President Trump had a minimum of eleven good reasons to fire James
Comey.
Yes, it could have been in private and not on national TV, however
it was long overdue.
1. During its investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of
classified material, the FBI made an unusual deal in
which Clinton aides were both given immunity and allowed to destroy their
laptops.
2. During the questioning of Hillary Clinton on her e-mails no
recording of the interview was done or a written text of questions and
answers.
3. When the FBI
demanded Apple create a "backdoor" that would allow law enforcement
agencies to unlock the cell phones of various suspects, the company refused,
sparking a battle between the feds and America's biggest tech company.
What makes this incident indicative of Comey's questionable management of the
agency is that a) The FBI jumped the gun, as they were indeed ultimately able
to crack the San Bernardino terrorist's phone, and b) Almost every other major
national security figure sided with Apple (from former CIA Director General
Petraeus to former CIA Director James
Woolsey to former
director of the NSA, General Michael
Hayden), warning that
such a "crack" would inevitably wind up in the wrong hands.
4. Before he bombed
the Boston Marathon, the FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev but let him go. Russia sent the Obama
Administration a second warning, but the FBI opted against investigating him
again.
5. The FBI also
investigated the terrorist who killed 49 people and wounded 53 more at the
Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Despite a more than 10-month investigation of
Omar Mateen -- during which Mateen admitting lying to agents -- the FBI opted
against pressing further and closed its case.
6. The FBI had possession of emails sent by Nidal Hasan saying he
wanted to kill his fellow soldiers to protect the Taliban -- but didn't
intervene, leading many critics to argue the tragedy that resulted in the death
of 31 Americans at Fort Hood could have been prevented.
7. The father of the
radical Islamist who detonated a backpack bomb in New York City in 2016 alerted
the FBI to his son's radicalization. The FBI, however, cleared Ahmad Khan Rahami after
a brief interview.
8. The FBI also investigated the terrorist who killed 49 people
and wounded 53 more at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Despite a more than
10-month investigation of Omar Mateen -- during which Mateen admitting lying to
agents -- the FBI opted against pressing further and closed its case.
9. In 2015, the FBI conducted a controversial raid on a Texas political meeting, finger
printing, photographing, and seizing phones from attendees (some in the group
believe in restoring Texas as an independent constitutional republic).
10.
CBS
recently reported that
when two terrorists sought to kill Americans attending the "Draw
Muhammad" event in Garland, Texas, the FBI not only had an understanding
an attack was coming, but actually had an undercover agent traveling with the
Islamists, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi. The FBI has refused to comment on why
the agent on the scene did not intervene during the attack.
