Quick heat check... Now that the emails have shown, per sources (CNN, NBC News) to be mostly duplicates and personal emails, do you think Comey should be fired for the timing of the release of the email probe? As a bonus question, do you feel, personally, he was trying to influence election results? To me, it's a yes and a yes, and this is a huge deal. A branch of the government should not be, in any way, able to have any influence in an electin Yet anither way that this election cycle could be used to highlight a potential downfall in our country.
Yes, I think he needs to be fired for failing to push for an indictment when their investigation came up with proof of serious laws being broken. An FBI director that would bow to political pressure from the DOJ like that isn't someone you want in charge. His bowing to pressure from the DOJ was absolutely an effort to influence the election and it led to him having a ton of internal problems within the FBI which led to the first letter. Increased pressure from the DOJ led to the most recent letter. Basically this guy is in a terrible spot, but he's making a mess of it. If he did his job the first time, he wouldn't be having these problems now. We need an FBI director who is willing to do the right thing even in the face of political pressure.
No. He needs another chance to get his departments **** together in order to preserve the tradition of impartiality inside the department.
No, at the very least you'd get calls for impeachment and at worst you'd get Congress passing a re-purposed Tenure of Office act to make these types of firings illegal; to say nothing of every Republican likening it to Archibald Cox and Saturday night massacre.
No, not really. I don't actually have a problem with what he's done. Him letting congress know about looking at the emails cuts both ways. If he doesn't let them know he's accused of playing politics by not reporting on the case and covering it up for Clinton. Obviously because he did let them know he was accused of playing politics in favor of the GOP. I actually think this works out in Hillary's favor. If Comey hadn't let congress know, then Hillary's opposition would spin it and push that it was Comey covering Hillary's ass, and how corrupt she is and no average Joe would be able to get away with what Hillary's done. Now he announced it, and Hillary was cleared in the follow-up look at the emails. If mistakes are made, I'd always prefer them to be made in more information being given to the public rather than less.
Not sure how true it is, but I read somewhere that Comey finds himself between the Clintons and a clique of agents and former agents from the NY FBI office who wanted to wage total war on Hillary for the election. Comey's letter, I read, was an attempt to moderate the innuendo and half-truths this cabal was planning to release specifically for the election. Furthermore, I don't think Comey is defiantly gunning for Hillary. From what I understands he genuinely regrets the letter and the effect that it on the election. He apparently knows that he screwed up. I think it is possible that reducing this to an Republican/Democrat battle between Comey vs Hillary might be simplifying this a bit. I know the natural thing to do for Dems is to view this as malicious dirty tricks by Comey, but I don't know that that fits with what I've read about the man. He apparently has a reputation for hating partisan political games. I also think firing him out of the gate would be kindling on the fire for the people who want to portray Hillary as running the White House as a modern day Tammany Hall. If you can avoid that, it might be a good idea. If he's genuinely not gunning for Hillary with a chip on his shoulder, keeping him around for a while and letting him retire in a year or so might be the better move.
The notion that he's gunning for her is laughable. He's in her pocket. If he was truly gunning for her, he'd have done his job and recommended indictment when the investigation uncovered evidence that she mishandled classified information. Not doing his job led to blow back from within the FBI and his letter was how he dealt with that. Make no mistake though, he was absolutely forced into doing so.
If he WAS to be fired, it should be for incompetence...but lets be honest. If he IS fired it will be for political reasons...all because he wasn't up to the task of standing up to the Clinton machine. The sad thing is....if Hillary Clinton is a normal person and doesn't set up an illegal server...Jim Comey doesn't ever have this happen. In other words, Clinton sets up an illegal server and gets elected President. Comey is forced to investigate said server and ends up fired for investigating Clinton's horrendous decision making/coverup/corruption. How's that for irony?
If you come at the king you best not miss. They should publicly shame him by firing his ass. No resignation bs.
I think both Trump and Hillary supporters will want him to be. Trump supporters will be mad he would file for charges. Hillary supporters will be mad for inavertantly springing an October Surprise
That's kind of the way I understand it. He was, in essence, trying to cut the leaks off at the pass by writing that vaguely worded letter to congress, thereby undercutting potentially more damaging leaks from his own agents.
Same here, he wrote the letter a day after he found out about the emails. Someone or group inside the fbi probably let him eat the turd by not telling him sooner and gave him achoice to disclose now or face greater blowback from ongoing leaks within his department.
The leaks to the Trump camp should have repercussions. The agents that leaked the information should face some consequences.
Yes, how the hell did go through 600,000 plus emails in less than a week. He's lair and a Clinton shill.
I sort of agree with this. I've been reluctant to criticize Comey too much as I think he has been put in an untenable position. This is just my opinion of him but I do believe he is doing his best to not politicize the FBI and in doing so he's ending up politicizing it more. I think his view of the email / server is issue is his honest view. He believes Clinton and her staff were reckless but that it doesn't rise to the level of the criminal behavior. He's supported in this by several other legal scholars. At the sametime he's dealing with a rebellion in his own ranks while getting heat from his superiors and from Congress. For most of his career he's been viewed as a straight shooter and his actions in two Administrations I think have showed that. Unfortunately and probably unfairly his reputation has been damaged and I doubt he will be trusted by either parties from here on out. Also I'm not going to vote in the poll. Off the top of my head I think he should stay but I would want to know much more about what is going on.
