If you are old enough to remember the Watergate scandal that eventually led to the impeachment of Richard Nixon, the current scandal in the White House regarding the firing of James Comey is somewhat similar: Both are like watching a slow moving train wreck.
James Comey was unceremoniously fired this week. He was not advised that he was fired. Instead, while speaking to colleagues in Los Angeles, there was a live CNN feed on a big screen behind him, where one of those famous news alerts was read about his firing. Comey’s not exactly a secretarial administrator. He was the director of the FBI. No matter how inexperienced those in the White House are, firing someone like that is not done innocently.
The bigger issue however is that those in the White House did not tell the truth regarding why he was fired. Before we go on, it is important now to know who some of the players are in this story:
Jeff Sessions is the Attorney General who recused himself from the investigation of the Trump/Russia connection during the election campaign. Rod Rosenstein was appointed US deputy attorney general two weeks ago. Sean Spicer is the White House Press Secretary who comes out daily to hold a press conference. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the deputy White House Press secretary and has been taking Spicer’s place more and more in the daily press conference.
Now the sequence of events: …Two weeks ago, Comey testified before Senate committee. During his testimony he said the following: “It makes me mildly nauseous to think that we (the FBI) might have had some impact on the election.” Between the lines he was referring to Trump becoming President.
…When Trump heard that, he lost it. It seems that he watched that clip over and over again all weekend.
…After Comey was fired, the story put out by the White House and told to reporters at the press conference yesterday by Sanders was that Rod Rosenstein took it upon himself to investigate Comey.
President Trump told Comey he’s out of the job for damaging the FBI’s reputation by mishandling its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. It was concluded that he (Rosenstein) could not understand former FBI Director James Comey’s refusal to accept the “nearly universal judgement that he was mistaken” in publicly exonerating Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers last year — and that’s why he got fired.
To recap: Trump said the decision to fire Comey was based on recommendations from his attorney general and deputy attorney general.
…That night, the White House was working overtime to get the story straight. At one point, Sean Spicer was seen hiding in the bushes talking to reporters off the record.
…Yesterday, reporters smelled something rotten in Denmark. Last night and early this morning, it turns out that on the morning he was fired or the day before, Comey had requested from Rosenstein more people and funds to investigate Trump’s Russian connections.
…It also appears from insiders in the White House who are talking, that Trump was incensed by Comey’s request and ordered Rosenstein to find a way to fire him.
…Today it was revealed that the acting Director of the FBI will continue to investigate the Trump-Russia collusion if there was any. He will not bend to pressure.
Vice President Pence seemingly knew about this and could be complicit in, what is now being called, a coverup. This does not look like it’s going to end in a nice way. Many politicians, both Republican and Democrat are asking Rosenstein to convene an impartial committee to look into the firing of Comey. He may have no choice but to do this.
Lest you think Hillary Clinton is going to walk away from all of this unscathed, think again. She may still be investigated, especially after what was revealed today.
While secretary of state, Hillary Clinton made a personal call to pressure Bangladesh’s prime minister to aid a donor to her husband’s charitable foundation despite federal ethics laws that require government officials to recuse themselves from matters that could impact their spouse’s business.
The Office of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina confirmed that Mrs. Clinton called her office in March 2011 to demand that Dr. Muhammed Yunus, a 2006 Nobel Peace prize winner, be restored to his role as chairman of the country’s most famous microcredit bank, Grameen Bank.
Read this part carefully: The bank’s nonprofit Grameen America, which Yunus chairs, has given between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative. Grameen Research, which is chaired by Yunus, has donated between $25,000 and $50,000, according to the Clinton Foundation website.
Mrs. Clinton was told that according to Grameen Bank rules and regulations, nobody can hold the position of the Managing Director of Grameen Bank after the age of 60. He was 70 at the time of his removal.
There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Hillary used her position as Secretary of State to fill the coffers of her foundation. Ergo, the email server in her house instead of the White House. We certainly hope she has to pay for what she did, as she deserves to.
This next piece will most likely make you want the very large barf bag. It also boggles the mind how sneaky elected officials can be.
When Quebec municipal officials were told last year about new tools to help them map the risk of flooding in their communities they wanted no part of it over concerns of legal liability and political backlash. Seriously.
Most politicians despise raising the ire of those who voted for them and will in the future vote for them.
Insurance companies are jaw-droppingly stunned at leaders who would hide this from their constituents. The Insurance Bureau of Canada created a mapping tool to figure out where there was the greatest risk of flooding, either from rising waters or overwhelming rainfall.
Imagine spending a few hundred thousand dollars on a house and then finding out that your municipality didn’t tell you that you built in a flood zone? They should all be sued and taken to task for their irresponsibility.
Obama’s pretending that he’s for the little guy, pretending that he wants to save the planet and the water and the trees. And then…he went on vacation on a South Seas holiday with Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks and Bruce Springsteen on board a $300 million yacht. Wait. He had to get there. So he’s leaving his environmental footprint wherever he goes, hobnobbing with the rich and famous.
Don’t worry, though. He’s still modest and identifies with the little guy, especially if they are black. And if you believe that, you need a lobotomy Blanche.
We watched the interview tonight with Trump. Here’s what we took away: How he can keep track of all the scandals and govern the country is beyond our imagination. Given that, had Hillary been president the United States would have literally had a crook and liar running their country.
The impossible task of voting last November for a nutcase or a criminal is now coming to fruition. It does not make the United States look good that these were the only two candidates that they could come up with. And if you’re going to cite the 16 other Republican candidates who Trump beat, it’s pretty obvious that they were no better. Nor was Zaidy Bernie, the socialist.
Let’s just hope that out of the ashes of this election, someone will emerge to save the day. Perhaps even out of a phone booth.
Good Shabbos, We’ll talk…