Hardly surprising, but now there is actual documentary evidence that Trump and his mouthpiece Sarah Huckabee Sanders flat-out lied to the American people about why Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
This is what they said at the time:
In a May 10 press conference,... then-Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that the president had “lost confidence in Director Comey” and that “the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director.” She stated that the president had “had countless conversations with members from within the FBI” in the course of making his decision to fire Comey. The following day, Sanders stated that she personally had “heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the president’s decision” and that the president believed “Director Comey was not up to the task...that he wasn’t the right person in the job. [Trump] wanted somebody that could bring credibility back to the FBI.”
They utterly smeared the man. And it was all a lie. No one in the FBI had “lost confidence" in Comey and no one was apparently “thankful” for this President’s unilateral decision to remove him from his post once it became apparent that Comey would not suborn his own integrity to that of Donald Trump, specifically in regard to the investigation of the Trump campaign’s collusion with the Russian Federation.
Lawfare is a a legal blog edited and contributed to by law professors and Fellows at organizations such as the Brookings Institution, the Hoover Institution, the Institute for International Studies and Harvard Law School, to name a few. Its purpose is to examine the intersection between law and policy in our government.
Pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act Request, Lawfare obtained over 100 pages of FBI documents which detail the real reaction in the Bureau to James Comey’s firing:
Over the next few days, a wealth of evidence emerged to suggest that Trump and Sanders were playing fast and loose with the truth. But we now have the documents to prove that decisively. Their disclosure was not a leak but an authorized action by the FBI, which released to us under the Freedom of Information Act more than 100 pages of leadership communications to staff dealing with the firing. This material tells a dramatic story about the FBI’s reaction to the Comey firing—but it is neither a story of gratitude to the president nor a story of an organization in turmoil relieved by a much-needed leadership transition.
Lawfare also employs a counterterrorism specialist named Nora Ellingson who privately interviewed roughly twenty of her former colleagues at the FBI, prior to the FOIA request. Their near universal reaction of shock and dismay at Mr. Comey’s removal --as well as the shocked reaction of then-acting FBI director Andrew McCabe-- were the key factors triggering the request in the first instance.
You see, when something of the magnitude of firing the Director of the FBI occurs, managers within the organization have to inform their subordinates. They do so by way of email, or in private conversation, but there is usually some record. That is the protocol. As Benjamin Witte, who filed the four separate FOIA requests, wrote:
In an organization "in turmoil," one run by a "nut job," in whom the rank and file have "lost confidence," one might expect such an email to have a celebratory flavor, to talk about how the long national nightmare is over, say, or how there's a great opportunity to restore sanity to the organization. On the other hand, when a beloved leader is removed by a President in what is seen as an attack on the institution, one might expect an email with a very different tone.
Witte received 103 pages in response to his FOIA requests for communication between Top FBI officials and their subordinates regarding the firing of Director Comey, as well as interdepartmental communications on the same subject between Special agents and their colleagues in field offices. As noted in the Lawfare article linked above, this would have constituted close to the totality of all internal communications on this subject, and little if anything was withheld:
[W]e received 103 pages of records responsive to Wittes’s first two requests—messages from FBI leadership around the country and across the bureau regarding the firing of Director Comey. The bureau identified 116 pages of responsive material and withheld only 13 pages, so this material constitutes the overwhelming bulk of communications to staff on the subject of the firing.
What these documents show is that Trump flat-out lied about the Comey firing, as did his talking parrot Sanders:
What does it show? Simply put, it shows that Ellingsen nailed it when she described a reaction of “shock” and “profound sadness” at the removal of a beloved figure to whom the workforce was deeply attached. It also shows that no aspect of the White House’s statements about the bureau were accurate—and, indeed, that the White House engendered at least some resentment among the rank and file for whom it purported to speak.
There is not a word within the documents suggestive of an organization in “turmoil.” There is not a word suggesting anyone in the FBI was “grateful” for Trump’s decision to remove Director Comey. “There is literally not a single sentence in any of these communications that reflects criticism of Comey’s leadership of the FBI. Not one special agent in charge describes Comey’s removal as some kind of opportunity for new leadership.”
The whole thing was a lie. The .pdf of the documents received is contained within the Lawfare link above and readers are encouraged to read the actual documents:
But the amount of warmth in the emails, both about Comey and for their people, is atypical of all-staff communications. These leaders operate at the highest level of the FBI; in a chain-of-command organization, they aren’t particularly accessible figures. But these emails, which were sent to entire divisions or field offices, are personal and intimate. Without overstating the matter or getting maudlin about it, it’s safe to say that these messages show leaders who are shaken and concerned. There is emotion in their voices and a deep concern for their people.
Trump fired Comey because Comey was getting too close to Russia, pure and simple. The same reason he is now threatening to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Also covered in depth by Mark Sumner, here.