Now what was the GOP doing on the new website they created Lyin' Comey to try and discredit Comey and saying the following, "Watch"? Makes you wonder what universe the GOP lives in, doesn't it?
Klamath Falls, OR— May 30, 2013, President Obama is reportedly preparing to nominate James B. Comey, a high-ranking Justice Department official during the George W. Bush administration, to replace FBI Director Robert Mueller III, whose already extended 10-year term expires in September. Comey is a former hedge fund executive, the former top lawyer for defense contractor Lockheed Martin, and a Republican. Why would Obama pick him for such a high-profile job?
1. Republicans are more likely to confirm a Republican
The other candidate for the FBI directorship was Lisa Monaco, Obama's counterterrorism adviser, says Michael S. Schmidt at The New York Times, and Obama's decision to go with Comey makes "a strong statement about bipartisanship at a time when he faces renewed criticism from Republicans in Congress and has had difficulty winning confirmation of some important nominees."
Right, "everyone knows that nominating a Democrat to run the FBI would be an intolerable provocation," says Kevin Drum at Mother Jones, sarcastically. But more to the point, if Obama actually believes that "nominating Comey will be seen as some kind of bipartisan olive branch, he's crazy."
2. Comey very dramatically pushed back against Bush's wiretapping program Other than Cheney and perhaps some of the people Comey has prosecuted — including New York mob boss John Gambino and Martha Stewart — the longtime federal prosecutor is getting pretty glowing reviews from across the political spectrum.
That's largely because of his "reputation as a fierce defender of the law and the integrity of the Justice Department regardless of the political pressures of the moment," say The Washington Post's Horwitz and Finn. And much of that reputation stems from a dramatic encounter on March 10, 2004, in the hospital room of gravely ill Attorney General John Ashcroft.
3. The Justice Department could use a little reining in At a time when the Justice Department is facing controversy over its aggressive prosecution of leakers, among other real or trumped-up scandals being investigated by House Republicans, "James Comey is in the tradition of the undeniably incorruptible," says Taylor Marsh at her blog. His selection as FBI chief is "a revealing moment by President Obama we haven't seen from him in literally years" — a message that "integrity still matters." Or, "if you're cynical, which is understandable," Marsh adds, "it's another way for President Obama to signal he's going out on his own terms, not those of the scandal mongers."
Well, "one can't help but to be curious about the timing of the nomination," says Benjamin Brophy at The American Spectator. This is the hardest moment of the Obama presidency, and "the nomination of a Republican to such a prominent position could indeed be an effort to draw attention away from his troubles as well as reinforce the myth that he is a bipartisan champion."
It's worth noting that, if confirmed as FBI director, Comey will be "essentially untouchable by the White House," says Ambinder at The Week. His instincts to stand up to presidents trying to expand their power "may — may — mean that Comey will rein in the excesses of FBI surveillance authority."
4. Comey is well-qualified for the job From the 1990s until his departure from the Bush administration in 2005, Comey had a remarkable career at the Justice Department. He has headed up the U.S. Attorney's office in Richmond, Va., and New York City, and successfully prosecuted numerous terrorism and organized crime cases.
President Trump’s abrupt dismissal of the F.B.I. director roiled Washington and deepened the sense of crisis swirling around the White House. Republican leaders came to the president’s defense, and Mr. Trump lashed out at Democrats and other critics, calling them hypocrites.
On Capitol Hill, at least a half-dozen Republicans broke with their leadership to express concern or dismay about the firing of James B. Comey, who was four years into a decade-long appointment as the bureau’s director. Still, they stopped well short of joining Democrats’ call for a special prosecutor to lead the continuing investigation of Russian contacts with Mr. Trump’s aides.
The president and his allies expressed no regrets over Mr. Comey’s removal, insisting that F.B.I. agents had been clamoring for it. Mr. Trump’s decision, they said, was unrelated to Mr. Comey’s oversight of the investigation into Russian meddling and possible connections to Trump advisers.
White House officials refused to comment on reports that, days before he was fired, Mr. Comey had asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in resources for the Russia investigation. Democrats cited the news of Mr. Comey’s request as added reason to be suspicious about the president’s motive for firing him.
“Was this really about something else?” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, asked in remarks on the Senate floor.
“Nothing less is at stake than the American people’s faith in our criminal justice system and the integrity of the executive branch of our government,” he said.
The outrage over Mr. Comey’s firing was a political turnabout for many Democrats, who had previously expressed anger and frustration at his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. It was that investigation that Mr. Trump cited as the reason for dismissing Mr. Comey.
Republican leaders echoed Mr. Trump’s Twitter attacks on Democrats throughout the day. At one point, the president wrote that his adversaries were pretending to be aggrieved by Mr. Comey’s firing.
“Phony hypocrites!” Mr. Trump wrote, signaling the growing frustration inside the White House about the backlash.
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky — who, as majority leader, wields vast power over the focus of the Senate — defended the decision. Many other top Republicans agreed.
Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina and chairman of the Intelligence Committee, stopped short of directly criticizing the president. But his committee announced that it had issued its first subpoena to demand records from Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, in connection with his emails, phone calls, meetings and financial dealings with Russians. It was an aggressive new tack for what had been a slow-moving inquiry.
In the House, the Republican chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to review Mr. Comey’s firing. The chairman, Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah, said the review would be included in an internal Justice Department inquiry into the F.B.I.’s disclosure of its investigation of Mrs. Clinton’s emails before the election.
Despite their concerns about Mr. Comey’s actions last year, Democrats said his dismissal evoked the days of President Richard M. Nixon, who ordered the firing of the special prosecutor looking into the Watergate case. They called for the appointment of a special counsel to lead the Russia inquiry.
For months, Republican lawmakers have been left to defend, sometimes haltingly, presidential behavior they often strain to understand or support. But even some of Mr. Trump’s most vocal defenders questioned the timing of the firing.
White House officials said that Mr. Trump had been considering firing Mr. Comey since the day he was elected president.
But though Mr. Trump had lost confidence in Mr. Comey, the Justice Department’s recommendation to fire him was not ordered by the president, a White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said.
Ms. Sanders said that Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, had acted on his own when he recommended to Mr. Trump during a meeting that Mr. Comey be dismissed. At that meeting, the president directed Mr. Rosenstein to put the recommendation into writing, Ms. Sanders said.
After meeting with the Russian officials, Mr. Trump said he had fired Mr. Comey because “he wasn’t doing a good job.”
“Very simply — he was not doing a good job,” he said.
These Republicans Lashed Trump for Firing Comey: ‘3rd World Dictator Kind of Stuff’
Republicans and Democrats have had equally intense, but diametrically opposed reasons to be angry with James Comey for his handling of investigations connected to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But some Republicans have united with Democrats in outrage over Trump’s decision to fire Comey as Director of the FBI.
While Democrats have accused Trump of firing Comey as an attempt to interfere with the FBI’s ongoing investigation into his presidential campaign’s possible ties to Russia, some Congressional Republicans have also condemned Trump’s move as a damaging blow to the FBI.
Sen. John McCain joined in the call for an independent commission, praising Comey in a statement as “a man of honor and integrity.”
“I have long called for a special congressional committee to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election,” McCain said. “The president’s decision to remove the FBI Director only confirms the need and the urgency of such a committee.”
Conservative commentators have also joined in the criticism, with Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer calling the Trump Administration’s explanation that Comey was fired for mishandling the investigation into Clinton’s personal email server “inexplicable.”
“If that was so offensive to the Trump administration, which you would have done during the transition is you would have spoken to Comey and said, ‘We’re going to let you go,'” Krauthammer said on Fox News’ “Special Report.” “That is when a president could very easily make a decision to have a change that’s not unprecedented.”
Even far-right radio host and former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh, who was harshly criticized by liberals after criticizing Jimmy Kimmel’s defense of the Affordable Care Act, condemned the move.
“This isn’t good. This isn’t normal,” Walsh tweeted. “You don’t fire the FBI Director because he’s investigating the President. Because he’s closing in.”
Read more responses from the right following Comey’s firing below. Statement from Senate Intel Chairman Burr on the Dismissal of FBI Director Comey
WASHINGTON – Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) made the following statement on the dismissal of James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation:
“I am troubled by the timing and reasoning of Director Comey’s termination. I have found Director Comey to be a public servant of the highest order, and his dismissal further confuses an already difficult investigation by the Committee. In my interactions with the Director and with the Bureau under his leadership, he and the FBI have always been straightforward with our Committee. Director Comey has been more forthcoming with information than any FBI Director I can recall in my tenure on the congressional intelligence committees. His dismissal, I believe, is a loss for the Bureau and the nation.”
Here’s the Surprising Reason Jeff Sessions Told Trump to Fire James Comey
Even more surprising might be the justification cited for doing so.
While informing Comey that he was out of a job, President Trump said that he was acting on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. So why did they recommend it? Apparently, because they disagreed with Comey’s handling of the FBI investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server to send work-related emails while serving as Secretary of State.
In July of 2016, Comey announced that the FBI would not be recommending charges against Clinton, but he called her “irresponsible” in his press announcement nonetheless. On Oct. 28, Comey forced that investigation back into the discussion when he made public the fact that the FBI was investigating possible new evidence related to that case, uncovered during the unrelated investigation into Anthony Weiner.
The Justice Department cited both of those events in its recommendation to terminate Comey.
Comey’s decision to reveal the reopened Clinton email investigation less than two weeks before the election has been widely cited as a contributing factor in Trump’s shocker electoral college victory. And at the time, Comey was widely criticized for what was seen by many as a deliberate political act, criticism that increased after it became known the FBI was remaining silent on the concurrent investigation into possible ties between Donald Trump and Russia.
But the Justice Department’s stance on Comey represents an almost complete reversal of Sessions’ previous views. Sessions was enthusiastically in favor what Comey did back in October, saying on “he had an absolute duty, in my opinion, 11 days or not, to come forward with the new information that he has and let the American people know that too.
Trump also praised Comey for his actions in October. He also spent the 2016 election vowing that if he were elected, he would make certain that Clinton was sent to prison.
There is more to come to debunk the website the GOP created Lyin' Comey to try and discredit Comey in "Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked, "Lyin' Comey" (Part Three) Once again it makes you wonder what universe the GOP lives in, doesn't it?
By James Garland of Tulelake News
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