Had Barack Obama fired James Comey immediately following the election, Republicans would likely have complained. After all, Comey was only three years into a supposedly ten year term and the only complaint they had about the FBI director was that he had not been harsh enough in his evaluation of Hillary Clinton. Certainly, there were … some reporters on this site calling for Comey’s dismissal in no uncertain terms.
When James Comey decided to issue his extraordinary letter to Congress just eleven days before the election, his baseless intrusion was unprecedented and immeasurable. It was not just a violation of rules for both the FBI and the Justice Department, but a direct F-U to Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, President Obama, and the democratic process.
And similar sentiments being echoed everywhere, but President Obama didn’t choose to dismiss the FBI director at that time. While Trump moving into the White House didn’t by any means signal that Comey ceased making mistakes or burnishing his ego, it did mark a critical change: Comey was the man in charge of investigating Trump’s association with the Russian government.
That was particularly true after Jefferson Sessions had to recuse himself because of his involvement with Trump and unrevealed meetings with Russian officials, Devin Nunes showed that the House Intelligence Committee was also little more than an extension of Trump’s transition team and, despite a lot of bipartisan talk, Senator Richard Burr chose to lead the Senate Intelligence Committee into a slow walk to nowhere. Though former acting attorney general Sally Yates and former director national intelligence James Clapper finally got a chance to give some public testimony before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, it was increasingly apparent that the FBI investigation is the only real game in town. If there’s no FBI investigation, there’s no investigation.
Comey was a preening egotist who constantly put his own judgement ahead of the rules and rated protecting his own reputation as his highest duty. He deserved to be gone long ago. But dismissing him at this point isn’t just suspicious, it’s a blatant finger-to-the-eye of the public; an open assault on the idea that the president can be held accountable for any action.
If firing Comey was an option open to both candidates before the election, it was also an option that was seen as carrying considerable risk.
Such a dramatic move usually carries significant political risk.
As a lawyer in Congress who in the 1970s helped investigate the Watergate scandal, Hillary Clinton is well-versed in what happened when President Nixon ordered the firing of a special prosecutor investigating his misdeeds. The fiasco later became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre” and helped doom Nixon’s presidency.
If she fired Comey or pressured him to resign, Clinton would probably be accused of trying to interfere with the bureau’s work, since the email investigation is still winding down and the FBI is also believed to be looking at allegations related to the Clinton Foundation.
Trump might be vulnerable to similar allegations since the bureau has reportedly begun to look into the connections between some of his campaign advisors and foreign officials.
That was analysis from just before the election. We’re well beyond the FBI having “reportedly begun” looking into Trump–Russia. We’re at the point where the grand jury is issuing subpoenas based on that investigation.
Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year's election, according to people familiar with the matter. CNN learned of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
The timing of Comey’s firing is questionable more for just the date, but for the speed with which it happened. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein only took his position 14 days ago. At some point since then, Rosenstein was apparently asked to create a report on Comey. That report was handed to Donald Trump on Tuesday, and within hours, he was rushing a hand-delivered letter to the FBI offices firing Comey. Compare that to the two meetings, phone call, review of documents, and 18 days it took before Trump moved to remove Michael Flynn on infinitely more serious charges.
Time between Donald Trump being presented with information and taking action: Michael Flynn, 18 days. James Comey, less than 1 day.
Just one week ago James Comey gave public testimony that he could not say whether Donald Trump was under investigation by the FBI—a statement that apparently infuriated Trump. It’s apparent that since then Trump’s Justice Department under Jefferson Sessions has constructed a transparently false pretext for the dismissal of Comey expressly because he refuses to clear Trump.