chansen said:
Holt s**t. He fired Comey. Trump fired the FBI Director in the middle of he FBI investigation of Trump's campaign.
Even Nixon didn't fire the FBI Director. Nixon fired the prosecutors. Didn't work out so well there. Not the Trump knows his history.
Yeah. If there is one thing which Trump and the gong show which is the current administration do not comprehend it is optics. They simply do not understand, or apparently believe, that one's own words can come back and bite them on their fleshy brain cases.
The courts have struck down executive immigration orders primarily because of the campaign rhetoric which clearly demonstrated bias against religion and the White House has never bothered to put together a more compelling argument that amounts to anything substantially deeper than "Muslims, bad." Which is why he fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates who declined to defend the initial order.
Of course nobody is going to deny that Trump does not have the authority to fire any appointee.
One should seriously look at who it is that Trump is firing and why because sometimes just because you have the right to do something doesn't make it the right thing to do.
When the Attorney General is convinced an executive order violates the constitution you can fire her. Is it the right thing to do? Not if upholding the constitution is important. If it isn't kick her to the curb and appoint someone who won't get in your way as you draft unconstitutional legislation. Of course you will probably run into a number of judges who you cannot fire who actually decide that the constitution is trump. Which is ironic in that Trump appears to be so deficient when it comes to knowing about the constitution he gets trumped.
Trump even had the right to fire New York's Southern District Attorney Preet Bharara even inspite of Bharara's glowing work prosecuting actual terrorism related cases and corruption cases impacting on both the Democrats and Republicans. If ever you wanted an Attorney who got the job done and made application of the law primary to partisan political theatre you could hardly expect to do much better than keep Bharara around. So Trump had the right? Was it the right thing to do? Not if you think the way forward should be bipartisan.
Of course Trump has the right to fire Comey. Should Comey have been fired as a result of the Clinton e-mails? Hard to say isn't it? If Obama had fired him it would have looked like Comey was being punished for hobbling the Clinton Campaign. As it stands, the rationale given is that Comey didn't actually press any charges against Clinton choosing instead simply to rebuke her for not ensuring that sensitive information was protected. I mean, an unsecure server has got to be a million times less secure than a public dining area of a private country club right?
Either way, it isn't up to the Director of the FBI to prosecute or lay charges. It would be the Director's job to give information to the Attorney General who then decides to prosecute based on the probablility of securing a conviction.
One presumes that competent professionals made that decision.
And now there are what? Three investigations taking place exploring the ties between the Trump Campaign and Russian Interference. The one guy fired, after initially being defended, has asked for immunity from unfair prosecution in return for testimony. Can he be fired from that position? Nope.
So what to do? Fire the guy who called for the investigation?
Some would think twice about that.
Others apparently can not be bothered to think much past "why not?"
And so yes, the right to do just that does exist? Is it the right thing to do? Not if you are at all concerned that the investigations happen without any kind of interference. And while some wanted a special prosecutor named to head up the Russian investigations the Republicans in the Senate were able to group together and say no to that. How much longer can that kind of action hold. Eventually these Senators see their positions go on the chopping block you think that they want the stink of this scandal potentially costing them those jobs?
Sooner or later, Trump is going to cross a line and he is going to make history in a way that no other president has. He won't be the first to face impeachment, he won't even be the first to be impeached. He may very well be the first to be imprisoned as a result.
Sad that there is more attention spent on having a right to do something rather than whether or not it is the right thing to do.
