# Comey Fired! Who is covering who? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226 "2017-05-09T21:57:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/101 "2017-05-10T03:16:22Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The FBI Director does not serve at the pleasure of the President. He serves a fixed ten year term unless there are valid reasons to fire him. [https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/how-independent-is-the-fbis-director](https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/how-independent-is-the-fbis-director) The constitutional reality is that, if a government official is clearly placed within the Executive Branch, that official serves at the pleasure of the President, and can be fired “at will.” That history has had a recent illustration: earlier this month, the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., struck down part of a law by which Congress created a single director to lead the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau – a law that specified that the director could be removed by the President only “for cause.” The appeals court simply deleted that phrase from the law, thus making the agency’s head subject to being fired by the President for any reason, or no reason at all. (The government has not yet indicated whether it will challenge that ruling in further appeals, perhaps to the Supreme Court.) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/102 "2017-05-10T03:24:45Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > Sorry, she was kicked off the Watergate comittee. She’s a crook of the first water. > > That’s the whole issue here really. Forget about Comey for the moment. Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! > [@Common\_Tater](#): > > She was an extremely flawed candidate, and everybody tried to cover for her. In fact, you’re still trying to cover for her. The only person trying to cover anything here is you. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/103 "2017-05-10T03:28:13Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > But let me get this straight: All the people who last year were clamoring for this guy to be fired because of what he did in October are now clamoring for him NOT to have been fired? And all the (R) people who were clamoring for Comey’s head on July 5 thought he was a great guy on October 28. R’s were against Comey before they were for him before they were against him. That’s silly. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/104 "2017-05-10T03:42:04Z")
A thing that seems relevant and useful - keeping track of GOP responses to this… situation. > **[Analysis | Republican reactions to the firing of James B. Comey, ranked](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/05/09/republican-reactions-to-the-firing-of-james-comey-ranked/)** > > How likely is Trump's party to rebel? A look at what they're saying. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/105 "2017-05-10T03:52:31Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > CNN rumor is that the replacement will be Keith Shiller, head of security at the Trump Organization. Seriously. Video of him leaving FBI headquarters today. Apparently, Luca Brasi – I mean Schiller, was sent to personally hand-deliver the letter notifying Comney he was fired. Also apparently, El Trumpo didn’t know or didn’t care that Comey was actually in Los Angeles at the time. No sign that Schiller is actually being considered for the FBI post. At least there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/106 "2017-05-10T05:30:47Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “Goober” Gowdy is the one that looks like Anderson Cooper’s evil twin. Yeh, I can see it… …If you throw in a bit of the banjo player from \*Deliverance \*and a dash of Pee Wee Herman. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/107 "2017-05-10T05:37:50Z")
I think this is finally the thing that will take Trump down. He’s on his last legs. We’re about to turn the corner on getting rid of him. The next 6 months will be telling. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/108 "2017-05-10T05:42:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The next 6 months will be telling. Friedman, is that you? [Friedman Unit - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/109 "2017-05-10T05:43:51Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I think this is finally the thing that will take Trump down. He’s on his last legs. We’re about to turn the corner on getting rid of him. The next 6 months will be telling. I wish I could believe that. Although the idea of a Pence presidency doesn’t exactly have me doing cartwheels. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/110 "2017-05-10T05:46:22Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The FBI Director does not serve at the pleasure of the President. He serves a fixed ten year term unless there are valid reasons to fire him. Who is going to stop the president from firing an FBI director? That’s a serious question. If no one can stop him, then the director severs at his pleasure. > [@squeegee](#): > > Friedman, is that you? [Friedman Unit - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit) I’m happy someone noticed! (I think there was some Cheney and Rumsfeld in there, too, but was too lazy to look up who said what when.) ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/111 "2017-05-10T05:47:09Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Times have changed. Trump will not be impeached. The Republicans have committed themselves to their path and nothing will stop them. Donald Trump could be caught on film handing the blueprints to U.S. nuclear weapons to Russian spies and they’d demand prosecution of the photographer. If the polls look like the GOP will lose seats in special elections or 2018 then they absolutely would throw Trump under the bus and impeach him so they could point at Trump’s cabal and say “look it wasn’t the entire GOP, it was just Trump’s cronies”. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/112 "2017-05-10T06:06:30Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Never go full Nixon… > > And… Trump just went full Nixon… The difference, of course, is that Archibald Cox wasn’t in any way responsible for Nixon’s election. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/113 "2017-05-10T06:13:43Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Am I misremembering the many posts that called for Comey’s firing in 2016? Repeat after me: “I am not Trump’s defense attourney. I am not Trump’s defense attourney. I am not Trump’s defense attourney.” For christ’s sake, not even Edward Snowden thinks this is a good move, and Comey tried to put Snowden behind bars. > > > Edward Snowden @Snowden “This FBI Director has sought for years to jail me on account of my political activities. If I can oppose his firing, so can you.” ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/114 "2017-05-10T06:27:46Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The FBI Director does not serve at the pleasure of the President. He serves a fixed ten year term unless there are valid reasons to fire him. No, it’s not a fixed term. The ten year term is a maximum. The purpose of the law is to protect the FBI from becoming a personality cult under a permanent director, as happened under J. Edgar Hoover, not to protect the director from interference by the president. The president can’t keep a director for longer than ten years (without a change in the law, as was passed for Robert Mueller), but he can still fire the director at any time. [Cite](https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41850.pdf): > [@](#): > > The position of FBI Director has a fixed 10-year term, and the officeholder cannot be reappointed, unless Congress acts to allow a second appointment of the incumbent. **There are no statutory conditions on the President’s authority to remove the FBI Director.** Since 1972, one Director has been removed by the President. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/115 "2017-05-10T06:32:26Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Am I misremembering the many posts that called for Comey’s firing in 2016? Poor Comey. Red America hates him. Blue America hates him. Then Red America hates him. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/116 "2017-05-10T06:33:28Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Am I misremembering the many posts that called for Comey’s firing in 2016? > **[Association fallacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy)** > > The association fallacy is a formal logical fallacy that asserts that properties of one thing must also be properties of another thing, if both things belong to the same group. For example, a fallacious arguer may claim that "bears are animals, and bears are dangerous; therefore your dog, which is also an animal, must be dangerous." > When it is an attempt to win favor by exploiting the audience's preexisting spite or disdain for something else, it is called guilt by association or an appeal to sp... ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/117 "2017-05-10T08:14:38Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Efrem Zimbalist, Jr!!! I’m afraid Efrem has been dead for three years. While that probably [wouldn’t stop](http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2015/06/Slavery_frederick-douglass_Corbis-E.jpeg) the America-hating shitstain currently defiling the Oval Office, his not showing up for the confirmation hearings could be a stumbling block. There’s always Stephanie. That would bolster the America-hating shitstain’s gender-equality cred, and at the same time, they could get Pierce Brosnan to do the heavy lifting… ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/118 "2017-05-10T08:25:33Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “Goober” Gowdy is the one that looks like Anderson Cooper’s evil twin. Personally, I think he looks like Anderson Cooper’s wax figure from Mme. Tussaud’s, only it got slightly damaged in a fire… ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/119 "2017-05-10T10:35:54Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > [Association fallacy - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy) Not really. I don’t have a dog in this fight but most of the board were screaming for him to go because of the pre-election email stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226/120 "2017-05-10T10:45:53Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Not really. I don’t have a dog in this fight but most of the board were screaming for him to go because of the pre-election email stuff. Stipulating this–and I’m not sure it’s accurate–but stipulating what you say, CIRCUMSTANCES ARE STILL DIFFERENT, and it’s obnoxious to try to score “TEH LIBRULS ARE HYPOCRITES” points right now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-fired-who-is-covering-who/786226.md?page=7)