Trump firing of FBI director touches off political storm

By Patrick Martin, Senior Analyst, wsws.org

HELP ENLIGHTEN YOUR FELLOWS. BE SURE TO PASS THIS ON.

The surprise firing of FBI Director James Comey, announced late Tuesday afternoon, is a sign of a deep and intensifying crisis of the Trump administration. Trump’s firing of Comey smacks of desperation on the part of a White House under siege.

The firing sparked widespread condemnation by Democrats and some Republicans, along with demands for the appointment of a special prosecutor or independent commission to investigate charges of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election campaign.

Powerful sections of the US ruling elite are moving against the Trump White House, which is so steeped in corruption that any one of a series of scandals, not just the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections, could leave it politically crippled.

There were numerous media comparisons to the “Saturday Night Massacre” during the Watergate scandal of 1973–74, when the attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned rather than carry out orders from President Richard Nixon to dismiss special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox. That effort to torpedo an investigation failed: ten months later, Nixon was forced to resign as president.

Unlike Watergate, however, there is no democratic principle being asserted, even in a limited fashion, by the Democratic Party opponents of the Trump administration. This is a conflict within the US ruling elite and its military-intelligence apparatus, driven largely by differences over foreign policy.

No significant evidence has been produced in support of the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections. The real purpose of the campaign of Russia-baiting is to push the Trump administration into a more confrontational foreign policy in Syria, Central Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe, where US imperialism regards Moscow as its principal obstacle.

Trump has attempted to satisfy these concerns with last month’s missile strikes against Syria and a harsher rhetorical line towards Iran and Russia, but the divisions persist, as shown in the hearing Monday before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. (see: “Senate hearing revives Democratic campaign over alleged Trump-Russia connections”)

The circumstances surrounding Trump’s decision to fire Comey remained murky Tuesday night, with the White House withholding further comment following the announcement of Comey’s firing at 5:41 p.m. Press reports suggest that the decision had been in preparation for at least a week, and that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who took office on April 26, had been commissioned to provide a rationale.

Powerful sections of the US ruling elite are moving against the Trump White House, which is so steeped in corruption that any one of a series of scandals, not just the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections, could leave it politically crippled.

The New York Times reported on its website, “Senior White House and Justice Department officials had been working on building a case against Mr. Comey since at least last week, according to administration officials. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had been charged with coming up with reasons to fire him, the officials said.”

The argument for the firing elaborated in a three-page memorandum prepared by Rosenstein has no credibility. The memo focuses on Comey’s decisions about the investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, condemning him not for the substance of the decision that there was no crime to prosecute, but for holding a press conference to announce that decision and proceeding to attack Clinton’s conduct as “extremely careless.” The memo also criticizes Comey for the October 28 letter in which he informed Congress that the FBI was reopening the Clinton investigation, only 11 days before Election Day.

Trump’s expressed opinions are the direct opposite of the Rosenstein memorandum. Last July, he denounced Comey’s decision not to prosecute Clinton, while “lock her up” became a standard chant at Trump rallies and at the Republican National Convention. Later, Trump hailed the October 28 letter as an action in which Comey “showed guts.”

Earlier this week, Trump tweeted that Comey had been “the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton,” and that his decision on the email server prosecution was “a free pass for many bad deeds.”

There are further contradictions. Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared during his confirmation hearing that he would recuse himself from any actions relating to the case against Clinton, because of his own role in the Trump election campaign. Yet he has now countersigned the decision to fire Comey, supposedly because of the FBI director’s actions in the Clinton investigation.

Sessions also said that he would recuse himself from decisions related to the ongoing investigation into possible collaboration between the Trump campaign and alleged Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. The firing of Comey removes the head of the agency conducting that investigation.

It is absurd to suggest that Trump fired Comey for his transgressions against Hillary Clinton, particularly when he has attacked the FBI director for going easy on her. Moreover, all the events cited in the Rosenstein memo took place before the 2016 election, while Trump reiterated his support for Comey continuing in office—he was serving a fixed ten-year term until 2023—as recently as February.

What has changed in the interim? On March 20, at a nationally televised House Intelligence Committee hearing, Comey confirmed for the first time that the FBI has opened an investigation into possible connections between the Trump campaign and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

Since then, a series of former campaign advisers and aides has been interrogated by the FBI, each undoubtedly pressured to save their own skins at the expense of those higher up, in a chain leading inexorably to Trump himself.

Most serious appears to be the attention given to Trump’s former national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has been publicly accused of failing to report significant income from individuals and businesses linked to Russia, and who was so close to Trump that he was actively considered as a possible running mate.

The extreme sensitivity in the White House to Comey’s role in the Russia investigation was indicated in the second paragraph of the official letter from Trump to Comey informing him of his dismissal. “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,” Trump wrote.

The White House apparently informed only a handful of congressional leaders ahead of the firing, including Senators Lindsey Graham and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee that oversees the FBI. Graham publicly endorsed the firing, while Feinstein did not oppose it.

Among other Democratic senators and congressmen, however, there was near-unanimous opposition.

Senate Democratic Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois, speaking on the Senate floor, condemned the firing. “Any attempt to stop or undermine this FBI investigation would raise grave constitutional issues,” he said. “We await clarification by the White House as soon as possible as to whether this investigation will continue and whether it will have a credible lead so that we know that it’ll have a just outcome.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer noted Trump’s firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates, US Attorney Preet Bharara and now Comey, saying on Twitter, “If we don’t get a special prosecutor, every American will rightfully suspect that the decision to fire Comey was part of a cover-up.”

Even more significant were the statements from two leading Republican senators. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, which is conducting an investigation into the Russian hacking allegations, declared, “I am troubled by the timing and reasoning of Jim Comey’s termination. I have found Director Comey to be a public servant of the highest order.”

Senator John McCain, former presidential candidate and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, reiterated his support for a special investigating committee. “I have long called for a special congressional committee to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election,” he said in a statement. “The president’s decision to remove the FBI director only confirms the need and the urgency of such a committee.”

Select Comments from Original Thread

Jim •

A timeline would be instructive of related events from the "hacking" of DNC emails blamed on Russia to this firing of Comey. Timelines are very effective at exposing links, interests, dates and times. Used often by 911 researchers. Comey is I'm sure breathing a sigh of relief, of course he'll write his book and do the speaker circuit. Next to fall, as wsws alluded to in recent article, is Assange. My question is who killed Sean Rich? Comparing this to Watergate is subterfuge by the Democrats. What could be exposed by Comey is damaging to both bourgeois political camps. My guess is there will be no special congressional investigative committee. "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!" Thank you Mr. Martin, hope to see this followed by wsws as it progresses...
Marla •

"Comey confirmed for the first time that the FBI has opened an investigation into possible connections between the Trump campaign and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections."

Any criminal investigation can take weeks to months to years to conclude but this has been snowballing into something strange. The Trump Administration is a gaggle of oligarch criminals who want to rob all they can from the country they claim to love and if they required help from an outside source to do that who also want to rob this country I wouldn't at all be surprised.
- ben franklin [pre death] Marla •
  
  Every administration in modern history has represented a gaggle of oligarchs and criminals. The Trump phenomenon is the first time they were able to cut out the bourgeois politician middle man with an oligarch directly holding the reigns of the US executive.
  
  I think we, as workers, need to evaluate what we are trying to say when we refer to oligarchs "robbing the country". What you really mean is defunding the bourgeois state's pacification programs (social programs) which functioned as veritable bribes to the working class to remain under the capitalist economy and bourgeois political structures. This behavior, commonly referred to as "austerity", was inevitable as the ruling elite have been waiting for the time when it would be both necessary and politically expedient to engage in austerity. Capitalists have been robbing the workers of all countries for centuries by the very nature of capitalism so there's really nothing new on that front. The fact is, capitalism is in full swing collapse mode and these steps to de-fund social programs while over-inflating defense budgets are actions of the presidential office, itself; not the particular individual who occupies said office. Trump's crime is in being a blatant tyrant with no regard for workers and speaking with two tongues towards workers not some ridiculous conspiracy with Russia.
  
  As for your statement "if they required help from an outside source to do that who also want to rob this country I wouldn't at all be surprised", I assume you are referring to Russia as the "outside source". Despite this position being completely bereft of evidence and actually having much evidence to the contrary (that the CIA initiated the DNC hack), all imperialist nation states have an interest in "robbing" other nation states of their resources, markets, and labor pools as an innate trait of being an entity in the capitalist system. The US engages in this behavior on a daily basis. In fact, the US has a long history that continues to this day of trying to rob Russia of their resources and markets. It has always been the US as aggressor (as can be seen historically through US/Western invasion, attempts to divide Russia during the Civil War, strategic "appeasement" of Hitler hoping he would turn to Russia first, and as recently as the US-backed, neo-Nazi Ukrainian coup to oust a democratically elected Russian-friendly president).
  
  While the US has systematically surrounded Russia and worked feverishly towards color revolutions, coups, and insurgencies in Russian-friendly nations, they have engaged in an endless media onslaught to demonize Putin and frame Russia as some dark and shadowy aggressor. Don't get me wrong, Russia is also an imperialist nation state vying for power in the great game of global capital but they are certainly not the aggressors vis a vis the worsening relations with the US. The motive for Russian aggression is thin as they are poised to join China as growing global powers whereas the motive for US aggression is strong as they are in a state of decline and decay never mind the historical nature of the US being the consistent aggressor.
  
  TLDR; we should take care not to be seduced into the anti-Russian war propaganda just because we are desperate to remove Trump from the presidential office. It is the office, itself, that will engage in austerity, militarization, and war mongering, not the particular individual who occupies the office at any given time. It is far more likely (and evident) that the CIA hacked the DNC to support "their" candidate, Hillary Clinton during the primaries. The US is the obvious aggressor in the building confrontation with Russia.

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