Tag: FBI Director James Comey

James Comey and the Russia Trump Connection

The firing of James Comey explanation is simply not creditable.

Donald Trump did not even have the decency to face James Comey when he fired him. Unlike his Apprentice program where he fired the contestants, in real life Mr. Trump lacked the courage of his convictions. Perhaps that is because Trump knows that Comey is closing in on the Trump Russia connection. Is there any other reasonable explanation? Politico and The New York Times seem concur with my explanation that I reached within minutes of the announced firing.

 [Trump] had grown enraged by the Russia investigation, two advisers said, frustrated by his inability to control the mushrooming narrative around Russia. He repeatedly asked aides why the Russia investigation wouldn’t disappear and demanded they speak out for him. He would sometimes scream at television clips about the probe, one adviser said. [Politico]

 Mr. Trump explained the firing by citing Mr. Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, even though the president was widely seen to have benefited politically from that inquiry and had once praised Mr. Comey for his “guts” in his pursuit of Mrs. Clinton during the campaign.
But in his letter to Mr. Comey, released to reporters by the White House, the president betrayed his focus on the continuing inquiry into Russia and his aides. [New York Times]

James Comey was the Director of the FBI since September 4, 2013.  Mr. Comey learned of his dismissal while in Los Angeles. Here is the letter that informed Comey of his immediate dismissal.

Could We be about to Inaugurate the last President of the United States?

Trump versus ClintonNeither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton should be the two leading candidates for president of the United States. I find it appalling that both the Democrats and Republicans would select these seriously flawed people to lead the world’s most powerful nation.

Donald Trump has never held any elected office anywhere. His knowledge of the operations of the federal government is based upon what he has read or seen on television. His ideas about getting along with the rest of the world are a series of contradictions. In one breath he says that NATO is obsolete and in the next breath he talks about NATO forces being used to fight ISIS. Somehow he believes that a 35% to 45% tariff would bring jobs back to America. He says he wants to lower the national debt but he also wants to spend whatever it takes to enlarge our military, improve our educational system, and rebuild our infrastructure. All of these things, he says, will be done while lowering our income tax.

Hillary Clinton wanted to over throw Gadhafi in Libya (and we did) and now that country lacks a functioning central government. Her explanation about Benghazi is shrouded in a mist that cannot make that issue go away. She talks about being proud of her part in the Iran nuclear agreement and her solution to the Ukraine invasion by Russia. And Finally there is her use of a private email server that caused FBI Director James Comey to come very close to calling for her to be charged with a crime. Comey said, “Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” In the end, Comey, a deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush, said Clinton’s careless conduct fell short of a crime because there was no evidence of “clearly intentional and willful mishandling” of classified information and no sign of “disloyalty” or an effort to “obstruct justice.”

Am I supposed to be reassured by either of these two candidates that they can carry out the duties of president without taking the nation into a financial collapse or a war?

I am not confident that either Trump or Clinton will be a capable leader. Rather I fear that the winner of the November election could mean we will be inaugurating the last president of the United States.