There Are Only Two Theories Why Trump Fired Comey

There Are Only Two Theories Why Trump Fired Comey. One Means Trump's Right. The Other Means He'll Be Impeached.

Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images

BY:

 BEN SHAPIRO

MAY 9, 2017

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With President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, the political world has exploded into wild accusations and counter-accusations of corruption and bias. Amidst all the hubbub, the “why” behind Comey’s firing boils down to two theories. Only one can be correct. If it’s the first theory, Trump did the right thing and Democrats are using the firing to make political hay in scurrilous fashion. If it’s the second, Trump may be on his way to impeachment.

Theory #1: Trump Fired Comey For Incompetence. This is the most obvious answer as to why Comey was fired. Multiple letters from administration members suggest that Trump was told over and over again that Comey needed to go. That’s for a variety of reasons (less than a week ago, I called for Comey’s firing myself).

1. Comey never should have issued his July 2016 exoneration of Hillary Clinton. If he thought she shouldn’t be prosecuted, he should have made that recommendation and shut up. Instead, he felt the necessity to protect Attorney General Loretta Lynch and supposedly the FBI, and so he spilled the beans on the myriad reasons she should have been prosecuted, demonstrated that he had rewritten the law to protect Hillary, and then let her off the hook. This necessitated Comey appearing before Congress to explain himself, and pledging to keep them updated.

2. Comey issued the infamous October 28 letter informing Congress that the FBI had uncovered new emails in the Anthony Weiner investigation. The letter itself was a bombshell that rocked the Hillary campaign just days out from a presidential election. Comey then rushed the turnaround so that he could exonerate her again a couple of days before the election, but according to the Democrats, Comey was now responsible for electing Trump.

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3. Comey appeared before Congress to explain himself, and instead made an ass of himself. He even misstated the evidence regarding Huma Abedin, necessitating that the FBI inform Congress.

In short, Comey had lost both the trust of the Trump administration and the trust of the public. There was no reason not to fire him. That’s what Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein stated in his letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling for Comey’s firing: “I cannot defend the Director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken…The FBI is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them.”

Theory #2: Trump Fired Comey To Stop The Russia Investigation. Then there’s the alternative theory: Trump knows that he’s connected to the Russian election manipulation, and he’s afraid that Comey would have gotten to the bottom of it. To kill the investigation, he offed Comey. This is the case the Democrats are making today, calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor. Idiots like Bill De Blasio of New York are saying that this is Nixonian, a sort of soft Saturday Night Massacre. Democrats are universally condemning Comey’s firing, even though just days ago they were calling for it. That’s hypocrisy and dirty politics, of course. And Trump hasn’t named an interim director (the current guy below Comey is apparently a Democrat) or said that the investigation will be shut down — at the very least, it will be difficult for him to ram through a patsy who will kill the investigation at this point.

With that said, here’s the Democrats’ strongest case that something fishy is going on.

1. The timing of the firing is weird. They’re stating that Trump could have fired Comey for his election conduct right after he took office. This is obviously correct. The counterargument, that Attorney General Sessions recused himself from the Trump-Russia investigation and that Rosenstein was only confirmed in his position 13 days ago, is belied by the fact that Sessions himself weighed in on Comey’s firing, stating, “Based on my evaluation, and for the reasons expressed by the Deputy Attorney General in the attached memorandum, I have concluded that a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the FBI.”

2. Trump won’t shut up about Russia. The firing comes the day after Trump tweeted incessantly about the Trump-Russia investigation and openly called for it to be shut down. He also changed the header on his Twitter account to deny any collusion with Russia, an odd move to say the least. And then he dropped this line in his letter firing Comey, which smacks of "the lady doth protest too much":

While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.

3. Trump fired Comey the day after the left latched onto former acting Attorney General Sally Yates’ testimony pinning all the Democrats’ Trump-Russia conspiracy theories on the FBI investigation. Trump had tweeted out the testimony of former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who said he had no information linking the Trump campaign to collusion with Russia; Yates immediately stated that Clapper wasn’t in the loop on the FBI investigation. It all comes down to the FBI investigation for the Left, and Trump just fired the director in charge of the investigation.

Trump isn’t going to appoint a special prosecutor. Not the day after he tweeted this:

 Follow

Donald J. Trump 

✔@realDonaldTrump

The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?

6:46 PM - 8 May 2017

 
•  15,01115,011 Retweets
 
•  57,30757,307 likes

That means this situation will continue to boil, Congress will continue to probe, and Trump will continue to fulminate. At the very least, this is the most amazing season of The Apprentice yet.