Comey’s firing is criminal | The Triangle

Comey’s firing is criminal

Photograph courtesy of Bao Dandan at Xinhua/Sipa USA/TNS
Photograph courtesy of Bao Dandan at Xinhua/Sipa USA/TNS

Another day, another way to save face for President Donald Trump. That’s how you could summarize the firing of former FBI Director James Comey May 9.

Comey, best known for his role in the Hillary Clinton email scandal and helping secure a Republican win in November’s election, was terminated after confirming in his testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that the FBI was further investigating any ties between the Russians and the Trump campaign.

So, yes, the same guy who destroyed Hillary’s future credibility as a president and pretty much handed Trump a victory in the election got fired simply for doing his job.

And not only has he gotten fired, but the Trump administration has done everything in their power to discredit Comey and make him untrustworthy in the public eye.

“I think also having a letter like the one that he [Trump] received, and having that conversation [with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein] that outlines the basic atrocities in circumventing the chain of command in the Department of Justice,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said May 10.

Even Trump has gone out of his way to discredit Comey, not only threatening Comey via Twitter, but also claiming that Comey was going to be fired after election day.

However, it seems apparent that Trump’s timing might show a hidden agenda. Comey was putting time, money and resources looking into Russia’s involvement into the election. After Comey was fired, Trump was quoted as saying, “I might even lengthen out the investigation.”

Although, based on the evidence that has already been presented, there isn’t really much to investigate.

We have a president with a long-time friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and multiple cabinet members, both past and present who have been well-known affiliates of Putin and/or the Russian government, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

As a result of Comey’s firing, there has been tremendous outrage amongst the American people.

For example, actress Patricia Arquette tweeted, “The firing of Comey is a very dangerous development for this republic. Make no mistake we are now living under a fascist regime.”

James Comey has been unjustly fired for looking into something he was supposed to look into. What is the proper reaction?

While I’m beyond elated Comey is gone since he committed numerous acts that supported the Trump campaign, and, as such, is one of the main reasons why we are in this mess in the first place, I am, at the same time, considering another perspective that seems to be lacking when discussing the issue: we should not care that Comey was fired to hide a secret.

I don’t care about Comey getting fired to protect a secret because this happens all of the time in politics. Not just now, in the Trump administration, but in every government in every society since the dawn of time. If you didn’t want someone to pursue a secret, and that someone was a person who had tremendous amounts of power, you would remove that power, either by firing the person, or even worse, killing the person.

For example, during Watergate, as more and more information was being revealed, President Richard Nixon’s staff would either resign or be fired left and right to throw off the media. Of course, it didn’t work seeing as Nixon was still caught and eventually resigned, but the fact remains that it has been going on for a very long time.

Now that Comey is fired, it is time to take action, however, as history has shown, it is not enough to stand in the streets and just yell repeatedly calling for action. If action is to be taken, it should be against Donald Trump.

Trump has committed a crime by firing Comey. Since Comey was removed for not ceasing investigations into both Russia’s involvement and Michael Flynn’s meetings with the Russian government, Trump has committed obstruction of justice, a punishable crime with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. In fact, obstruction of justice is also enough reason for impeachment.

Therefore, I invite you to contact Mr. Bob Goodlatte, not only a Republican member of the House of Representatives, but also the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is where the impeachment process begins. In order to bring Trump down, we, the people, need to use the system and work with it in order to deal with the problem directly and get creative.

Trump may have won a battle by firing Comey, and has extended his presidency by another day, but if we find a way to work with the system, he is going to lose the war against a nation tired of lies.