May 8-12, 2017: Trump Fires F.B.I. Director - but Not Because of Russia - Uh, Check That

 

5/8/17: The president wakes up constipated. He lets rip in another angry, early morning tweet: “The Russian-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?”

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5/9/17: In a bold move to end the “taxpayer-funded charade,” not to mention cover his lard ass, Trump fires F.B.I. director James Comey. White House aides are at pains to point out that the president “acted based on the clear recommendations” of two men, Attorney General Jeff Sessions (who later pisses Trump off; see: 7/20/17) and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (see again: 7/20/17).  

 

“This has nothing to do with Russia.” 

White House officials insist Comey lost control of the F.B.I. Kellyanne Conway tells Anderson Cooper that evening: “This had nothing to do with Russia, as much as somebody must be getting $50 every time the word is said, I’m convinced, on TV. This has nothing to do with Russia.” 

“Nada.” (See: 5/11/17.)

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5/10/17: At a morning press gathering Sarah Huckabee Sanders assures reporters and anyone listening, including Vladimir Putin, that Trump fired Comey only because of letters he received. These letters said Comey had lost the confidence of rank-and-file agents at the Bureau. 

Sanders adds that she, personally, has talked to all kinds of F.B.I. agents who told her they had lost confidence in the Director. 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: In April 2019, Sanders finally admits that was a lie. She hadn’t talked to a single F.B.I. agent at all.

 

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THE PRESIDENT has an afternoon meeting  with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This meeting is kept secret for two days, in large part because the “fake news” folks are banned from attending. Also, because the White House decides not to mention it. 

Even after the news leaks, White House aides decide to release photos, but crop Kislyak out of the scene. (See: 5/12/17.)

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5/11/17: In an interview with Lester Holt of NBC, Trump explains his rationale for the Comey firing. Holt wonders: How much of a factor were those recommendations by Sessions and Rosenstein? 

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“Oh, I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.”

 

President Trump, referring to James Comey

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“Oh, I was going to fire regardless of recommendation,” Trump replies. “I was going to fire Comey, knowing there was no good time to do it. And, in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.’” 

That’s right. Comey was fired because of the Russian investigation. Who says so? The fool in the Oval Office.

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5/12/17: The Russians prank the president, releasing photos of his meeting with Kislyak, and a variety of other Russians, including representatives of the Russian media. Everyone in the photos appears to be having a great time. 

Part of the fun involves Trump telling the Russians he fired Comey because he was “crazy, a real nut job.” 

A week later, The New York Times acquires a leaked document outlining what was discussed at the meeting. “I faced great pressure because of Russia,” Trump told his foreign pals. “That’s taken off.”

August 30, 2018: Trump's Lips Moved - He Denies He Said What Came Out

 

8/30/18: Good god, can someone tell the president to drop the iPhone and stop tweeting! The man is losing his marbles. 

Marbles start flying early Friday when he attacks CNN (and gets his facts wrong again) at 5:50 a.m.: 

The hatred and extreme bias of me by @CNN has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function. But actually, as I have always said, this has been going on for a long time. Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!

 

If you follow Trump’s Twitter feed for comic relief, it pays to do a little fact checking when you can. I decide to check the claim about CNN’s ratings being in the tank. I do what the president could do himself. 

According to TVNewser, 

Per Nielsen data, CNN had its third-best 2Q since 1996 in total day among total viewers, and among adults 25-54. Only Q2 2017 and Q2 2003 (Iraq War) were better quarters for CNN across the 24-hour day….This marks the 8th straight quarter and longest quarterly streak in over 22 years (since Q4 1995) that CNN is a top 10 cable network among total viewers in total day.

 

Trump also attacks NBC. This time he implies that he did not say on tape what he clearly said on tape in a famous interview with Lester Holt. That was the time he admitted he fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation. 

You heard his words. You saw his lips move. You watched his tongue wag. Even considering this is Trump, this is a bizarre line of defense; but it’s not out of character. One is reminded of the time he hinted the voice on the Access Hollywood tape wasn’t his – and when he said on Air Force One that he knew nothing about hush money payments to a porn star or Playboy Bunny – but did. His former personal lawyer recently released a tape (from September 2016) proving he was complicit. 

Anyway, Trump denies the obvious: 

What’s going on at @CNN is happening, to different degrees, at other networks - with @NBCNews being the worst. The good news is that Andy Lack(y) is about to be fired(?) for incompetence, and much worse. When Lester Holt got caught fudging my tape on Russia, they were hurt badly!

 

Trump isn’t even close to being done tweeting. Next, he channels his inner fascist. We can’t believe the media, he insists. 

I just cannot state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the Media is. Truth doesn’t matter to them, they only have their hatred & agenda. This includes fake books, which come out about me all the time, always anonymous sources, and are pure fiction. Enemy of the People [emphasis added]!

 

President Twitter Thumbs is on a roll. The tweets flow from his imagination, down through his thumbs, and out to pollute the national discourse: “The only thing James Comey ever got right was when he said that President Trump was not under investigation!” the president tap-taps. He insists in another tweet that he liked Don McGahn, “but he was NOT responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions. So much Fake Reporting and Fake News!” The “Steele dossier” really riles him up and Trump implies everyone who knew Steele at the F.B.I. was corrupt and rotten and un-American, and Steele was working for the Russians. 

The stupidity of all these tweets (and so many others over the last two years) should be evident. Comey did say back in early 2017 that Trump was not under investigation; but that’s old news. That was before it was proven that Flynn was lying, that Papadopoulos was lying, that Manafort and Gates, Stone and Don Jr. and Jared were lying, and all lying about contacts with Russians. 

As for the Steele dossier, the work of Christopher Steele, the president continues to hope his loyal base will be too lazy to follow the trail. Steele had done excellent work previously for the F.B.I., helping expose massive corruption at the highest levels in international soccer. For his efforts, Steele ended up on a hit list compiled by Vladimir Putin. 

In other words, Steele wasn’t working for the Russians – but the people who Don Jr. met with in a secret meeting in June 2016 assuredly were.