He fired Yates. He fired Bharara. He fired Comey. He will probably fire McCabe, and anybody else he can fire. But he can’t fire his way out of this.
The IC community is tight. And it is mad. Not just a little mad. They were mad before the Comey firing. They were mad at what they were finding. They weren’t exactly pleased with the Bharara and Yates firings. They knew they were all targets. And then Trump came for Comey.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Comey is no angel. He is no savior. He is an arrogant and self righteous son of a gun. But he is their arrogant and self righteous son of a gun. And Trump came for him.
As I said, the IC community is tight. Most of it is comprised of career professionals. They aren’t as easy to fire. There are rules about firing them that Trump won’t be able to get around.
These are people who have been following threads when people try to hide what they are doing. They know all the secrets. They know how tracks are covered. And, they know how to cover their own tracks. And now they are mad. When Trump went for Comey, they all felt Trump was coming for them. And they aren’t having it. Now they are coming for him.
They have recordings. They have threads. They have data. They know where those things are, and they have put them safely away. Some will be leaked. Some will be put into indictments. Some will be played in court. They will be used. They are safe. That data leads to more than Trump, and will explain why the Republicans in Congress have been acting as lap dogs, and many of those congresspersons will be shown to be as guilty as Trump, if not more.
The investigators won’t be fired. Trump won’t understand the process, and he won’t have the patience to bring it about. Their tracks will be covered. They won’t accept the positions that would make them vulnerable to being fired. Trump can put a political hack at the top if he wants to. The political hacks won’t be able to find the incriminating evidence and the investigators won’t help them. How do you catch a leaker if all your leaker catchers are against you?
Meanwhile, Comey is mad too, and he won’t go as quietly as it seems he will right now. I hear that the theme song around the IC since May 9 is You Don't Mess Around With Jim. Somebody should have told that to Trump May 8 or earlier. Maybe they did.
Don’t despair. Trump may have pulled the mask off the old lone ranger, but he picked a battle he can’t win.