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Op-Ed: It’s Possible to Dislike James Comey and His Nixonian Firing

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No One Is Above the Law—Not Even the President of the United States

I proudly supported Hillary Clinton in both the primary and presidential elections.

Not because I believed she was the perfect candidate running the perfect campaign, because no one was or did, but because I felt that she was the most qualified person in my lifetime to seek the presidency.

So it’s probably not a surprise that I’m no fan of James Comey.

I wasn’t a fan of his when he unsurprisingly announced that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a case against Clinton for her use of a private email server as Secretary of State, ripe with commentary beneath a supposed non-partisan FBI Director.

I wasn’t a fan of his when he released a letter to Congress less than two weeks before Election Day, which subsequently hit the press, advising that “new evidence” had been discovered about her email usage. (Obtained without probable cause and leading the FBI to “not change its conclusions.”)

And I certainly wasn’t a fan of his when her opponent praised Comey’s actions, exclaiming that the move took guts and “brought back his reputation,” nor when Donald Trump was actually elected. (Analysts agreeing that Comey’s interference impacted the election.)

I’d have absolutely supported the dismissal of James Comey following his actions last year, and given that the Department of Justice’s Inspector General had begun to investigate the matter, he may have eventually been ousted.

But that isn’t what happened.

Donald Trump fired Comey, not on January 20th but in May, and only after the former FBI Director agreed that Russia had interfered with our election. After he refused to decry claims of the Trump administration’s contacts with Russians at their behest.

And most notably, after he announced that the FBI was investigating links and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

Even more troubling, he did so at the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions—who due to his own proximity to the Trump campaign and his previously-undisclosed contact with Russian officials, had recused himself from any involvement concerning investigations on the matter.

That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

James Comey said last week that his actions prior to the election had been painful; that it made him feel “mildly nauseous” to think that the FBI had impacted the election. He also said he would do it again. And yes, as a Hillary Clinton supporter, it was tempting to find joy that he’d been dismissed. (Mildly nauseous? You helped Donald Trump become President of the United States. Take a TUMS and sit down.)

But I took no joy in his firing. I took no joy in it for the same reason that I took no joy in the election of Donald Trump, a man who openly mocked a disabled reporter, who boasted that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue without losing a vote, who equated the daily lives of African-Americans and Hispanics to living in hell, who called for Muslim bans and registrations, who praised murderous, foreign dictators, who openly degraded women as he dismissed their sexual assault, and who named arguably the most anti-LGBT politician in modern political history as his running mate.

Because I love my country.

I love its checks and balances, its Democratic process and its promise that every man and woman was created equal. That no one is above the law—not even the President of the United States.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon fired the man investigating his own conduct, Archibald Cox. The New Yorker, that very year, wrote a chilling review on the matter, one that could easily be written today:

For nearly a decade, a question has been haunting our national life. It is whether the Republic will live or die. The question has been asked in countless forms. May newspapers print whatever they wish to print, and the people read whatever they wish to read? May the people assemble without fear of injury or loss of life? Must senators and others always support the President in his difficult decisions? Are the people to be treated like children or like adults? To what extent does the government have the power to check up on what the people are doing? To what extent do the people have the right to check up on what the government is doing? How do we spend our money? When do we go to war? Who decides? 

“The President has dismissed the man charged by Congress and the Attorney General with discovering any wrongdoing in the White House,” the article continued. “The potential defendant fired the prosecutor and defied the judge. And since the President, by the same stroke that removed him from the law’s reach, took personal control of the law… every innocent person in the country is endangered.”

So yes, one can despise James Comey’s actions during the election while viewing Donald Trump’s motivations this week with a healthy skepticism, scrutiny and distaste. I would argue further that those who praised Comey’s impact on the election should view Trump’s actions this week through the lens of history. One needn’t look further back than 1973.

Richard Nixon wasn’t a crook, and Donald Trump greatly appreciated Comey “informing him, on three separate occasions, that [he is] not under investigation.”

The Donald Trump presidency, somehow only on its 110th day, is under investigation. Firing James Comey doesn’t change that. But if you weren’t one of the 65,844,610 people who foresaw this being Donald Trump’s America in 2017, give his actions this week pause and ask yourself:

Should they change you?

 

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News

Fox News Host Suggests Trump ‘Force’ Court to Throw Him in Jail – by Quoting Him

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April 19, 2024

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The Fox News host who targeted a juror serving on Donald Trump’s criminal New York trial is now suggesting the ex-president should violate his gag order and “force” the court to throw him in jail, by quoting the Fox News host.

Jesse Watters came under fire earlier this week for profiling juror number two, sharing possibly identifying information published by a myriad of reporters but then using that information to pass judgment on her ability to serve.

“I’m not so sure about juror number two,” Watters concluded on Fox News.

Jurors, at the judge’s direction, were to remain anonymous, for their protection and the protection of the trial.

The judge excused her, after she said she felt she was not able to be impartial because friends and family were calling her asking if she had been chosen to serve on the Trump trial, after the media blitz.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan admonished the press for reporting the information, but some news outlets appeared to ignore his warning.

Watters on Wednesday “did a segment with a jury consultant, revealing details about people who had been seated on the jury and questioning whether some were ‘stealth liberals’ who would be out to convict Trump,” the Associated Press reported.

READ MORE: Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

Trump later posted Watters’ quote on his Truth Social platform, leading some, including New York prosecutors, to ask the judge to cite him for allegedly breaking his gag order.

Judge Merchan ordered Trump to not mention witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff, or the family members of prosecutors and court staff, CNN has reported.

New York prosecutors told Juge Merchan Trump has violated the gag order at least ten times.

“Prosecutor Christopher Conroy described the ‘most disturbing’ example as a social media message Trump posted on Wednesday evening quoting a Fox News host as saying, ‘They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,'” Politico reports.

That host was Jesse Watters.

RELATED: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

Friday afternoon, Watters appeared to egg Trump on, urging the ex-president to violate the gag order.

“I would make them put me in jail,” Watters said on Fox News. “I would have a tweet about something perhaps I said on ‘The Five’ or ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ and I would force them to throw me in jail.”

Watch Watters’ remark below or at this link.

 

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News

Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

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3 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) says some of his fellow House Republicans would “take a bribe” to throw the razor-thin GOP majority to the Democrats if a far-right faction calls up a motion to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, allowing Democrats to hand the gavel to the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. he warned if that happens, Democrats would immediately declare Trump ineligible to be President, pack the U.S. Supreme Court, and pass numerous laws like the American Rescue Plan.

“I do believe in a one seat majority there could be one or two or three of my colleagues who would take a bribe in one form or another in order to deprive the Republicans of a majority at all,” Gaetz said Friday on his podcast (video below.)

He added, “the risk that one or two of my corrupt Republican colleagues might take a bribe, take a walk, feign an ailment and flip this thing to the Democrats is a risk that is too high for me at this time.”

Gaetz’s fellow far-right Florida Republican member of Congress, Anna Paulina Luna, told listeners, “I heard that when, if and when the motion vacate is introduced, that there will be immediate resignations of a couple of more moderate members of Congress. And in the event that that happens, that ultimately means it does go to a Democrat speaker.”

RELATED: Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) last month filed a “motion to vacate,” which she can use at any time to force a vote to oust the GOP Speaker, Mike Johnson. U.S. Rep. Tim Massie (R-KY) and just today, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has signed on as co-sponsors.

Congressman Gaetz told listeners if Democrats do take the House through a force vote to remove Johnson, Democrats would “be declaring Donald Trump an insurrectionist and setting up a barrier to him being able to become the president United States.”

“That’ll be their leadoff hitter, and then the chaser to that shot will be a massive spending package that looks a lot more like the American Rescue Plan. They will blow past every concept of every cap ever imagined. You’ll be looking at Universal Basic Income, you could be looking at packing the Supreme Court.”

Watch a short clip of Gaetz’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

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Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

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6 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed Friday the majority of Democrats will support Republicans’ Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza foreign aid legislation as Republican Speaker Mike Johnson lost support of another member of his conference to a faction determined to oust him.

“Democrats will provide a majority of our majority as it relates to funding Israel, humanitarian assistance, Ukraine, and our allies in the Indo Pacific,” Minority Leader Jeffries said. “It remains to be seen what Republicans will do in terms of meeting the national security needs of the American people, but it was important for House Democrats to ensure that the national security bills are going to be considered.”

Despite Republicans having a one-vote majority, more Democrats on Friday voted to move the critical and long-awaited foreign aid bills forward than did Republicans.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

The 316-94 vote included 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans voting yes, and 55 Republicans and 39 Democrats voting no.

Axios’ Juliegrace Brufke posted the list of Republicans voting against their party’s legislation.

Calling it a “rare” moment in modern congressional history to have to rely on opposition party votes to pass legislation, BBC News reports Speaker Johnson’s “hold on power is tenuous, and the legislators who oppose him – and his bid to provide aid to Ukraine – occupy some key positions within the House’s power structure.”

Amid the procedural vote to move the foreign aid funding bills forward, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican of Arizona, announced he is joining Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Congressman Tim Massie (R-KY) in formally announcing their will vote to oust Speaker Johnson.

Gosar, like Greene, is reportedly a Christian nationalist. In 2022 CNN reported his “lengthy ties to White nationalists, [a] pro-Nazi blogger and far-right fringe received little pushback for years.”

RELATED: ‘Repercussions’: Democrats and Republicans Stand Against ‘Pro-Putin’ House GOP Faction

“We’ve been very honest in our assessment of the situation from the beginning,” Jeffries on Friday also declared. “At the appropriate time as House Democrats, we will have a conversation about how to deal with any hypothetical motion to vacate.”

“Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene, Massie, and Gosar are quite a group. But central to our conversation is to make sure that the national security legislation in totality is passed by the House of Representatives.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

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