Please take a lead in messaging about this Cummings. Please. SHOW NO MERCY.
Go get 'em Elijah. Trump’s action has conspiracy and cover up written all over it!
God I hope this is finally the mistake that spells trump’s undoing. I want a Biiiiiiiiig dogpile of reps demanding a special prosecutor. My reps already know my position and I hope this inspires others to get on the phone. And Congressman Cummings, SHOW NO MERCY!
h/t Sniffit
There’s office space for a special prosecutor at the Watergate complex, just down the road from the Oval Trailer…
I love this man.
The dems have had ammunition stored and are ready to fire.
Yay!!!
“It is mindboggling that the Attorney General – who claimed to have recused himself – was directly involved in the decision to fire Director Comey according to the White House itself. There is now a crisis of confidence…”
World markets are gonna love this.
Hope the billionaires all shorted while they had the chance.
No?
Oh, so so sorry…
Ok, that’s more like it. And I see that Schumer has piped up too. The question is: what happens when the GOP refuses to appoint a special prosecutor or undermines the Congressional inquiry with questions about Hillary’s emails? What then?
Straight up. It is an emergency.
The MSM is going crazy.
That’s something.
Wow.
2018 happens.
Every time I think I have a handle on the enormity of the implications, another piece, or at least rumored piece, falls into place. Like the rumors of grand juries at work in Alexandria.
This could simply be Trump being stupid and impetuous, Trump being Trump in other words. But it reeks of toxic flopsweat of a paranoid megalomaniac as the walls close in.
This one almost speaks for itself. Going after Comey by condemning his actions in the Clinton investigation is not something anyone should take seriously. The man who fired Comey was just a short time ago leading millions in “lock her up” chants. No way that’s the reason. That’s the dressing he’s put on this.
I just read a tweet that said “remember, Jeff Sessions who recused himself from the investigation just fired the man heading it up”. NO way they thought that was going to go unnoticed. They balanced the flack they’re going to get against the value of putting a toady in the FBI directors seat and it tipped in favor of the plant. After seeing Reagan get away with crap like this I’ll not hold my breath waiting for it to be righted.
A lot of folks are going to suffer this. Yates and Comey are just the beginning. Not that I’m not over joyed Comey took a hard fall.
I’m worried about 2018 above all. If Trump and the GOP get away with this stunt and effectively demonstrate that the rule of law no longer applies to the exercise of Republican power, there is very little to stop the 2018 election being fixed or disrupted so as to produce an unlawful GOP victory. Let’s say, for example, that the media uncover strong evidence that a crucial number of House or Senate seats were stolen by GOP foul play–say by suppressing votes, or by miscounting votes. Which institution will then enforce the rule of election law? The fraudulently elected Congress? The FBI with a Trump stooge at its head? The stolen Supreme Court? Even if the Court does rule in favor of democracy, what’s to stop Trump seizing on a trivial or fictitious incident of domestic terrorism to declare martial law, or from starting a war that will consume the constitutional crisis? Meanwhile who will stop Fox etc from broadcasting Trumpist propaganda 24 hours a day, as it does now? We have a zombie democracy that is in the control of a party dedicated not to the constitution but to the perpetuation of its power and its extreme right wing agenda. This plain fact needs to become the central talking point of Democrats if we are to have any chance of swaying the American public into the zone of reality and action. As matters stand, the 2018 election is in grave peril. I’m not saying that all of this bad stuff is going to happen; I’m saying that Trump wants it to happen (surely that’s indisputable) and there is no current effective institution that will stand in his way. We will find ourselves in the position that truly befits a tinpot country: relying on the military to stage some kind of benevolent coup. Which won’t happen.
UPDATE: THIS is what supposed Republican good egg Susan Collins has to say. It confirms the worst fears.
“Today’s announcement is likely the inevitable conclusion of Director Comey’s decision last July to bypass the longstanding protocols of the Justice Department and publicly announce the reasons he had decided not to recommend an indictment of Hillary Clinton and to offer his personal views of Mrs. Clinton’s actions.
“That decision, while well-intentioned, embroiled Director Comey into political controversies that unfortunately continued to this day.
“Any suggestion that today’s announcement is somehow an effort to stop the FBI’s investigation of Russia’s attempt to influence the election last fall is misplaced. The President did not fire the entire FBI; he fired the director. I have every confidence that the FBI will continue to pursue its investigation. In addition, I am certain that the Senate Intelligence Committee, on which I serve, will continue its own bipartisan investigation and will follow the evidence wherever it leads…"
He may have just lost Burr. McConnell seems to be in hiding.
I think both are correct. Trump is brazen but utterly ham-handed. (Edit: And add "a political imbecile.Dana Bash on CNN is now reporting that the Trump people did not expect a political explosion from this action.) He is wading in and doing the most obvious thing for someone who feels he’s about to get caught to do. I’m not sure there’s anything more to it than that.
We can safely assume that Comey is not stupid and he knows his target. He will have anticipated that Trump might do this (how couldn’t he have?) and will have taken some precautions. A lot depends, of course, on how far the investigation has advanced. If what Claude Taylor and Rick Wilson are telling us is true, and there are already 3 grand juries convened (Comey allegedly was himself at one on Monday), Trump’s act will only serve to hasten his doom.
Anyone else “of an age” immediately flash on Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre?” Probably everyone. Nixon thought it would slam the lid on Watergate, instead it helped blow the dam completely. Here’s hoping this has the same effect.
Oh, god.
And he’s not speaking after all.
Chris Hayes said that maybe he’d be flying on Spirit Airlines if he can’t go home on the FBI plane.
I really think Trump is stupid enough to think that the existence of grand jury investigations means Comey lied to him.
Graham endorsed Trump’s firing. How interesting.