Image of James Comey by Gary Cameron/Reuters - Link
Introduction
Nobody could failed to have heard the news that Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
It appears that Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein recommended the dismissal in a series of letters which I will include excerpts from below.
Rosenstein's letter (to Sessions) was somewhat lengthy and went into the most detail. According to him:
"The Director was wrong to usurp the Attorney General's authority on July 5, 2016 and announce his conclusion that the (Clinton) case should be closed without prosecution."
"Compounding the error, the Director ignored another longstanding principle; we don't hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation.......The Director laid out his version of the facts for the news media as if it were a closing argument but without a trial. It is a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do."
There is a lot more information in the actual letter which basically outlines how Comey's announcements and his later behaviour were not only procedurally wrong but brought disrepute both to his office and the FBI.
It appears that the Sessions' letter to Trump was a response to Rosenstein's advice:
"The Director of the FBI must be someone who follows faithfully the rules and principles of the Department of Justice and who sets the right example for our law enforcement officials and others in the Department. Therefore I must recommend that you remove Director James B Comey Jr and identify an experienced and qualified individual to lead the great men and women of the FBI."
Trump's letter to Comey stated:
"I have received the attached letters from the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States recommending your dismissal as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately."
I will include the full scans of the letters which were provided on Scribd by Brett LoGiurato - please scroll down to read them.
My Thoughts
I can understand why people are saying that this looks bad.
It may be said that this sacking is very convenient for Trump given the fact that Comey was investigating the accusations of Russian interference in last year's election.
The big question I have is, how much of a choice did Trump have in this? I suspect he would have been under a lot of pressure to follow the AG and Deputy AG's recommendations.
I don't know enough about the US presidential process to say if he could have gone against their advice.
It could be considered an impossible to win situation for Trump though:
If Trump fires Comey he gets accused of opportunism, if he keeps him on he could get accused of ignoring the expert advice of the AG/DAG and failing to fire an incompetent FBI director.
Either way he gets criticised by his opponents for making the wrong decision.
One further accusation might have been that he was keeping on someone who had helped him to win the election - that has been one of the assertions that the Democratic party have been making all along.
It is also funny how the Democrats are now suddenly Comey's best friend. They were cursing him before all of this happened.
Is it any wonder that people are so cynical of anything that comes out of politician's mouths these days?
Anyway have a read of the letters below and please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
(BTW - I shouldn't need to say this but before the rabid anti-Trump people accuse me of being a Trump supporter I can categorically state that I am not. I just don't like the political shenanigans that seem to occur on a constant basis. This kind of nonsense detracts from the really important issues that affect people's lives.)