# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 7
**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, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/121 "2017-05-14T13:54:15Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > 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? I think there are the commentators on the Left who are confusing [the Bayrock entity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayrock_Group)which indeed has the former Soviet connection and has a funny history, a suspicious history, with the [Blackstone private equity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blackstone_Group)house and financial group. It seems to me the confusion and some degree of the non literacy in the financial institutions, leading to a kind of conspiracy theorizing that is not very credible becuase it is confused. The Bayrock entity, it had the documented ties to the Trump operations and it has also the real documented issues around not very clear and very suspicious activity. Since he links to some message / answer platform of no screening, it tells you the credibility of the combination although the background of the Trump organization with the Bayrock is a genuine area of the cloudy behavior. ---
**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, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/122 "2017-05-14T17:50:29Z")
And that’s why I called it scuttlebutt. Just don’t think it’s going away any time soon. ---
**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, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/123 "2017-05-14T18:04:06Z")
Scuttlebutt means complete non comprehension and invention based on the confusion of the different entities? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/124 "2017-05-14T19:25:47Z")
Comey says he will testify, but only in a public hearing. Can I get a “Hell, _yes!_” ---
**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 14, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/125 "2017-05-14T20:05:58Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Comey says he will testify, but only in a public hearing. Can I get a “Hell, _yes!_” Sure. Hell, yes! He’d better specify that he stand behind Plexiglas, is my advice. The alt-right will be feverish in its portrayal of him as the Hideous Enemy in the days leading up to that testimony. ---
**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 14, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/126 "2017-05-14T21:47:18Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Comey says he will testify, but only in a public hearing. Can I get a “Hell, _yes!_” If I’m honest, to some extent that only feeds into the theory that he was fired because he enjoys being provocative and staying in the limelight. I would prefer that he exercise the same discretion that he would be _expected_ to hold if he was still the Director of the FBI. He should debrief in private to a person or group that he trusts to do the right thing (e.g., the Senate Intelligence Committee) and if, at their recommendation, they want him to make that same information known publicly, only then should he do so. Unless he’s able to reveal something that amounts to more than putting Trump in his place, i.e. revealing information that should be public knowledge but that the Republican party can’t afford to let into the open, then I don’t think there’s any strong benefit to a public appearance. It will only help to further insert the wedge between the backers of each party. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/127 "2017-05-15T18:28:15Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If I’m honest, to some extent that only feeds into the theory that he was fired because he enjoys being provocative and staying in the limelight. That’s nothing. You should see his backstage rider. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/128 "2017-05-15T18:30:13Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > That’s nothing. You should see his backstage rider. Don’t you dare give him orange M&Ms. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/129 "2017-05-15T18:58:58Z")
Going back to the OP’s question, and many commenters’ suggestions that a special prosecutor is needed, here’s a counterpoint from Frum - David Frum: > [@](#): > > Careful what you wish for. > > In the wake of the firing of FBI Director James Comey, many are demanding a special prosecutor into the Trump-Russia connection. It’s not appreciated enough that such an appointment could well turn into a shield for wrongdoing. A special prosecutor could wrap the investigation of the Trump-Russia matter in secrecy for months and years—and ultimately fail to answer any of the important questions demanding answers. > > Of all the types of independent investigation that have been suggested, a special prosecutor is the most likely to disappear down rabbit holes—the least likely answer the questions that needed to be answered. A select committee of Congress or an independent commission of nonpartisan experts established by Congress can ask the broad question: What happened? A select committee or an independent commission can organize its inquiry according to priority, leaving the secondary and tertiary issues to the historians. A select committee or an independent commission is not barred from looking at events in earlier years statutes of limitations. A select committee or an independent commission seeks truth. > **[A Special Prosecutor Is Not the Answer](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/a-special-prosecutor-is-not-the-answer/526662/)** > > Rather than an inquiry focused narrowly on criminal conduct, the way to resolve questions swirling around President Trump and his associates is to impanel an independent commission. Frum makes some interesting points: the likely penny-ante nature of any crimes that can be proven by a prosecutor. And how likely such investigation is to spend months or years working silently, emerging miles off-course with a small fish or two in its mouth. (Twain: “Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.”) (And yes, Frum’s probably on the right side of center politically, but this isn’t some kind of briar patch argument, I don’t think.) ---
**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 15, 2017, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/130 "2017-05-15T19:30:02Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Going back to the OP’s question, and many commenters’ suggestions that a special prosecutor is needed, here’s a counterpoint from Frum - David Frum: > > [A Special Prosecutor Is Not the Answer to Trump and Russia - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/a-special-prosecutor-is-not-the-answer/526662/) > > Frum makes some interesting points: the likely penny-ante nature of any crimes that can be proven by a prosecutor. And how likely such investigation is to spend months or years working silently, emerging miles off-course with a small fish or two in its mouth. (Twain: “Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.”) > > (And yes, Frum’s probably on the right side of center politically, but this isn’t some kind of briar patch argument, I don’t think.) Every big, direction changing report that I’ve seen Wikipedia pages devoted to (e.g., the Church Report) came from a committee. Whereas, for example, the only case that I can think of where an investigation was a one-man show was Ken Starr, and I’m pretty sure that was a boondoggle. Even the Republicans weren’t excited by the results. It’s possible that the Democrats are simply going with the most drastic demand that they can, so that they have room to negotiate. ---
**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 15, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/131 "2017-05-15T19:37:13Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Going back to the OP’s question, and many commenters’ suggestions that a special prosecutor is needed, here’s a counterpoint from Frum - David Frum: > [A Special Prosecutor Is Not the Answer to Trump and Russia - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/a-special-prosecutor-is-not-the-answer/526662/) > > Frum makes some interesting points: the likely penny-ante nature of any crimes that can be proven by a prosecutor. And how likely such investigation is to spend months or years working silently, emerging miles off-course with a small fish or two in its mouth. (Twain: “Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.”) > (And yes, Frum’s probably on the right side of center politically, but this isn’t some kind of briar patch argument, I don’t think.) Frum has been very much on the record in opposition to Trump, before and after the election. While it’s possible that was some sort of long-game tactic, such a thing seems unlikely, given that Trump isn’t known for being patient with people who criticize him as strongly as Frum has done. (And I doubt that Trump would understand ‘Frum has been saying incredibly insulting things about you for months as part of a plot to get his advice about special prosecutors/select committees a better hearing, sometime in the future when that becomes an issue’—too complex.) In any case, the points he makes seem valid. A genuinely bipartisan and independent commission makes a lot of sense in our present circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/132 "2017-05-15T19:48:43Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > 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. Wait – you’re taking Trump literally? After he said that he’s going to ban Muslims, then sends lawyers into court to argue that he didn’t really mean it? After he said that he’s going to heal the divides in this country? After he said that he’s going to have a health care plan that covers everyone, only to later endorse a healthcare plan that cuts 25 million from coverage? After he said that his inauguration crowds were the biggest in history? After he said that millions of illegal aliens accounted for Clinton’s margin in the popular vote? Seriously, it goes on and on. Words are totally disposable to this President. Repeating what he says as an indicator of what he thinks this moment, what he may think tomorrow, or even God forbid what he will do is probably the worst possible evidence of anything that can be presented on this message board. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/133 "2017-05-15T21:08:59Z")
Unless and until you have evidence that he was either mistaken or lying in his comments, disregarding what he said and assuming the contrary is jumping to conclusions without evidence. Now, as I pointed out, the value of the statements by the President is variable, depending upon who you are (I did say YMMV). ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/134 "2017-05-15T21:15:58Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Unless and until you have evidence that he was either mistaken or lying in his comments, disregarding what he said and assuming the contrary is jumping to conclusions without evidence. I think I was pretty clear when I wrote that words are totally disposable to this President. That means not assuming the opposite of his words to be the truth. His use of the English language is mainly to bring attention to himself, not to communicate ideas. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/135 "2017-05-17T16:17:14Z")
How else are we to understand his saying “I don’t stand by anything.”? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327/136 "2017-05-20T23:30:10Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Remind me- isn’t Comey the eeeevil Republican operative who undermined Hillary and got Trump elected? > > When did he become a hero and martyr to liberals? Honestly, I am perfectly happy to see Comey canned, for the reason mentioned. In fact, I even agree with T that he is a showboat. But he was also investigating T and gets a few points for that. Interesting to see how long before T gets his AG to fire Mueller. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-firing-what-should-congress-do/786327.md?page=6)