I have to agree with almost everything in the letter from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Comey botched the Clinton email disclosures and deserves to be fired for it.
Of course, this being Trump’s World, and given the suggestive timing of the firing, one cannot help but suspect an ulterior motive. Unwillingness to share raw investigatory data relating to counter-intelligence regarding Russia?
Update: Of course the whole world has known about the issues about Comey’s treatment of Clinton. It is hard to believe it took over 100 days to decide to fire him over that. CNN says Trump decided Comey had to go a week ago and told Justice to come up with a reason. What was happening a week ago? Why, this. Sounds like enough to set Trump off, doesn’t it?
And, of course, it’s the coverup (or appearance of one) that gets you more than the crime. People in DC are already seeing a rerun of the Saturday Night Massacre, and calling for a special prosecutor. The law is different these days, so special prosecutors have less formal independence than they did in the post-Nixon reforms. Indeed, their independence is just about what it was in the Nixon years: not enough to prevent their firing, but enough to cause a crisis if it happens.
What about Trump’s claim that the FBI Director notified him “three times” that he was not under investigation?
1) Is there any reason to believe that is true?
2) If so, what happened the 4th time Trump asked?
3) Actually, i presume at present the investigation is of staff, current and former, so that might even be true; investigations usually work their way up the food chain.
I didn’t raise the question because I thought it was true, but rather as just another example of self-serving language being included in the body of this letter. Trump never passes up an opportunity to use anything at hand to either promote himself, or deflect accusations of possible wrong doing.
Wasn’t that in Trump’s letter, not Rosenstein’s?
It was. That’s why I said it was Trump’s claim…