"James Comey Cannot Be Trusted With a Trump-Russia Investigation"

[suffragette]

http://time.com/4634613/comey-fbi-investigation/

This matter requires an unquestionably independent investigation because the outstanding questions go to the heart of our democracy and to the legitimacy of the Trump presidency. They include:

• Did Trump campaign officials – or intermediaries such as Roger Stone – have knowledge of the Russian government’s campaign to hack the email accounts of Democratic party officials and release the information through Wikileaks?

• Did Trump campaign officials, including former chairman Paul Manafort – who once worked for a Putin-backed autocrat in Ukraine – change the party’s platform at the behest of the Russian government?

• What are the extent of Trump’s business dealings in Russia, and is there any truth to the allegations the Russian government is sitting on information with which it plans to blackmail him?

• Did Trump campaign officials such as incoming national security advisor Michael Flynn, a paid contributor to the Kremlin-financed RT television network, participate in the official Russian propaganda campaign to elect Trump that the intelligence community described in its public report?

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Lordy, lordy. Too many fingers in too many pies.

It sounds like it could be corruption at it's very finest.

[suffragette]

3. Whenever Stone is involved, there is corruption. Always been the case.

[Hortensis]

46. Stone!? Oh, yes. This may specifically be why Sessions is

the nominee for AG, or at least one of the biggest, most immediate reasons. He has a proven record of massive abuse of power in Alabama, not at all limited to racial persecution. Lots of things to make go away for a Trump administration. Wonder what Comey has on him. Not IF, what.

[mopinko]

2. naming the right names.

that's what i'm talkin about.

[suffragette]

4. Exactly. I think a question about Tillerson belongs there as well. No experience in governance

And strong ties to Russia through oil deals.

[colorado_ufo]

13. The questions could unroll like an Egyptian scroll.

[yeoman6987]

5. Kinda sucks to start a week before trump is inaugurated

Why not November 9th?????

[KittyWampus]

6. Thank You. Why now?

[colorado_ufo]

12. One reason could be to not give them time for a defense.

[suffragette]

11. Good question. Wish I knew the answer.

[Solly Mack]

7. Comey is compromised and should not be leading anything.

And by compromised, I do mean compromised.

Well, I wouldn't be surprised to learn he's a little mouse.

[suffragette]

16. Agree. I keep thinking back on October and how the timing was planned.

I still think there was nothing coincidental about it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028266940

[Solly Mack]

19. If he is a little mouse then all his actions are suspect.

Especially anything related to the Clintons during the election.

[suffragette]

20. True that. And all we see are the surface actions, a bit like an iceberg.

[Solly Mack]

24. I worry that the people will be told less than what actually exist.

In the name of preserving faith in our institutions, we will only be told so much, hoping we'll never learn just how bad it is.

The thing is, with me, only prosecutions and prison time work for me, to go along with full disclosures. And I mean full - everything, regardless of how ugly.

Merely exposing criminal acts or abuses of power by a government official (officials) does nothing for me. Resignations alone, when actual accountability is needed, do nothing for me.

Promises to do better are meaningless to me.

Actual punishment for wrong doing works with me, when it comes to government crimes and abuses.

Allowing government officials to get away with their crimes/abuses - with little to no consequences - in no way serves to protect our democracy.

[ThoughtCriminal]

25. We are so far from anything resembling accountability

We are still at the stage where huge awards of power and wealth are bestowed on the guilty.

[Solly Mack]

38. I agree

[suffragette]

26. I think your worries are valid.

An irony is that in order to preserve that faith, the corruption is allowed to continue.

And we see that a significant part of our population opts out of participating, so the lack of prosecution done to protect the current system instead undermines it, as far as encouraging the next generation to fully participate.

[Solly Mack]

39. But that's just it, as you said, it undermines the institutions. It turns people off.

Over the last few months I've noticed a shading of memory about the Bush years. The man is a war criminal. There's nothing the least bit decent about him.

Protecting him from prosecution didn't help America. It didn't preserve democracy. It didn't make America stronger. It didn't encourage faith in government. It weakened our democracy because it showed what government could readily get away with and what the American people would simply swallow and move on from.

You can best believe there are those who are expecting no less from the American people in regards to Trump, Comey, and Russia.

And I'm not the least bit convinced they're wrong. I hope for better, but I'm not expecting it.

Unless the GOP decide Trump is a liability, he's in for the full 4 years. Having to depend on the good will of republicans gets us nothing, but you can pretty much bank on their sense of self-preservation. We don't have the votes in Congress to stop Trump or the GOP. The GOP will have to decide Trump is making them look bad, and if they haven't come to that point yet, they may never.

Watergate shook some people to the core. Corrupt government! Shocking! People really believed in the basic decency of those who held the office of President. It was naive to think that way, but people did (and still do). That's the event many like to point to as to when faith in government was lost. But instead of being impeached and removed from office, he was allowed to resign - and then he was pardoned.


Government tells us that people need to see police arresting the bad guys, and those bad guys going to jail after a fair trial, to have trust and faith in the justice system. Yet we treat presidents (p-elects) who commit crimes like they are somehow different and special, and wonder why people have lost faith in government? Same with anyone in government, or bankers, etc.. (people with money and power and influence)

The idea that presidents are somehow special and different is ludicrous. I don't care how much a particular president is admired - they're still just people, capable of all the good and the bad any person is capable of. They are not immune from graft and vice. No need for anyone to pretend otherwise. Same with members of Congress, judges, the police, etc..


Right now, this very minute, we are expected to take Trump's word that he will not feather his own nest (of course he will), believe that even if Russia did hack, said interference had no real bearing on the outcome of the election (which is bullshit), that Comey is still honorable even if compromised (more bullshit), that the GOP, while disagreeable, are simply doing what they think is best for the country (and not the danger they actually are), that a peaceful transition of power is paramount to our strength as a country (even though anyone with half a brain knows that at this point in time, accepting Trump is accepting everything he represents and none of it good - Russia, incompetence, Comey, election interference with foreign influence, pay to play, attacks on the press, enemies list, autocrat, authoritarian, GOP trickle-down run amok, make the whole of America into Kansas)

Because that's exactly what is meant each time someone talks about how great America is with a peaceful transfer of power. To respect the office even if we can't respect Trump. We are being asked to accept the unacceptable for the sake of an institution that will be even more eroded by a Trump presidency.

That's not how you save our democracy. That's not how you restore faith in government.

[suffragette]

40. Solly, every word you wrote sings truth.

I'm with you on hoping for better, but not expecting it.

I will continue to advocate for it and to support people when they strive for it, but I think it's apt that a featured video today showed Maxine Waters' short burst of frustration and anger after the meeting. I'm feeling that way and I think many are and she encapsulated the feeling.

I've been thinking lately about a key problem with addressing issues as basic as election fraud. It's that the people who would need to dig down into our system and identify systemic problems are the people who were just elected based on that system. That is the case no matter the party and a central problem with effecting major change there.

I can't add much to what you've said above except to agree and to be deeply grateful to you for expressing so well where we are at this moment and some of the reasons why we are here and why it is so dire.

[myrna minx]

8. K&R

[suffragette]

17. Thanks Myrna. Appreciate the kick.

[kimbutgar]

9. Is Comey in collusion with Russia?

Is he a double agent?

[ffr]

14. I'd bet he's just power hungry, to have rethugs in charge so they can beat on us. n/t

[2naSalit]

15. Mole....nt

[myrna minx]

10. K&R

[BadgerMom]

18. Time has the audacity

to call him "without a doubt a man of personal integrity?" Does the writer know the definition of "integrity?" This man epitomizes treachery. GOD, I am sick of the MSM.

[suffragette]

43. Welcome to DU. I don't agree with the writer in that. I do agree with the points I posted in OP.

[colorado_ufo]

21. "incoming national security advisor Michael Flynn, a paid contributor to the Kremlin-financed

RT television network" - would that be the SAME RT Television Network that disrupted and took over C-Span yesterday?

[suffragette]

28. Was there ever an update as to what caused that?

[colorado_ufo]

31. Not to my knowledge.

They fluffed it off as a "routing problem." Sure. That happens all the time.

[bdamomma]

30. took over C span???

This there a thread explaining this???

[colorado_ufo]

32. For ten minutes.

No follow-up.

[colorado_ufo]

33. Probably testing the channel

for some important announcements on inauguration day.

[pansypoo53219]

22. we can't trust benedict comey?

[LaydeeBug]

23. k & r

[Achilleaze]

27. K n r

[bdamomma]

29. Comey can't be trusted

There are so many who are involved in this shit. There are enough guilty parties. The information is there. Where the hell is Manafort??? He slithered away like a snake.

[JoshinUtah]

34. Agreed 100%. nt

[suffragette]

42. Nope, nor whoever they would put in that office if he leaves.

[wishstar]

35. The same Comey who diligently prosecuted Martha Stewart over a "lie", doesn't care if Trump lies

but he directed FBI to drag out for months their attempts to find something prosecutable against Hillary Clinton but to their disappointment she didn't lie or fall into their traps. (They even falsified an email and questioned her about it in order to judge her reaction and entrap her but failed)

The Martha Stewart case was a travesty during Bush Admin - making example of a famous Democratic woman instead of going after a massively corrupt Repub fat cat stock manipulator to make it look like they were doing something about insider trading.

Comey has no excuse for not having already launched an aggressive investigation into the Trump campaign/Russia collusion, especially considering Trump's repeated blatant lies.

[Maru Kitteh]

36. K&R

[Initech]

37. No, he should be fired and arrested.

[suffragette]

44. We would still need an independent investigator since his replacement would be just as bad.

Still, you make a good point!

[Cha]

41. We knew we weren't crazy!

Mahalo, suffragette!

[suffragette]

45. Yep, not crazy to notice timing and corruption.