Trump Admits that He Fired Comey Because of Russia

[leibowde84]

I'm sure Trump thought Comey should keep quiet about an investigation that doesn't have any evidence yet to talk about. Even if they do have evidence, Comey should keep quiet until the Department of Justice decides to do something about it. The talk about Russia is using up valuable journalistic time to talk about his achievements which they don't seem to want to talk about.

Beyond executive orders, what accomplishments?

 

[leibowde84]

I'm sure Trump thought Comey should keep quiet about an investigation that doesn't have any evidence yet to talk about. Even if they do have evidence, Comey should keep quiet until the Department of Justice decides to do something about it. The talk about Russia is using up valuable journalistic time to talk about his achievements which they don't seem to want to talk about.

But, he only talked about it when congress requested, right?

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Don't know but as the head of FBI he didn't spend any time finding who's [fault 9/11] was.

Isn't that pretty much off limits?

And frankly, does it matter? Suppose it was in part or whole an inside job. What difference would it make at this point? Would it cause us to lose more faith in the American government?

 

[eldios]

But, he only talked about it when congress requested, right?

When he saw that Comey was dragged back into the congressional court for more questioning under oath about the Russians, Trump had to do something about this. This kind of thing can't continue on because without any evidence, it's just a waste of time and money. It's best if they go find some evidence first, then the Department of Justice can decide whether or not to prosecute anyone for breaking the laws of the U.S. Constitution. So far, there is no evidence of anyone breaking the laws.

I remember when O.J.Simpson's wife was killed along with her boyfriend. Everyone was talking about O.J. Simpson as the killer without knowing what the evidence revealed. It took a long time for the courts to decide whether or not that evidence and all the stories they heard was enough to prosecute O.J. Simpson as the killer. They finally came to the conclusion there wasn't enough evidence to support the idea that he was the one who killed his former wife and her boyfriend.

Right now, we're witnessing a very similar thing like the O.J.Simpson case. Many people are condemning President Trump without having any evidence that the Department of Justice needs to prosecute him with. You can't just impeach a President because you don't like him and because he beat Hillary Clinton in the election last November.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

When he saw that Comey was dragged back into the congressional court for more questioning under oath about the Russians, Trump had to do something about
this.

Why would Trump need to do something? His choice to fire Comey reads as an admission of guilt. He needed to do nothing if that were an option. Apparently, he didn't think it was.

This kind of thing can't continue on because without any evidence, it's just a waste of time and money.

America can afford both. What it can't afford is the appearance that this matter wasn't taken seriously.

It's best if they go find some evidence first, then the Department of Justice can decide whether or not to prosecute anyone for breaking the laws of the U.S. Constitution.

They're doing an investigation. That's how one finds evidence. It includes questioning witnesses to have the best idea where to look and who else to question, etc..

So far, there is no evidence of anyone breaking the laws.

I would disagree. There might not be a solid case yet, but the investigation is young.

Better buckle your seat belt. This isn't going away any time soon, and I don't see how it can end up well for Trump.

Would it matter to you if Trump gave secrets to the Russians, conspired with them to alter the outcome of the election, or is obstructing justice?

 

[eldios]

Why would Trump need to do something? His choice to fire Comey reads as an admission of guilt. He needed to do nothing if that were an option. Apparently, he didn't think it was.

Who said that firing Comey was an admission of guilt? Is this a story that you believe in? Where is your proof?

America can afford both. What it can't afford is the appearance that this matter wasn't taken seriously.

They're doing an investigation. That's how one finds evidence. It includes questioning witnesses to have the best idea where to look and who else to question, etc..

Trump never said he wanted Comey to stop investigating for Russian collusion with the elections. He asked Comey if he was personally being investigated in which Comey supposedly said no.

I would disagree. There might not be a solid case yet, but the investigation is young.

Any story that's told by someone is possible but there's no way to prove a story to be true without any evidence to support that story. It's good that they are investigating for evidence to support all the Russian stories but we will have to wait to see if there's any evidence first. Then the Department of Justice has to look at that evidence to see if they can build a case with it. Until then, every Russian story you hear about could be true or false.

Better buckle your seat belt. This isn't going away any time soon, and I don't see how it can end up well for Trump.

The Russian stories have been affecting Donald Trump's presidency ever since he started. Without any evidence, those Russian stories could be told until the day of the Lord destroys everything on earth.

Would it matter to you if Trump gave secrets to the Russians, conspired with them to alter the outcome of the election, or is obstructing justice?

Why would it affect me? I don't vote for any lying politicians even since the last time I voted for a liar who said he wouldn't raise taxes or take us into a war. Soon after he was elected, they raised taxes and he declared war in Iraq. That was a long time ago and I haven't voted for stupid liars since then. The U.S. is going to be destroyed by God anyway so what do I care.

 

[Stevicus]

If that was the case I'd agree, but Spicer basically confirmed it. Plus, they confirmed what Trump said with multiple sources. It's not like they take one person's word for it.

But what do they actually have that's solid? Seriously. It's not illegal to do business with other countries, so the whole idea of having "business ties" really doesn't mean anything. Lots of presidents and other politicians have had ties with foreign countries, from Mexico to China to Saudi Arabia, so what makes Russia so different?

Here's what George Washington had to say about foreign entanglements:

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

In this sense, any politician who has ties with a foreign country, whether it's Canada, the UK, Mexico, Russia, North Korea, or any country outside the US would be considered the same. The true patriotic view (in George Washington's opinion) would be to view them ALL the same.

Of course, we abandoned and rejected most of George Washington's advice and counsel over a century ago, so you might argue that this view is irrelevant in this day and age. Still, I would argue that America's interests should always come first over the interests of any foreign power, even if they're an "ally."

As for the allegations of "Russian influence" in the election, give me a break. We put ourselves in that position by allowing money and media to influence elections, and it never seemed to occur to anyone that it might pose a problem and a potential threat to our democracy. Until now, apparently.

 

[BSM1]

Wakka wakka, but seriously. Do you, in your honest opinion, believe that Trump has handled himself rationally thus far?

About what I expected. Jobs up, economy brighter, Trump being Trump, haters going out of their way to try to bring up any charge at all with absolutely no proof.

 

[BSM1]

You narrowly dodged a bullet there. As president, if she continued to use unsecured servers, some of her comfort food recipes might be in Russian hands as we speak.

"The humanity..."

 

[Falvlun]

As for the allegations of "Russian influence" in the election, give me a break. We put ourselves in that position by allowing money and media to influence elections, and it never seemed to occur to anyone that it might pose a problem and a potential threat to our democracy. Until now, apparently.

I seem to recall a lot of concern over the influence of money on elections. It's not like Citizens United was a bipartisan event or went without comment. There's also regularly been calls for publicly funded elections.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

IANS said: Why would Trump need to do something? His choice to fire Comey reads as an admission of guilt. He needed to do nothing if that were an option. Apparently, he didn't think it was.

Who said that firing Comey was an admission of guilt?

Nobody to my knowledge. I said this has the appearance of impropriety. One wonders why Trump fired Comey if there is nothing to hide here.

Trump never said he wanted Comey to stop investigating for Russian collusion with the elections. He asked Comey if he was personally being investigated in which Comey supposedly said no.

I wouldn't know.

Any story that's told by someone is possible but there's no way to prove a story to be true without any evidence to support that story. It's good that they are investigating for evidence to support all the Russian stories but we will have to wait to see if there's any evidence first. Then the Department of Justice has to look at that evidence to see if they can build a case with it. Until then, every Russian story you hear about could be true or false.

Agreed

IANS said: Would it matter to you if Trump gave secrets to the Russians, conspired with them to alter the outcome of the election, or is obstructing justice?

Why would it affect me? I don't vote for any lying politicians even since the last time I voted for a liar who said he wouldn't raise taxes or take us into a war. Soon after he was elected, they raised taxes and he declared war in Iraq. That was a long time ago and I haven't voted for stupid liars since then. The U.S. is going to be destroyed by God anyway so what do I care.

Affecting you isn't exactly what I asked. I asked would it matter to you if any of those things happened. I can imagine either answer being possible.

It sounds like you're referring to Bush in 2000, but he presided over tax cuts

 

[eldios]

Nobody to my knowledge. I said this has the appearance of impropriety. One wonders why Trump fired Comey if there is nothing to hide here.

Trump admitted he didn't want Comey talking about the Russian stories with absolutely no evidence that Trump was involved. Trump understands that there needs to be provable evidence submitted to the Department of Justice before any court proceedings can begin. By Comey testifying to stories with no evidence, valuable TV time is being used instead of stories about Trump's achievements since he took office. Trump understands the power of TV so this is the main reason he wants this Russian talk stopped until their is evidence. If he had guilt about colluding with the Russians, he wouldn't have been elected the President of the U.S.

I wouldn't know.

Of course you don't because you haven't done any research. All you're doing is passing someone else's stories. That's called gossiping.

Agreed

You "agree" with the wisdom in my post. Many people can't understand it.

Affecting you isn't exactly what I asked. I asked would it matter to you if any of those things happened. I can imagine either answer being possible.

It sounds like you're referring to Bush in 2000, but he presided over tax cuts

If it "matters" to me, then it is affecting me. No, it doesn't matter to me or affect me if Donald Trump is impeached by the liars of the world. I know for a fact that all liars will be destroyed on the day of the Lord that will soon happen.

 

[leibowde84]

When he saw that Comey was dragged back into the congressional court for more questioning under oath about the Russians, Trump had to do something about this. This kind of thing can't continue on because without any evidence, it's just a waste of time and money. It's best if they go find some evidence first, then the Department of Justice can decide whether or not to prosecute anyone for breaking the laws of the U.S. Constitution. So far, there is no evidence of anyone breaking the laws.

I remember when O.J.Simpson's wife was killed along with her boyfriend. Everyone was talking about O.J. Simpson as the killer without knowing what the evidence revealed. It took a long time for the courts to decide whether or not that evidence and all the stories they heard was enough to prosecute O.J. Simpson as the killer. They finally came to the conclusion there wasn't enough evidence to support the idea that he was the one who killed his former wife and her boyfriend.

Right now, we're witnessing a very similar thing like the O.J.Simpson case. Many people are condemning President Trump without having any evidence that the Department of Justice needs to prosecute him with. You can't just impeach a President because you don't like him and because he beat Hillary Clinton in the election last November.

There was plenty of evidence showing that O.J. killed Nicole. There was certainly enough to convict. Racial prejudice and uproar throughout the country got in the way of justice. O.J. definitely did it, and he should have been convicted.

We will see whether there is evidence of collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign soon. The Special Prosecutor will keep what he finds secret until indictments are handed down, but the congressional investigation will continue. And, it seems every day that we are getting closer and closer to obstruction of justice if Trump actually fired comey to relieve pressure from the Russia investigation. But, only time will tell.

It's going to be a long investigation that is going to keep on driving Trump to do crazy, stupid things in a vain attempt to lash out at the press. Every move he makes against the press only hurts himself further. It is completely up to Trump though. He has 100% power to either keep down spiraling like he is now, or to ignore the investigation, stop attacking the media, and focus on his agenda. I think the evidence suggests he is not capable of manning up to do this, but anything is possible.

 

[leibowde84]

But what do they actually have that's solid? Seriously. It's not illegal to do business with other countries, so the whole idea of having "business ties" really doesn't mean anything. Lots of presidents and other politicians have had ties with foreign countries, from Mexico to China to Saudi Arabia, so what makes Russia so different?

Here's what George Washington had to say about foreign entanglements:



In this sense, any politician who has ties with a foreign country, whether it's Canada, the UK, Mexico, Russia, North Korea, or any country outside the US would be considered the same. The true patriotic view (in George Washington's opinion) would be to view them ALL the same.

Of course, we abandoned and rejected most of George Washington's advice and counsel over a century ago, so you might argue that this view is irrelevant in this day and age. Still, I would argue that America's interests should always come first over the interests of any foreign power, even if they're an "ally."

As for the allegations of "Russian influence" in the election, give me a break. We put ourselves in that position by allowing money and media to influence elections, and it never seemed to occur to anyone that it might pose a problem and a potential threat to our democracy. Until now, apparently.

It depends. If Trump colluded or worked with the Russians and lied about it repeatedly, that is an impeachable offense, as it is a crime. Simple as that. Doesn't matter whether you think it's OK for a presidential candidate to work with our enemy to influence our election. It's illegal.

And, more importantly, if it really is confirmed that Trump fired Comey to relieve pressure from the Russia investigation, that is obstruction of justice. Also an impeachable offense. So, only time will tell. But, these are serious crimes that should kick any president out of office if true.

Bill Clinton got impeached for lying about having sex with someone. Certainly lying about working with an adversary like Russia to interfere with our election is far worse. Lying about firing the head of the FBI to relieve pressure from an investigation is also far worse.

 

[eldios]

There was plenty of evidence showing that O.J. killed Nicole. There was certainly enough to convict. Racial prejudice and uproar throughout the country got in the way of justice. O.J. definitely did it, and he should have been convicted.

We will see whether there is evidence of collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign soon. The Special Prosecutor will keep what he finds secret until indictments are handed down, but the congressional investigation will continue. And, it seems every day that we are getting closer and closer to obstruction of justice if Trump actually fired comey to relieve pressure from the Russia investigation. But, only time will tell.

It's going to be a long investigation that is going to keep on driving Trump to do crazy, stupid things in a vain attempt to lash out at the press. Every move he makes against the press only hurts himself further. It is completely up to Trump though. He has 100% power to either keep down spiraling like he is now, or to ignore the investigation, stop attacking the media, and focus on his agenda. I think the evidence suggests he is not capable of manning up to do this, but anything is possible.

I could care less what happens to Trump or anyone else on earth because I know for a fact they're all going to be destroyed and burned up with hot molten lava on the day of the Lord that will happen soon.

 

[leibowde84]

I could care less what happens to Trump or anyone else on earth because I know for a fact they're all going to be destroyed and burned up with hot molten lava on the day of the Lord that will happen soon.

When is that going to happen? How do you know?

 

[eldios]

When is that going to happen? How do you know?

None of us servants were taught the exact date but we know when the millennium reign of Christ is complete, then the day of the Lord will happen soon afterwards. The information called Christ was necessary to reveal the eternal plan for all created men. I happen to be a servant who was used to testify during the last part of the millennium reign of Christ to learn exactly what man and God are, two symbolic names of an intelligence source that converts the thoughts of our Creator into our individual consciousness where we experience all the visible images and invisible thoughts along with everything that our created senses give us to experience a full life.

 

[leibowde84]

None of us servants were taught the exact date but we know when the millennium reign of Christ is complete, then the day of the Lord will happen soon afterwards. The information called Christ was necessary to reveal the eternal plan for all created men. I happen to be a servant who was used to testify during the last part of the millennium reign of Christ to learn exactly what man and God are, two symbolic names of an intelligence source that converts the thoughts of our Creator into our individual consciousness where we experience all the visible images and invisible thoughts along with everything that our created senses give us to experience a full life.

I apologize, but that is a bit above my head. Very interested to learn more though.

Can you explain what you mean by "the millennium reign of Christ"? Also, what you mean by "servant"? What kind of servant? Servant to whom?

What did you testify to? What questions did you answer specifically? You say "what man and God are, two symbolic names of an intelligence source that converts the thoughts of our Creator into our individual consciousness ..." Can you explain what you mean by that more specifically?

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Of course you don't because you haven't done any research. All you're doing is passing someone else's stories. That's called gossiping.

What story do you think I am passing?

I was reporting on what I considered the poor judgment of firing Comey at this time if there was no need to do so. Combined with all of the rest of the disturbing questions about what went on there, Trump appears as guilty as Nixon when eighteen minutes of tape turned up "fired."

I probably have less skin in this game than you do. However this turns out will not make my life better or worse, and I don't expect much from America any more. It's just theater to me.

We have a great villain in this story, one many people want to see go down. Remember, millions of Americans still resent the birther stuff, resent "Lock her up" over security breaches (oh the irony!), are disgusted by "grab her p**sy" and crashing into the dressing rooms of beauty pageant contestants, disapprove of fat shaming such contestant with middle of the night tweets, find his business ethics deplorable, find what appears to be business conflicts of interest problematic, don't like his racism, wonder what he's hiding in his tax returns, don't like him pandering to the fundamentalists, resent his effort to kill the ACA, and don't consider him an honest businessman or an honest anything. That's a lot of bad press.

Right or wrong, such people want to see Humpty Dumpty fall.

This could be a Shakespearean drama. Trump is Lear - a man whose arrogance will likely seal his fate if America still has respect for the rule of law and the will to pursue justice. Demonstrating that would be a step toward making America great again. Presidents appear to be above the law, and the message we have been receiving since Nixon is that a president won't ever go to court much less prison whatever he does.

Let's see how it plays out.

 

[leibowde84]

What story do you think I am passing?

I was reporting on what I considered the poor judgment of firing Comey at this time if there was no need to do so. Combined with all of the rest of the disturbing questions about what went on there, Trump appears as guilty as Nixon when eighteen minutes of tape turned up "fired."

I probably have less skin in this game than you do. However this turns out will not make my life better or worse, and I don't expect much from America any more. It's just theater to me.

We have a great villain in this story, one many people want to see go down. Remember, millions of Americans still resent the birther stuff, resent "Lock her up" over security breaches (oh the irony!), are disgusted by "grab her p**sy" and crashing into the dressing rooms of beauty pageant contestants, disapprove of fat shaming such contestant with middle of the night tweets, find his business ethics deplorable, find what appears to be business conflicts of interest problematic, don't like his racism, wonder what he's hiding in his tax returns, don't like him pandering to the fundamentalists, resent his effort to kill the ACA, and don't consider him an honest businessman or an honest anything. That's a lot of bad press.

Right or wrong, such people want to see Humpty Dumpty fall.

This could be a Shakespearean drama. Trump is Lear - a man whose arrogance will likely seal his fate if America still has respect for the rule of law and the will to pursue justice. Demonstrating that would be a step toward making America great again. Presidents appear to be above the law, and the message we have been receiving since Nixon is that a president won't ever go to court much less prison whatever he does.

Let's see how it plays out.

Well put and well received. I really think you nailed most of America's feelings towards Trump with this comment.