Tag: James Comey

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it a “regrettable accident,” Amazon apologized on Thursday for shipping ten thousand advance copies of James Comey’s book, “A Higher Loyalty,” to the White House. Cartons of the book arrived early Thursday morning and kept coming throughout the day, until stacks of the book clogged virtually every hallway and office in the building. Reportedly, Donald J. Trump was so incensed by the book situation that he screamed at Mike Pence while the Vice-President was in the middle of praising him, one source said. The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, called any speculation that Trump had ordered Comey’s book “absurd,” adding, “The President does not order reading material.” Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, said that he had “absolutely no idea” how the ten thousand Comey books made their way to the White House, but advised Trump to follow the procedures on the Amazon Web site for returning unwanted merchandise. “You can print up the return labels at home,” he said. “The books should be picked up and out of there in two weeks, three weeks, max.” Bezos said that shipping the ten thousand books back to the company’s warehouse would not be overly costly for Amazon. “We get an amazing deal on postage,” he said.

John Dowd, Donald Trump’s lead lawyer in the Mueller investigation into Russian election interference and alleged links between Trump aides and Moscow, resigned his role on Thursday while protesting his “love” for the president. Trump attacks Joe Biden amid reports of 2020 presidential run Read more In an email to the Guardian, Dowd confirmed his departure and said: “I love the president and wish him well.” The 77-year-old left Trump’s legal team days after the hiring of Joseph DiGenova, a cable news commentator and former US attorney who has claimed the Mueller investigation is an attempt to frame the president, carried out by the FBI and Department of Justice. The shake-up comes with special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly closing in on an interview with Trump and less than two weeks after the president insisted on Twitter he was “VERY happy” with his legal team and said his lawyers were “doing a great job”. Dowd attracted unwanted attention on Saturday, in the aftermath of the firing on Friday of the former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe. He then told Axios that Trump “didn’t have any problem” with his statement. Trump has been more aggressive in attacking the Mueller investigation, recently mentioning the special counsel by name for the first time. In December, he insisted “the president cannot obstruct justice” after Trump tweeted that he “had to fire [former national security adviser Michael] Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI”. The tweet raised questions about whether Trump had attempted to obstruct justice when he asked the then FBI director James Comey to halt an investigation into Flynn the day after he was fired. The former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has pleaded not guilty to charges including money laundering and tax and bank fraud. As a result of Dowd’s controversial report, Rose was banned from baseball and made ineligible for induction in the Hall of Fame.

Former top FBI official Andrew McCabe, who was fired late Friday night by Attorney General Jeff Sessions two days before becoming eligible for full pension benefits, said in an extraordinary statement that he was targeted because President Donald Trump wants to destroy him as part of his "war" against special counsel Robert Mueller. "It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day. McCabe noted in his statement that he had knowledge that could be useful to Mueller's investigation into events involving the president. "Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of (FBI director) James Comey," McCabe said. "The (Inspector General's office) focus on me and this report became a part of an unprecedented effort by the administration, driven by the president himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn," he continued. McCabe has in the past been targeted for repeated attacks by Trump and early Saturday morning, the president tweeted that the veteran FBI official's firing was a "great day" for democracy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI! A source familiar with the situation told NBC News Saturday that McCabe kept notes of his interactions with Trump, and they were turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team some time ago. The FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility had recommend that McCabe be fired after the inspector general's report determined that he had not been fully truthful in his answers to investigators' questions about the handling of the Clinton probe, according to officials familiar with the report. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service.

President Trump made clear early Saturday that he viewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe as a “great day for Democracy.” “Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hardworking men and women of the FBI — a great day for Democracy!” Trump wrote on Twitter, before deriding former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired in May 2017. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018 Trump's ire did not stop there. After reports on Saturday night revealed that McCabe kept notes of his meetings with Trump, the president dismissed the claim on Twitter and took another shot at Comey. Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos? The news that Mueller had the notes was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Trump on Sunday reiterated his frequent refrain that there was "no collusion" between Russia and the Trump campaign. The FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility proposed McCabe’s termination after the Justice Department's inspector general concluded McCabe had made “unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”

McCabe’s ouster unfolded against a chaotic political backdrop which includes Trump’s repeated calls for investigations of his political opponents, demands of loyalty from senior law enforcement officials, and declarations that the job of those officials is to protect him from investigation. Writing in the wake of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, and the turmoil of the 2000 election, the political scientist Keith Whittington noted the speed with which commentators had rushed to declare the country on the brink of a constitutional crisis—even though, as he pointed out, “the republic appears to have survived these events relatively unscathed.” Whittington instead proposed thinking about constitutional crises as “circumstances in which the constitutional order itself is failing.” In his view, such a crisis could take two forms. Whittington, Levinson and Balkin all agree that the notion of a constitutional crisis implies some acute episode—a clear tipping point that tests the legal and constitutional order. What exactly is the crisis here? Another problem with thinking about America’s current woes as a constitutional crisis involves the question of what comes next. Still another problem with the term is that the duration of the crisis is not clear. There’s a better term for what is taking place in America at this moment: “constitutional rot.” Constitutional rot is what happens, the constitutional scholar John Finn argues, when faith in the key commitments of the Constitution gradually erode, even when the legal structures remain in place. It’s also what happens when all this takes place and the public either doesn’t realize—or doesn’t care. Balkin used the same phrase immediately after the firing of James Comey to describe what he saw as “a degradation of constitutional norms that may operate over long periods of time.” Comey’s firing was startling, he argued, but not a constitutional crisis in and of itself. The question is whether we can collectively bring that infection under control before we face an acute crisis.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Friday night accepted the recommendation that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who took the reins of the agency during the turbulent days after the abrupt firing of James Comey, be terminated — two days before he was to retire and become eligible for full pension benefits. Though McCabe — who has been attacked by President Donald Trump — stepped down as deputy director in late January, he remained on the federal payroll, planning to retire on Sunday. After Comey was fired in May 2017, McCabe became the FBI's acting director. When McCabe's wife, Jill, ran for the state Senate in Virginia in 2015, she accepted a donation from a political action committee controlled by Gov. The next day, the president asked in a tweet, "Why didn't [Attorney General] Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of the Clinton investigation?" Trump tweeted a shot at McCabe early Saturday, minutes after midnight. "Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!" the president claimed. In response to criticism that McCabe should not have played a role in the Clinton investigation, the FBI said he consulted with internal ethics officials who concluded that because his wife's campaign ended before the investigation began, there was no conflict.

Today in 5 Lines Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rescinded his offer to increase funding for Trump’s proposed border wall as part of a broader DACA deal. Two students were killed and 17 were wounded in a shooting at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky. The Senate confirmed Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to serve as chairman of the bank. And Trump will host French President Emmanuel Macron for an official state dinner on April 24. (Charles C. Mann) Refusing Treatment: The Trump administration is making it easier for medical workers to object to procedures on religious grounds. Reproductive-rights advocates worry that’s a slippery slope. Is he becoming more self aware? (CNN) Trump Gets a Do-Over: Some evangelical leaders have given Donald Trump “a mulligan” for his past transgressions. What do you think was the most memorable moment of Trump’s first year in office? Most Popular on The Atlantic Many of you have written in to ask what happened to the “Most Popular” list.