and paperwork are included.
Your boss says he hopes you do something.
You don’t do it.
Two weeks later you are fired.
Guess, what when a boss says hopes you do something it is a oommand. Thinking the word hope” means you can blow it off is bullshit and you all know it.
Trump’s actions were wrong even if his using the word “hope” might be able to allow him to avoid the level of a crime for the request itself the firing was definitely obstruction.
And you all know from experience that when commander says “I hope you do X” it is an order. So stop making pedantic excuses for Trump.
No, it wasn’t an order. Seriously, Commissar, do you even think before putting finger to keyboard?
How about Comey orchestrating a leak himself? Really, the pajama boy couldn’t man up and just call a presser? As I said elsewhere, the fact that somebody held onto the “memos”, if they existed at the time, until now destroys any probative value they may have had.
In small words just so you can understand, it’s a he said, he said thing now.
Whether a crime occurred is an independent event from whether sufficient evidence to “charge” someone for the crime exists.
He said hecsaid does not mean Trump did not obstruct it just means he won’t be impeached for it. And with a republican Congress he wouldn’t be anyway.
And if you look again at what I said the order may not have met the elements of a crime but his firing Comey to influence outcome of the Russia investigation does meet the elements of a crime if his intent was to derail, obstruct, or protect himself or others from being held accountable for criminal activities.
He explicitly admits he fired Comey over the Russia investigation. All that is left now is to determine intent. And it is clear he did not intend to HELP the investigation.
Firing Comey was his prerogative, as his boss. Comey was an at-will employee of the executive branch, as such he could be dismissed at any time, for any reason.
And, Comey’s fustercluck over Hillary and her criminal misuse of classified material was reason enough to fire him.
Bullshit.
Trump can fire Comey for any reason or for no reason EXCEPT in an effort to obstruct justice.
It is not the Presidents prerogative to fire Comey to obstruct justice.
That is a crime.
You want an example of Obstruction of Justice? That’s one of them things “Blowjob Willie” Clinton was impeached for.
“Your boss says he hopes you do something.
You don’t do it.Two weeks later you are fired.”
or it’s just post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy
Thank you! Camp Obama may have been formally decomissioned, but the “resistance” keeps on mowing the lawn and trimming the bushes, “hoping” for the triumphant return of the Dear Leader (or designated heir).
http://rangerup.com/hope-is-not-a-plan-rhino-campaign-poster/
Legally Commissar you are quite wrong.
Normally that kind of conversation between a law enforcement officer and supervisor (or political leader) ends with “but you can do whatever you want”. That gets thrown in at the end in order to avoid the appearance of undue influence. Without it, it is still pretty vague. Is it vague enough to avoid the appearance of impropriety? “I hope” is not an order. Trump for all his failings is smart enough to know that.
CNN is spinning it to mean “please stop your investigation”. It should be noted that “please” is not a clear order either. This is why for example if you write “please pay” on a check instead of “pay” the bank does not have to pay it but they may if it pleases them. Regardless it wasn’t what he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/07/politics/james-comey-testimony-released/index.html
Had he said “Stop your investigation” that is a whole other thing.
One could argue that what was said, came from the POTUS and therefore should be given more weight. However the POTUS is now quite well known for saying stuff he does not mean or in some cases even understandable by most people. Did Comey interpret it to mean “stop the investigation”? He says he had no intention of stopping. I am going to guess Comey knows the law better than everyone here.
Maj, you have to understand that Commissar doesn’t know how to mince words.
You do.
Commissar = Commissar?
Lars, Commissar, Babbles McButthead in his superhero alter ego, IMPOTENT RAGE….
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=09GeYkSwqEg
Your are an idiot troll.
THE TRUTH HURTS, doesn’t it, Babbles McButthead? 😁😂😀😄
Major, the statement does not by itself meet the elements of the crime for obstruction…
However, the statement, followed buy the subsequent firing, and the subsequent admission by Trump that it was due to the Russia investigation AFTER Comey did not dk what Trump “hoped” he would do very likely all together meets the elements of the crime of obstruction. All that is kissing is intent.
And intent is what Comey is testifying to. And it is clear that this career investigator and prosecutor believes Trumps intent was to influence the investigation is a way that was highly inappropriate and possibly sufficient to argue obstruction
The absolute -irony- of using “intent” and “Comey” in the same sentence…..
And for -Comey- to be discussing -intent-? Utter hypocracy. Apparently he could find no shred of intent in an obscenely obvious criminal matter, although, strangely, the statute at hand in that matter does -not- require a -shred- of intent.
Good riddance. He was playing Kingmaker in the style of J. Edgar Hoover, and got his crank stomped.
That is not actually what he said. I know CNN says he said that so I could see why you might think that. What he said was:
“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Trump told the Russian foreign minister and U.S. ambassador on May 10 during an Oval Office meeting, according to a transcript of the meeting read to The Times by a U.S. official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
That does not mean he fired him “because of” Russia. I don’t think you are objective enough to understand the difference. Now, you can believe that is what he did and you can construe that if you want to, it just isn’t what he said.
So far as “kissing intent” I say show me the money shot. So far it has been a bunch of unsubstantiated talk.
Well, like the man said, Trump could take a dump on your desk and you’d still support him.
And you’d eat the crust off Hillary’s snatch and ask for seconds.
Your point?
Try reading for comprehension and content, Joey.
Not everyone who has posted comments on this article is wildly passionate about Trump, but he’s preferable to that harridan and the self-declared aging Communist that you wanted.
Since he is dumping on y’all, he gets much applause.
I think that analogy says more about you than anyone else. 🙂
Joe… reading is fundamental…assclown! Now go sit by the door and wait for the UPS guy to drop off your Skittle-shitting unicorn that the JEF promised you, OK?
Go read this… if you can:
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=370105
http://thefederalist.com/2017/06/09/james-comey-violate-fbi-employment-agreement/
Just Like you supported Obama
Since the resident TAH apparatchik and others seem compelled to fog the original thread topic with unrelated half-truths and innuendo, it might be useful to point out that Trump fired Comey for multiple reasons, not just one:
It’s true Trump was annoyed with what he saw as a concentrated focus by the FBI on a possible Russian collusion. As time went on, and the investigation stayed open, this took on the appearance of a witch hunt. Trump was also pissed that Comey and the FBI apparently ignored his request to investigate leaks coming from members of the administration who were holdovers from the prior one.
It’s also somewhat evident there was a personality conflict between Trump and Comey in the form of alpha-dog dynamics. For the Director of the FBI to hide behind the drapes, because he doesn’t want to talk to the President, is something for Bizarro World.
An additional element to consider is that Comey apparently told Trump multiple times that the President was not “personally” part on an ongoing investigation. Those comments may have amounted to a subtle threat in the form of an implied “not personally part of an investigation now, but possibly part of one in the future.”
Such could have become a Sword of Damocles hanging over the Trump administration.
Given Comey’s power play with Clinton it does bring back shades of Hoover.
Takes quite a bit of spin to argue that.
Comey is doing the exact opposite by making things public whenever it looms like there is something of public concern to AVOID the perception that he is making back door power plays.
Trump was trying to make a deal with Comey in exchange for remaining Trump’s FBI director. If Comey was Hoover he would have made the deal.
Hoover made leaks when it supported him. Comey got fired so of course he is talking now. If the whole Clinton thing wasn’t a back door power play then what was it? Did you not say that very thing yourself back then?
We didn’t say he was any good at it…..
The statement by Trump’s attorney that the New York Times had an article quoting jnformation from the memo prior to when Trump made the statement is a BOLD FACED LIE!
It demonstrates the blatant willingness kg Trump and his cronies to lie like fucking pieces of shit.
The New York Times picked up the story AFTER the leaked Comey meme exactly machine the timeline Coney testified to.
Trump hires and surrounds himself will absolute pieces of shit.
I feel bad for Mattis and McMaster. They are doing their duty and it is unfortunate they are straddled with such a shitbag.
I don’t feel sorry for Jeff Sessions. He deserves to have his political career destroyed by Trump.
Here you go yet again, Babbles McButthead.
Go back and check the timeline.
Hint. I believe the original leak moment was on the 10th.. Remember, he leaked through an intermediary. (How -brave- of him….)
After yesterday’s testimony all Trump need say is that he perceived Comey too weak to lead the FBI and the nation will fully understand.
Nope. He already told America it was because of the Russia investigation. So he can’t unsay that
Now all that needs to be determined is if he intended to obstruct, stop, hinder, or criminally infkuence the investigation.
We know he did not like the investigation and did not like how Comey was handling it.
All we need to determine is what his firing Comey was intended to accomplish with respect to the investigation.
WOW Babbles McButthead, you really are one reality-impaired individual. You’re also living proof that all the education in the world is kinda worthless when one has no sense of reality or any common sense!
Long ago, you made up your mind that Trump was the anti-Pres. Neither fact nor reason will dissuade you from your furious course.
That you liked -Bernie- says everything I need to know about your thought processes. That you keep banging the drum for the Clinton machine (and that is what you are doing, knowing or not) says everything else there is to know about your thought processes.
The Russians were as surprised by a Trump victory as anyone else. Their clear goal (freaking obvious Sov/Rus op 101) was to -deligitimize- our elections. They -expected- Clinton to win, and they were going to shit it up for her, because she pissed off Putin, who is a well known retalitatory type. They were counting on endless litigation/lawsuits/conspiracy-nut noise to train-wreck us.
Why so pissed? I suspect that in the grand scheme of things, there were one or more deniable/obscured yet substantial donations to the Clinton foundation, well before she whizzed in his Vodka.
Surprise. They read the same wrong polls as everyone else. And wound up with Trump.
And now, look what sorts of folks are (yet again!) seeking to deligitimize the US government. It is like a broken freaking record. Gotta be puppets for foreign thugs, cause they -cannot- ever be wrong!
And they wrap themselves in “patriotism” as they do the “useful idiot” work of trying to bring it all down.
Again.
Dude. You have been -scammed-. First by your own team, and then by their puppet masters. But prideful to the last, you wont dare look. As long as the clock is right twice a day, you won’t ever look at maybe, possibly, it might in fact -not- be working.
Trump doesn’t have to be Great. He doen’t have to even be very good at it. He just has -not- to be Clinton (or Bernie) to be good for America. And the Obama muddle is a very low bar to hurdle.
Let’s NOT forget that NO liberal, reporter, politician or otherwise accused Donald Trump of anything until he decided to run for President on the GOP ticket. Once he did that he became the target of any and every kind of mud and effluvia the left could manufacture and throw at him.
Trump is an idiot.
There was no investigation of Trump prior to his firing Comey. The Russia investigation was a national security investigation in which Trump was not the subject or the target. Only Russia and those possibly colliding with Russia was the target. There was no investigative leads that have any reason to expand the investigation to Trump himself.
However, now that Trump fired Comey he caused a SEPERATE obstruction investigation in which he is the subject.
And this is a republican controlled Congress.
So you can’t try to blame democrats for any of this.
This is all Trump being a moron.
HEY Babbles McButthead, still sore about your side getting zilch other than a big nothing burger yesterday ! 😄😁 OH, and your candidate, the has-been socialist who has never held a job in real life, whose wife’s incompetence shut a college down, who espouses socialism like Venezuela has (he once openly praised their system), and yet got a real sweetheart deal on a choice waterfront home after he dropped out of the race, how many starving children could be fed with the money he spent on his THIRD house? That’s what imbecilic Hobo Muffins like you say whenever someone else spends big sums of money! Whatsa matter, did one of the jocks give you another wedgie while in line at the cafeteria?
You are still a waste of time.
And I am not some fucking idiot that thinks it is an issue of my team vs your team.
Our country is not merely a left right spectrum. And Trump is all over the place on political spectrum but has a whole ton of fascist political ideologies spinning in his otherwise empty head.
He sure a shit is not on your “team”. He does not give a fuck about you. Nor is he a republican. And he is only a conservative in the way Thomas Hobbes or and run of the mill fascist is a conservative. Neither form of conservatism are fit for a democracy.
There are issues of national loyalty that go beyond your shitbag partisan team sport fucking piece of shit traitor mentality.
In fact, the fact that your frame this as a my side vs your side issue when it is an issue of national security and potential criminal activity by the president proves how much of a partisan shitbag I always thought you were.
This whole unhealthy fascination with the fascism thing is baffling. Today again Trump handed more power over to the states. Fascism is about the consolidation of power not giving it away for nothing.
I don’t think that Lars aka Babbles McButthead can help or think for himself anymore, TOM. IMHO he has permanently latched himself and his mind to the leftist dogma spoon fed to him by his UC Berzerkely profs and he lets that do his thinking for him. His profs say that President Trump is a fascist then that’s it, he only thinks that way. He has a concrete mind and by that I mean it’s permanently set and all mixed up!
And you need to put money in the potty mouth jar.
What?
My post was clear.
Trump was not the subject of the investigation he tried to influence.
He now is the subject of a SEPERATE investigation involving possible obstruction of the first investigation.
That is all Trump being an idiot.
Babbles McButthead, you have only a Psulian grip on reality.
Obstruction of what investigation? According to you Trump was not a target or subject. After almost a year there have been no results, no indication of any illegal or inappropriate conduct on the part of the Trump campaign. I would have fired Comey too. This makes two major investigations with no results.
President Trump could cut a fart while on an overseas trip and the left would go triple apeshit accusing him of waging Chemical Warfare on another Nation.
How does one square
Commissioned Officer, Major, Army of the United States,
And “Trump is an idiot” and “This is all Trump being a Moron”,
With Article 88 of the UCMJ?
…
Just curious.
I kinda wonder the same thing.
The June 9th Daily Standard podcast (formerly Weekly Standard) has a decent discussion by actual conservatives about that subject.
Not the twisted frankenbeast neo-fascist alt-right populist propaganda most of you partisan sheep flock too and regurgitate as sources.
If you listen to it you will hear genuine conservatives that actually give a shit about this country discuss their opinions and insight on this.
Babble,babble, babble, babble.
Do we really have to listen to globalist neo-cons go on about how good of a job they are doing pretending to be liberal conservatives by supporting the Trilateral agenda? That is so 2012. I think I will pass.
‘Ol Babbles McButthead could sure use a remedial Grammar and English Composition class or two as well!
Not to mention a basic spelling class. Oh, wait, he’ll blame it on his phone. Or, Spell Check, or the moon.
He went on an “OH, poor me” rant more than once saying he had some damn malady or another, nothing is ever his fault.
That’s obvious, the world is at fault, not Commissar. At least in his world, anyway.
We cheer Trump largely because he kept you CTRL+Left types from putting an utterly corrupt vindictive snake in the Oval Office. The CTRL+Left” plan B” was a hard-core Marxist.
Perhaps you recall that the Soviets, and other Marxist enemies of the USA, used to decry almost all opponents as “Facists”.
We cheer Trump not because he is some sort of ideal Conservative, but because 1) he is unapologetically and loudly Patriotic pro-American, 2) he is undoing some of the the damage caused by that incompetent bow-to-kings jack-wagon Obama, and 3) he defeated the designated champion of the CTRL+Left, that utterly corrupt vindictive snake Clinton.
I wish him well.
^^^^THIS^^^^
If only we had a “Like” button. We don’t, so ^^^^^Like^^^^^
Is your FTS (Fractured Taint Syndrome) acting up again, Lars? Are you all ass hurt because you didn’t get to hear Comey say what you wanted?
Deal with it… this country dealt with Obama’s shit for eight years (and will be dealing with his “legacy” for a lot longer). You backed people a year ago that didn’t have a chance to bring the change you want – at the expense of us that work. Who in the Hell did you think was going to pay for “free” college, healthcare, “living income”, etc? Me and others like myself that work – not the poor and certainly not the rich. I’m tired of seeing my taxes go support bullshit that some jackwagon politician thinks should be “protected” just to get a few more votes at the next election.
The political class on both sides are fucked up – there are very few that actually represent the “people” of this country. Trump’s message hit home with many people and that’s why they voted for him (others, like myself, pulled the lever for him because the other options were various grades of shit). Comey is one of those that is nothing more that a political whore that used his position to “stir the pot” and protect people. Until the people of this country decide it time to kick out the “professional politicians” in DC and put in people that actually represent them, little, pathetic, impotent people like Comey will be there, protecting their “interests” and abusing power.