US Politics Mega-thread - Page 7498

On May 11 2017 07:31 crms wrote:

the way he shakes his head and eye rolls as he leaves makes it seem like he's annoyed with how stupid that decision is in the context of what's going on with everything. I don't want to place too much thought on that analysis but it was certainly funny. He has to know how bad this looks regardless of any legitimately nefarious undertones.

On May 11 2017 09:38 biology]major wrote:
BTW my opinion on the Comey dealings.

The only thing comey did truly incorrectly was characterizing findings of his investigation in july as "careless" and "reckless". That was uneccessary and gave political ammo to the republicans. He also fucked up by throwing huma abedin under the bus in his last testimony by incorrectly characterizing her actions of "forwarding thousands of emails with classified information". That was not true. Other than these 2 points, the domino effect of the shitstorm we find ourselves in is caused fundamentally by having TWO presidential candidates both under FBI investigation. I mean what does that say about our system? Secondly, Lorreta Lynch and her DOJ were incapable of being fair. Comey testified that he felt far before the tarmac meeting of lynch and clinton that her doj was not capable of being fair in this matter (for reasons we do not know), and that meeting tipped his hand and then he did the press conferene. Honestly, he was in a bind, and a shit situation surrounded by two candidates who are corrupt/irresponsible enough to be under FBI investigation, and a DOJ that is incapable of even APPEARING to be impartial.

On May 11 2017 09:35 Danglars wrote:
Uhh I thought the Obama admin had one towards the middle of his second term that was just dismissed by Trump.

Every time FBI Director James B. Comey appeared in public, an ever-watchful President Trump grew increasingly agitated that the topic was the one that he was most desperate to avoid: Russia.

Trump had long questioned Comey’s loyalty and judgment, and was infuriated by what he viewed as the director’s lack of action in recent weeks on leaks from within the federal government. By last weekend, he had made up his mind: Comey had to go.

At his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., Trump groused over Comey’s latest congressional testimony, which he thought was “strange,” and grew impatient with what he viewed as his sanctimony, according to White House officials. Comey, Trump figured, was using the Russia probe to become a martyr.

Back at work Monday morning in Washington, Trump told Vice President Pence and several senior aides — Reince Priebus, Stephen K. Bannon and Donald McGahn, among others — that he was ready to move on Comey. First, though, he wanted to talk with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his trusted confidant, and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, to whom Comey reported directly. Trump summoned the two of them to the White House for a meeting, according to a person close to the White House.

The president already had decided to fire Comey, according to this person. But in the meeting, several White House officials said Trump gave Sessions and Rosenstein a directive: to explain in writing the case against Comey.

The pair quickly fulfilled the boss’s orders, and the next day Trump fired Comey — a breathtaking move that thrust a White House already accustomed to chaos into a new level of tumult, one that has legal as well as political consequences.

Rosenstein threatened to resign after the narrative emerging from the White House on Tuesday evening cast him as a prime mover of the decision to fire Comey and that the president acted only on his recommendation, said the person close to the White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

On May 11 2017 09:38 biology]major wrote:
BTW my opinion on the Comey dealings.

The only thing comey did truly incorrectly was characterizing findings of his investigation in july as "careless" and "reckless". That was uneccessary and gave political ammo to the republicans. He also fucked up by throwing huma abedin under the bus in his last testimony by incorrectly characterizing her actions of "forwarding thousands of emails with classified information". That was not true. Other than these 2 points, the domino effect of the shitstorm we find ourselves in is caused fundamentally by having TWO presidential candidates both under FBI investigation. I mean what does that say about our system? Secondly, Lorreta Lynch and her DOJ were incapable of being fair. Comey testified that he felt far before the tarmac meeting of lynch and clinton that her doj was not capable of being fair in this matter (for reasons we do not know), and that meeting tipped his hand and then he did the press conferene. Honestly, he was in a bind, and a shit situation surrounded by two candidates who are corrupt/irresponsible enough to be under FBI investigation, and a DOJ that is incapable of even APPEARING to be impartial.

On May 11 2017 05:27 TheLordofAwesome wrote:
Wow, that got a lot of replies.

@all: When another election comes around, I will definitely take into account what I've learned from this one.

@Kwark
I have repeatedly said that you are a smart person but a terrible persuader and this is just more evidence of it.

@zlefin
I honestly heard almost nothing about Russia and Trump prior to the election. There was Michael Flynn, who I knew was highly suspect to say the least, but that was just one man, or so it appeared at the time. I thought once Trump assumed office, Flynn would be gone because of the vetting requirements. The appointment of him as NSA was when I lost all faith in Trump's administration. But that was all in the future at that time.

I heard a lot about the Access Hollywood tape and the Comey letter debacle. The overriding narrative about Trump before the election was that he was a racist/sexist/misogynist/ableist/transphobic/homophobic bigoted evil person but it didn't matter because Clinton was inevitably going to win.

Examination of Trump's Russian ties simply wasn't a very big deal back then, as hard as that may be to remember now.

@plansix

These are all very good points. The next election, I will be voting with this experience in mind.

@opisska

Platforms are the primary part of evaluating any candidate. I always thought Trump was ethically challenged (Trump University, stiffing contractors) and not very bright (as you said, every time he spoke). On the other hand, I agreed with him on the main issues (tax reform, wall, immigration reform, trade deals). My alternative was someone who I considered intelligent but just as crooked and whose platform I disagreed with in the extreme.

The stated rationale for Comey’s firing delivered Wednesday by principal deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was that he had committed “atrocities” in overseeing the FBI’s probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, hurting morale in the bureau and compromising public trust.

“He wasn’t doing a good job,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “Very simple. He wasn’t doing a good job.”

But the private accounts of more than 30 officials at the White House, the Justice Department, the FBI and on Capitol Hill, as well as Trump confidants and other senior Republicans, paint a conflicting narrative centered on the president’s brewing personal animus toward Comey. Many of those interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss internal deliberations.

Trump was angry that Comey would not support his baseless claim that President Barack Obama had his campaign offices wiretapped. Trump was frustrated when Comey revealed in Senate testimony the breadth of the counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s effort to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential election. And he fumed that Comey was giving too much attention to the Russia probe and not enough to investigating leaks to journalists.