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[Dude Abides]

NYPD Cheif states publically that the emails were staggering and if Comey didn't act he would hold a press conference. So yes, NYPD was in the picture and should be considered when analyzing the Comey HRC letter Situation.

What's your basis for this assertion? Infowars and similar garbage? That's the only place I can find to support this. For your sake I hope you have a legit source.

And Comey essentially did state that additional emails were found, significance of emails were not known, and that they are looking into it. He essentially did what you suggested he do.

No, what I'm suggesting he should have done is keep his mouth shut and that the notion that he should preemptively respond just in case somebody somewhere might leak information is daft and not a principle or policy that the FBI ever follows. Even Comey didn't offer this ginned up and terrible rationalization in his letter.

Was the press conference self-aggrandizing? Maybe? That's up to interpretation. Comey ALSO could have thought that a press conference that was detailed and played to BOTH sides (Dem and GOP voters) would be the perfect way to put to bed a "scandal" that was in the minds of Americans for months at that point.

If he thought that it was a really dumb thing to think.

 

[Zolo]

#not_surprised

At this rate i don't even know if trump is going to last 2017 .. wait are american be able to last 2017 ?

Trump will last as long as he retains a good majority popularity among his/the republican base. Short of something coming out which would be universally reviled by 99% of the population. Or I guess him resigning, having health problems, mental problems, etc.

Can big protests cause him to resign like the Arab spring or the South Korean and Brazilian protests?

Not while the "silent majority" support him.

 

[Chmpocalypse]

But that's a stupid idea because it's highly impractical and inefficient to the point of being counterproductive. It's a losing strategy and a waste of time, which is why most presidential candidates never bother with it.

If you used the same persuasive techniques to convince Trump supporters that you're using here, you probably didn't do nearly as good a job as you think you did.



Why are you so hung up on Comey's patriotism? George Bush is a patriot, John McCain is a patriot, would you defend them with the same reasoning? Patriots are still capable of being idiots who are bad at their jobs.

Also, you realize that you're playing into the conservative narrative that liberals are crying wolf by calling Trump a dictator, right?

To be clear, in no way is George "Iran Contra" Bush a patriot.

 

[theWB27]

Trump will last as long as he retains a good majority popularity among his/the republican base. Short of something coming out which would be universally reviled by 99% of the population. Or I guess him resigning, having health problems, mental problems, etc.


Not while the "silent majority" support him.

And midterms...why do people keep leaving out midterms. Or am I mistaken and dems can't get a majority?

 

[Hitman]

If claims have already been made about the contents of new e-mails then confirming the existence of new e-mails (and ongoing investigation) and not commenting on the contents just feeds that.

How does he comment on 49,000 emails before he has had a chance to vet them? He released a factual and to Congress (non-public) letter that didn't state one way or the other if the emails were significant. That's as much as he was able to do at that point in time. This he did in the face of a threat by the NYPD cheif that he'd hold a public press conference that WOULD have characterized the emails incorrectly and painted HRC as a demon.

 

[Unison]

And midterms...why do people keep leaving out midterms

I have definite anxiety about the Osoff run-off... if the Dems can't take that, I am going to be very demoralized about midterm prospects.

 

[royalan]

Can big protests cause him to resign like the Arab spring or the South Korean and Brazilian protests?

Nobody knows, we've never experienced something like this the US. Well, not in modern times.

That's why I laugh at the Watergate comparisons. Not because their hyperbolic, but the opposite. This scandal, if it plays out to its conclusion in the way a lot of people think it will, has the potential to be orders of magnitude bigger than that.Just in terms of the schism it represents in our government and society.

 

[Hitman]

I think you're worried about some mythical minority of Trump supporters that are somehow simultaneously able to be reasonable and keep an open enough mind to potentially turn against Trump but also are fucking stupid enough to not realize that it is bad that Trump fired a guy that was investigating him. I mean I'm not going to say that such a person cannot exist but... therearedozensofus[them].gif

Or maybe I'm worried about the 90 million independents who didn't vote at all and I assume that some among 90 MILLION can be swayed to support a Trump impeachment if an argument hits them just right.

 

[hughesta]

there are far too many stupid awful people in this country for anyone on Trump's level to ever be convinced he's the problem. how could he, when he can hold himself a little pep rally full of supporters chanting his name anytime?

 

[theWB27]

I have definite anxiety about the Osoff run-off... if the Dems can't take that, I am going to be very demoralized about midterm prospects.

I thought he was a long shot even with it being so close...

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

They tried to with Yates after her firing.

Yates is in a slightly different circumstance, though, as she was an attorney for the government. She has ethical concerns to worry about with the bar regarding disclosure of client communications.

Comey is also an attorney, but was obviously not in that capacity as FBI Director. I don't know what the White House could hold over him if he wanted to talk. Is disclosure in light of executive privilege asserted a crime? The White House can't cancel Congressional hearings. It's not a court of law where such evidence can be excluded. I just don't know what enforcement mechanism they have now that Comey is no longer at the FBI.

 

[DangerMouse]

Apparently by publicly talking about the Comey dinner, the WH loses executive privilege, the ability to block Comey from testifying about what he told trump in those meetings.

Glorious.

Sure. Except right now his Supporters are posting memes and quotes of Liberals wanting Comey gone as if it supports the firing. Also, his talking point would have never flew with Liberals. But with independents and his supporters, it allows him to hang on to his mind control over them. It's not all about how we, Liberals think of Trump. If that was the case, he wouldn't be in office in the first place.

They would be doing that anyway. Nothing will convince some people. Anyone with a brain open to taking in the facts knows there is video proof on the national stage of Trump praising Comey for the very thing he stupidly initially claimed he fired him for, while Comey's organization is full-throttle investigating the man doing the firing, which is why he had to have his people throw out two or three other terrible misdirections when lots of people weren't buying Trump's bullshit and then try to throw someone else under the bus as a fall guy. Talk about a major oops. Anyone supposedly independent that isn't just dodging being a Trump supporter (which isn't anything new as well) can go online and see that Trump praised this guy for his actions at live events which further shows this is an obvious cover up of a reason, meanwhile his supporters would make up their own "facts" no matter what anyway. And you had Spicer addressing it in the bushes.

Some people are capable of having multiple thoughts about Comey at the same time, something that baby Trump and his one-track-minded supporters clearly doesn't "get" about humanity when he fired him at such an obvious time with the Russia investigation already heating up on his ass.

Anyway, as has been said, this is a great thread, so let's get back to the newest developments.

 

[Staccat0]

Or maybe I'm worried about the 90 million independents who didn't vote at all and I assume that some among 90 MILLION can be swayed to support a Trump impeachment if an argument hits them just right.

Well, you popped into the thread seemingly scolding people for not using their time machines to go back in time and take advantage of hindsight and the clarity it provides... so maybe you ain't exactly an expert on measured arguments that sway people, haha.

Who knows what wins independents over? Honestly, back when I was working at a plastic factory in Missouri for 5 years I couldn't get a bead on anyone's compass for this stuff. People just repeat the last thing they heard. You can't calibrate for that. If they cared they would care.

 

[rec0ded1]

I wish Comey would do a 60 minutes but he's probably too pro and wouldn't be able to answer stuff anyway but I'd gladly listen about his interactions with Trump.

 

[Isaac Otherworld]

So you're a dirty 50 ppp person ehh?

Hyperbole aside, it's a little more than tangently related to topic, and I found it worth discussing.

Whatever though, if it's an issue, it's not one I'm going to push so ... cheers I guess

I would never stoop so low as to be a 50 ppp. I've been 100 ppp since the day I got here!

I was simply hoping it wouldn't end up being a prediction.

And yeah, I think it's an interesting topic. I think Comey has a hero complex and always needs to self-righteously fight against leadership. He did it to Bush Jr. He did it to Clinton. He did it to Trump. Yeah, I'm angry about the october letter. Explicitly calling for him to resign wasn't the best in hindsight. But what else were democrats going to do? Either way it's a moot point because Trump has absolutely fucked up every attempt at messaging this. No one cares what r/the_donald is saying about this. You can't escape the optics of firing the guy investigating you..

There. Done.

 

[Lan Dong Mik]

Reporting on the Comey dinner:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investi...r-fbi-officials-dispute-trump-account-n758221

Trump lied.

"I doubt five people at the FBI even have the [phone] number of the deputy White House press secretary," the former senior official said.

I lol'd

This administration is beyond an embarrassment. I don't even know what you call this. Every day seems worse than the last. Trump is not going to make it. Forget impeachment, he's going to resign. Can't wait.

 

[antonz]

Jesus I thought I was watching Foxnews there for a bit catching up on this thread. They tried to spin the discussion into Hillary Emails and the need to reopen the investigation tonight.

 

[RCSI]

#not_surprised

At this rate i don't even know if trump is going to last 2017 .. wait are american be able to last 2017 ?

As has been stated, this is going to take years to unravel. Trump will be around in 2017+ baring health related issues or other event. Just need to remain resistant and keep up this pace of exposing as much of Trump as possible. It's working.

 

[yamo]

Hurry now, start a war somewhere and everyone will forget about this little incident. Even firing some more tomahawks at Syria might be enough to make people think of something else.

 

[toddhunter]

Hurry now, start a war somewhere and everyone will forget about this little incident. Even firing some more tomahawks at Syria might be enough to make people think of something else.

9D chess. Trump is just making sure NK and Syria are walking on egg shells worried that he'll nuke them when the next leak happens.

 

[commedieu]

Reporting on the Comey dinner:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investi...r-fbi-officials-dispute-trump-account-n758221

Trump lied.

Roll on em C-dub.

 

[Drakeon]

Hurry now, start a war somewhere and everyone will forget about this little incident. Even firing some more tomahawks at Syria might be enough to make people think of something else.

He's never been smart enough to intentionally distract people. It's always inadvertent.

 

[akira28]

Can big protests cause him to resign like the Arab spring or the South Korean and Brazilian protests?

that's part of phase 3 which is obviously after phase 2, the grand jury trial.

 

[Quadraphonic]

He's never been smart enough to intentionally distract people. It's always inadvertent.

It's amazing how hard it's been for everyone, even myself, to come to the understanding that Trump has never purposely distracted from this stuff. Or at least, we're over attributing how often he does it.

I'm dead certain the Rachel Maddow tax returns were from Trump himself to distract from people asking for his tax returns and he picked the most innocuous one and purposely omitted all the schedule forms that are what people really want to see.

What I'm trying to understand now is the dynamic in the room and who influences Trump to give him ideas to do crazy shit. I think he's purposely surrounded himself during the campaign with yes-men who just wanted attention from Trump and he kept those people in the White House. So no one is keeping him in check.

 

[mid83]

I'm watching clips of the NBC interview. At one point he says "i said to myself maybe I need to lengthen out the investigation".

I guess Trump feels he ultimately runs the invesigation on himself since he's POTUS and the FBI works for him. That's concerning.

 

[Nick_C]

What if there's a third option where Comey reveals the investigation but does so in a way that acknowledges the reality of the situation and seeks to make the irrelevance of the new emails clear?

Apologies for the late reply, had to step away for a few hours.

This option relies on 1) him having the info to ascertain whether or not the emails were irrelevant, or 2) others with knowledge of the emails not leaking the info to the press.

One other thing to consider: I can almost guarantee that Comey didn't make this decision on his own. There was more than likely a group of very intelligent people, with way more information than any of us have at this moment, that helped him weigh the pros and cons and nearly every concievable outcome. The one they chose was the one they identified as the best of bad situation.

 

[nephilimdj]

Apparently by publicly talking about the Comey dinner, the WH loses executive privilege, the ability to block Comey from testifying about what he told trump in those meetings.

FISA stuff is still classified though, its pointless

 

[sangreal]

I'm watching clips of the NBC interview. At one point he says "i said to myself maybe I need to lengthen out the investigation".

I guess Trump feels he ultimately runs the invesigation on himself since he's POTUS and the FBI works for him. That's concerning.

He also says at one point that there is no FBI investigation. He's a mess

 

[Spoiled Milk]

Apologies for the late reply, had to step away for a few hours.

This option relies on 1) him having the info to ascertain whether or not the emails were irrelevant, or 2) others with knowledge of the emails not leaking the info to the press.

It takes like 20 minutes tops on a consumer laptop to hash those new emails and compare them against the database of existing ones to determine if they were all duplicates

 

[ryutaro's mama]

I guess Trump feels he ultimately runs the invesigation on himself since he's POTUS and the FBI works for him. That's concerning.

That's how shit works in a privately owned business, which is precisely why it was always a bad idea to let a moron with little experience in governing be the fucking POTUS.

 

[Spoiled Milk]

Reporting on the Comey dinner:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investi...r-fbi-officials-dispute-trump-account-n758221

Trump lied.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed Thursday that she had heard from "countless members of the FBI who are grateful for the president's decision."

Current and former FBI agents scoffed at what they termed a ridiculous assertion.

Related: Fact Checking Donald Trump's Interview With NBC's Lester Holt

"I doubt five people at the FBI even have the [phone] number of the deputy White House press secretary," the former senior official said.

YA BURNT

 

[EatinOlives]

Reporting on the Comey dinner:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investi...r-fbi-officials-dispute-trump-account-n758221

Trump lied.

And here's the thing: none of this is classified, Comey should be able to corroborate this at the next hearing.

This fucker is like a bad witness you get on your first case in an Ace Attorney game.

 

[Laieon]

Can big protests cause him to resign like the Arab spring or the South Korean and Brazilian protests?

If his approval ratings get low enough, sure. As an American who has been living in Korea since 2014, the difference is that Koreans pretty much unanimously agreed she was a terrible president and had to go. She was sitting at something like a 4% approval rating when it was all said and done with. Trump has been sitting somewhere around a 40% approval rating for weeks now. How do you convince the GOP and his followers that he's an awful president? How many scandals has he had now? Nothing seems to affect his follower's opinion of him.

 

[Unison]

FISA stuff is still classified though, its pointless

The Comey firing itself is a possible obstruction of justice and possible grounds for impeachment in its own right.

Comey would certainly be able to testify whether or not he advised Trump about the status of the investigation three times without revealing classified information, including whether or not Trump himself is personally under investigation (especially since the existence of the investigation into the campaign is confirmed public knowledge, establishing a motive for Trump to obstruct).

 

[Shadow Puppetry]

Reporting on the Comey dinner:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investi...r-fbi-officials-dispute-trump-account-n758221

Trump lied.

 

[digdug2k]

If his approval ratings get low enough, sure. As an American who has been living in Korea since 2014, the difference is that Koreans pretty much unanimously agreed she was a terrible president and had to go. She was sitting at something like a 4% approval rating when it was all said and done with. Trump has been sitting somewhere around a 40% approval rating for weeks now. How do you convince the GOP and his followers that he's an awful president? How many scandals has he had now? Nothing seems to affect his follower's opinion of him.

I wonder if FoxNews could convince them. They don't trust anything else they read. I doubt they'd even trust Fox now with the recent firings. They'd just say "yeah, they've been taken over by the corrupt mam now too!"

 

[pigeon]

Apologies for the late reply, had to step away for a few hours.

This option relies on 1) him having the info to ascertain whether or not the emails were irrelevant, or 2) others with knowledge of the emails not leaking the info to the press.

One other thing to consider: I can almost guarantee that Comey didn't make this decision on his own. There was more than likely a group of very intelligent people, with way more information than any of us have at this moment, that helped him weigh the pros and cons and nearly every concievable outcome. The one they chose was the one they identified as the best of bad situation.

They had the emails for a month before the election. They had time to identify that they were irrelevant. And, as noted, identifying that the emails were all duplicates should have taken almost no time at all.

The fact that lots of intelligent people made this decision doesn't make it a good one. Lots of intelligent people made lots of decisions last year and yet Donald Trump became president even though none of them wanted it to happen. Probably a bunch of those decisions turned out to be dumb! It takes a lot of intelligence to be really dumb.

 

[Nick_C]

It takes like 20 minutes tops on a consumer laptop to hash those new emails and compare them against the database of existing ones to determine if they were all duplicates

I'm not gonna derail the thread, but if you'd like to continue talking about this just PM me.

 

[nephilimdj]

The Comey firing itself is a possible obstruction of justice and possible grounds for impeachment in its own right.

Comey would certainly be able to testify whether or not he advised Trump about the status of the investigation three times without revealing classified information, including whether or not Trump himself is personally under investigation (especially since the existence of the investigation into the campaign is confirmed public knowledge, establishing a motive for Trump to obstruct).

I dont see how asking is relevence to the court case though, I doubt anyone think Trump never asked FBI about the FISA or NSA about GCHQ story (SInce they operate a spy base together in UK)

 

[kaching]

White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed Thursday that she had heard from "countless members of the FBI who are grateful for the president's decision."

Can you really count zero? I guess that would qualify as countless, too.

 

[Unison]

I dont see how asking is relevence to the court case though, I doubt anyone think Trump never asked FBI about the FISA or NSA about GCHQ story (SInce they operate a spy base together in UK)

Sorry, but maybe you just don't understand how the American legal system works...

- To prove an obstruction of justice charge (which is an impeachable offense in and of itself, entirely divorced from the outcome of the Russian investigation) they need to prove intent.
- Comey confirming the investigation into the Trump campaign provides motive for Trump to want to stop the investigation.
- Trump firing Comey is within his rights as President.
- Trump asking about the status of an investigation into himself is unusual, but within his rights as President.
- Trump initially stating that the reason for the firing was the handling of the Hillary e-mails then changing his story about that as well as about the timeline (i.e. whether this was a bottom-up or a top-down decision) was already damning.
- Trump lying about Comey's statements in his letter, however, would provide clear grounds for intent if refuted by Comey.

 

[TAJ]

Well, you popped into the thread seemingly scolding people for not using their time machines to go back in time and take advantage of hindsight and the clarity it provides... so maybe you ain't exactly an expert on measured arguments that sway people, haha

Those people probably nodded along to get him to shut up.

 

[Hitman]

Mensch:

There are rumors within the intelligence community that indictments are either being prepared, or presently exist, sealed, against the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. One source reports that Sessions may be arrested, or a case against him announced, later today, Friday M[ay] 12th. Although I cannot find another source at this late hour to agree, the RUMINT is interesting enough that I am passing it on to readers as an update to the below post, originally published on the day Sessions was confirmed as Attorney General.

 

[super-heated plasma]

Mensch:

I'm starting to sour on her. Especially after the big hype her and Taylor had today that was no where near as big as they made it seem.

 

[Derwind]

Mensch:

Oh my... Jeff Session getting arrested would be a site to behold.

 

[EatinOlives]

Mensch:

Wasn't she the lady who said there would be arrests today?

 

[StopMakingSense]

I've taken to working in the evening because too much shit is going down during the days.

 

[Hitman]

I'm starting to sour on her. Especially after the big hype her and Taylor had today that was no where near as big as they made it seem.

FBI raiding a GOP organization that has connections to Manafort and Stone. And they knew of this in advance. Also the Grand Juries thing Claude knew about a week before MSM broke that news. Plus of course, FISA.

Don't understand how people could they don't have any credibility when they keep getting things right. But we'll see how the Sessions thing goes tomorrow.

 

[OriginofHysteria]

Mensch:

Stop it. Stop it. I want to believe.

 

[HariKari]

FBI raiding a GOP organization that has connections to Manafort and Stone. And they knew of this in advance. Also the Grand Juries thing Claude knew about a week before MSM broke that news. Plus of course, FISA.

Don't understand how people could they don't have any credibility when they keep getting things right. But we'll see how the Sessions thing goes tomorrow.

They have some credibility but Mensch and Taylor bounce stuff off of one another and generally say some outlandish shit. Like a sports blogger that claims to have inside info, they get a couple things right and suddenly everyone forgets how much they miss.