# Comey firing: what should Congress do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 11, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327 "2017-05-11T01:51:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Yersenia\_Pestis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e495f1/32.png) [@Yersenia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersenia_Pestis)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/101 "2017-05-12T21:25:26Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > \*\*Comey firing: what should Congress do? > \*\* > > In a word: nothing. It’s not their purview. The FBI director serves at the pleasure of the President, period. Comey fucked up on the job, he got canned. Nothing to see here, move on. Party over country The possibility of treason doesn’t bother you at all? Wow, great job right wing media this one is beyond repair ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/102 "2017-05-12T21:36:35Z")
IOKIARCT It’s OK If A Republican Commits Treason Trump could order all members of the Democrat congress rounded up and executed, and you’d have a cadre of willing executioners. And people like \*\*Clothahump \*\*would sit back and spin justifications for why it was necessary and good. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/103 "2017-05-12T22:50:44Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > … But I will point out that, just because Donald Trump didn’t like the fact that the Russia ties investigation was still dominating the news and hadn’t gone away doesn’t mean he intended to sabotage the investigation. First of all, firing Comey doesn’t really do that. … Firing Comey after firing Yates and Bharara _does_ accomplish something substantial and important toward doing that: it sends a very clear message that those who want to keep their jobs had better lay off investigating Trump. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/104 "2017-05-12T23:14:59Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > IOKIARCT > > It’s OK If A Republican Commits Treason At least **Yersenia Pestis** has the good sense to use qualifiers like “possibility”. We’re so far away from a proven charge of treason that we might as well be looking at it through binoculars, across the Grand Canyon. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/105 "2017-05-12T23:15:37Z")
Yeah, if you can’t respect the ignorant lout, at least respect the people who voted for him! ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/106 "2017-05-13T02:21:23Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Right. He just wanted to stop it. Not sabotage it! He didn’t want to stop it (or at least, if he did, firing Comey was a stupid way of accomplishing that). He’s even said, keep it going, get to the bottom of what happened. On public TV. He just thought Comey was doing a piss-poor job of running it. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/107 "2017-05-13T02:23:25Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Firing Comey after firing Yates and Bharara _does_ accomplish something substantial and important toward doing that: it sends a very clear message that those who want to keep their jobs had better lay off investigating Trump. Sally Yates was fired for not doing her job (not in the way Comey was theoretically not doing it, but actually, really, not doing it). _I_ would have fired her under the same circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/108 "2017-05-13T03:20:28Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > You should probably limit that bet to end of 2018. Given that there is certainly the possibility of both houses of Congress flipping that election (hey, stranger things have happened, and with President Trump, usually do!), I wouldn’t want to go _banco_ on the second half of his term… :dubious: The Senate won’t flip in 2018. I’d place a large bet on that. I seriously don’t see the House flipping either. Real Talk? Ask any Republican if Nixon did anything wrong. Remember that he faced impeachment from a Democratic majority, and we aren’t going to have a Democratic majority anytime soon. The last election should tell you how farfetched that is. There is this widespread intuitive sense that politics are so complicated that it doesn’t much matter who is in charge. It won’t go away until we see this Duck Dynasty presidency shit the bed and wallow in it for a few years, and perhaps not even then. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/109 "2017-05-13T03:54:58Z")
There is nothing that cannot be changed if enough of us say so. We got comfortable and lazy and this is what happens. We are the problem and we are the cure. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/110 "2017-05-13T04:00:34Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > There is this widespread intuitive sense that politics are so complicated that it doesn’t much matter who is in charge. It won’t go away until we see this Duck Dynasty presidency shit the bed and wallow in it for a few years, and perhaps not even then. And even when all is said and done, years from now, some will still be reminiscing about how great the shitting the bed was, how nicely it was done, and how the stench really pissed off the libtards. It won’t really matter to them if everyone in the country is worse off… as long as their team won. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/111 "2017-05-13T05:16:55Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > \*\*Comey firing: what should Congress do? > \*\* > > In a word: nothing. It’s not their purview. The FBI director serves at the pleasure of the President, period. Comey fucked up on the job, he got canned. Nothing to see here, move on. 47 Republican Congressmen do not agree with you: > **[How Every Lawmaker Has Reacted to Comey’s Firing So Far (Published 2017)](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/10/us/politics/congress-statements-comey.html)** > > Reaction has ranged from support for the decision to calls for a special counsel. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/112 "2017-05-13T10:19:36Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > And people like \*\*Clothahump \*\*would sit back and spin justifications for why it was necessary and good. Nothing posted by **Clothahump** in this thread supports that inference. Do not attack other posters, particularly using wild hypothetical straw men. Knock it off. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/113 "2017-05-13T12:32:59Z")
> [@Yersenia\_Pestis](#): > > The possibility of treason doesn’t bother you at all? I’m sure it isn’t that. When you learn a new phrase, like “nothing to see here, move on,” you’re keen to try it out— both for the novelty, and to temper the regret that you never got to use it back during Monicagate, or after the fifth, sixth and seventh congressional investigations into Benghazigate, or way, way back when FBI Director James Comey declined to pursue felony charges against Hillary Clinton over Emailgate for the flimsy reason of lack of evidence that she’d committed a felony. Still, better late than never, and I’m sure we’ll see lots of unbiased application of “nothing to see here, move on” in the years to come, regardless of who’s in charge of the government. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/114 "2017-05-13T20:23:23Z")
For those who think that what the President did was motivated by a desire to avoid an investigation out of worry as to what it will uncover, I offer the following: [Analysis: Election is over, but Trump still can’t seem to get past it](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/analysis-election-is-over-but-trump-still-can%E2%80%99t-seem-to-get-past-it/ar-BBB61SN?li=BBnb7Kz) ---
**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 13, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/115 "2017-05-13T23:25:04Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > For those who think that what the President did was motivated by a desire to avoid an investigation out of worry as to what it will uncover, I offer the following: > > [Analysis: Election is over, but Trump still can’t seem to get past it](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/analysis-election-is-over-but-trump-still-can%E2%80%99t-seem-to-get-past-it/ar-BBB61SN?li=BBnb7Kz) From the fact that he fired Flynn, Manafort, and Page, I think it’s reasonable to assume that Trump is at least aware that there’s a reasonable chance that the three of them will end up in trouble with the law. But he’s sort of in a bad position because even if he’s innocent of everything, that’s three separate people that he hired all with ties to Russia and illegal activity in regards to it. At best, it paints him as an idiot who can’t be trusted to hire a janitor. And if he tries to repudiate them, and publicly admit that they were guilty as sin, that still paints him as an idiot who can’t be trusted to hire a janitor. About his only chance, from a spin angle, is to portray it as though the Russians were trying to infiltrate his inner circle. So far, he hasn’t been willing to do that. Despite his categorization by many on the left as a liar, I don’t think that’s really accurate. I think he tries to present himself as being more successful and capable than he really is, but beyond that he’s so far been pretty honest about everything and, via his tweets, basically reveals everything he’s musing about as he’s musing it, so it would be hard for him to lie to anyone anyways. To the extent that it seems like he might be going back on something he said earlier, it seems to have more to do with him being convinced by someone to do something different than he had said before, or simply that he doesn’t really understand what he’s talking about in sufficient depth to understand that two separate declarations that he has made are at odds with one another. But, I do think that he has some real worries about the investigation. I said at the time that I suspected that Trump’s haste to pull the trigger on Comey was because of the implication made [by James Clapper to Lindsey Graham](https://thinkprogress.org/lindsey-graham-trump-russia-business-dealings-7b67a8dbe764) that worrying financial ties between Trump and Russia had been discovered. Besides Comey’s firing, Trump appears to have made a call to his lawyers to send Graham a legal document stating that he had no such ties. A strange action, given Trump’s general bluster and refusal to try and prove himself in any way. I think he’s marginally fine with the investigation into the campaign, because he knows that he is innocent (other than by making poor hiring decisions), but I don’t think that he wants it to go away simply because it affects his personal image. **He acts too guilty for that.** I think that he’s worried that the investigation will go far enough to get into his personal finances and call into question his prowess as a businessman and his ability to run the country impartially, due to his remaining financial interests. The reality, I suspect, is that he has been using Russian money to maintain appearances for some years, while mostly taking losses on his businesses and through many legal fees, and this both demonstrates that he is effectively a sham, and a sham with ethics violations that will not allow him to fulfill his role impartially. If discovered, he’ll not only lose the Presidency, he’ll lose his livelihood and self-image. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/116 "2017-05-13T23:29:22Z")
That’s a convincing analysis, Sage Rat. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/117 "2017-05-14T01:12:30Z")
Expect to hear more about [Blackstone/Bayrock Group](https://www.quora.com/Does-President-Trump-owe-Blackstone-Bayrock-Group-560-million-dollars), owned by Russian billionaires who owe their positions to Putin, and to whom Trump allegedly owes $560 million. As, if true, his tax returns would show. Just scuttlebutt. For now. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/118 "2017-05-14T02:34:43Z")
The White House releases a 100% guaranteed-accurate transcript of the tape of Trump’s and Comey’s last meeting: [Here's the Comey tape transcript Trump so wants you to see](https://www.yahoo.com/news/apos-comey-tape-transcript-trump-201414173.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma) ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/119 "2017-05-14T10:04:29Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > For those who think that what the President did was motivated by a desire to avoid an investigation out of worry as to what it will uncover, I offer the following: > > [Analysis: Election is over, but Trump still can’t seem to get past it](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/analysis-election-is-over-but-trump-still-can%E2%80%99t-seem-to-get-past-it/ar-BBB61SN?li=BBnb7Kz) It is interesting and I find this article from the conservative American source, the National Review that indeed suggests that the actions came from nothing deeper than the very superficial reactions of Trump: > [@](#): > > Trump has this idea that the Executive Branch is an extension of the Trump campaign, the Trump brand, or even the Trump family. If the FBI director is someone whom Donald Trump technically employs, and Donald Trump can fire him, then it follows that he ought to be on Team Trump. Instead of being loyal to the country or the law, Trump imagines that everyone on the federal payroll ought to bend the knee. James Comey made the mistake of continuing to appear in headlines or stories that angered Trump, so he had to go. Sad! I admit that my theory doesn’t offer the psychological kick that the others do. > > The problem isn’t that Donald Trump is an illegitimate president, empowered by a foreign potentate. It’s that our legitimate president is Donald Trump, star of the Donald Trump show, which has taken quite a dramatic turn as it enters its final run. He wants all the other stars to be committed to the plotline: Donald Trump is our hero. And he wants good ratings, which means he has to keep the drama going. > > Read more at: [James Comey Firing & Donald Trump’s Reality-TV Governance | National Review](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447603/james-comey-firing-donald-trump-reality-tv-governance) It is itself a damaging and a dangerous observation. There is also [this article from another conservative](http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-trouble-with-trump/) that has indicated under the American law that Trump has blundered into a situation on the presidential records due to his law he may have set himself up. I do not know if the author has the right information but it seems like a Trump kind of thing to do, from his pure blindness and care only about his ego to blunder into self-creating a violation of law from simply not paying attention to the detail and making the rash statements. He does not understand he is not in his New york tabloid gossip press world any more… ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/120 "2017-05-14T12:09:29Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Expect to hear more about [Blackstone/Bayrock Group](https://www.quora.com/Does-President-Trump-owe-Blackstone-Bayrock-Group-560-million-dollars), owned by Russian billionaires who owe their positions to Putin, and to whom Trump allegedly owes $560 million. As, if true, his tax returns would show. > > Just scuttlebutt. For now. Genuine question: Blackstone is a well-known publicly traded partnership, heavily owned by the standard institutional investors (Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, Janus, etc.). Founded (and run) by American nationals. What is the “owned by Russian billionaires” based on? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327.md?page=7)