NYT: Trump Asked Comey to End Flynn Investigation

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

More bombshells in the last week than in a Victoria's Secret catalog.

[The_Doctor]

Impeach now.

[The Other Castro]

Is it normal protocol for an fbi director to keep notes about their meetings with the president? I assume it is, or did comey see his firing coming and wanted enough "revenge material" as possible?

If trump really said what the memo states, how did he expect it not to be leaked?

It's simple: He has no idea what he is doing.

[KingSweden]

I'm more concerned about the leaks. Very disturbing.

Here's a strategy for stopping leaks

- stop antagonizing the FBI
- stop contradicting your staff and making them look like dopes, doesn't exactly endear them to your cause
- get on to nominating the over 400 roles you still have no nominations for, let alone the many many positions you still need to confirm (also better vetting, see: Mark Green, how ever many hundreds of people that have already stepped aside for Army Secretary)

And even then leaks won't stop because they're all JARED KUSHNER.

Yeah seriously. Don't complain about BHO holdovers when you can't be bothered to appoint your own replacements

[ApatheticAustrian]

Wouldn't they prefer Pence to Trump though?

they would but i am not sure if the trump coalition would follow them in midterms or 2020.

[Virginiá]

There's no friggin way Trump will stay on as president for four years.

Obstructing justice is basically a direct result of his personality and with every new development he'll dig himself deeper into a hole.

Let's assume a special prosecutor is appointed or an independent congressional investigation is launched. Trump would do anything to obstruct this as well and he won't care if he breaks the law.

Unless the situation becomes so untenable that they can't hold out (hard to think it isn't already, but ok), I can't see it happening before 2019. If they intend to impeach him and go through the litany of existing abuses and possible crimes on the floor, they won't do it right before a midterm where they could lose massively downballot. Not only would they have to contend with an energized Democratic base and Independent voters flipping en masse, but pissing off Republican Trump supporters might significantly depress their turnout and/or cause a lot of defections, leading to an even bigger wipeout.

That is the only rationale I can think of. Because after all, Pence would take his place, so it doesn't really make sense to keep him around like this unless they are afraid of a backlash.

[Matty]

I know it's important for the public to know things as soon as possible, but do you think it is smart tactically to saturate the public daily with a new report? Wouldn't it be wiser to release one, let it fester for a bit for max effect, then release another once all the juice is squeezed out of the other one?

It seems like doing things daily leaves some "juice" unsqueezed. The public has a attention span of about a week on average, and a previous story is likely to be forgotten even more quickly if another story takes its place.

[Confused Democrat]

Is it normal protocol for an fbi director to keep notes about their meetings with the president? I assume it is, or did comey see his firing coming and wanted enough "revenge material" as possible?

If trump really said what the memo states, how did he expect it not to be leaked?

It's normal protocol for anyone who works that high in the government. Their called MFTR's (Memorandum for the Record), and are common practice because people often forget details from important meetings months later.

[The Mikado]

I literally don't know what to say anymore. This is straight-up illegal.

If I were a Republican Congressman, I'd be looking to see if the NRA was hiring lobbyists.

[GeorgiaModerate]

It looks like there may be more shoes to drop.  From CNN's story:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[ApatheticAustrian]

More from @jaketapper source: Trump asked Sessions and Pence to leave before saying this
https://twitter.com/TheLeadCNN/status/864606587482255360

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is it normal protocol for an fbi director to keep notes about their meetings with the president? I assume it is, or did comey see his firing coming and wanted enough "revenge material" as possible?

If trump really said what the memo states, how did he expect it not to be leaked?

It's normal protocol for anyone who works that high in the government. Their called MFTR's (Memorandum for the Record), and are common practice because people often forget details from important meetings months later.

Corporate world too, although we usually call them CYA memos.

[The Other Castro]

Former Republican Congressman David Jolly throwing fire:

David Jolly‏ @DavidJollyFL
Hope that private school tuition in Maryland this Fall for the POTUS family is refundable.

https://twitter.com/DavidJollyFL/status/864596564580470784

[kyc0705]

Every. Single. Day.

[Technocracy Timmy]

Wouldn't they prefer Pence to Trump though?

they would but i am not sure if the trump coalition would follow them in midterms or 2020.

Perhaps, although at a certain point Pence will be less toxic than Trump is when it comes to their electoral chances.

[The_Doctor]

More from @jaketapper source: Trump asked Sessions and Pence to leave before saying this
https://twitter.com/TheLeadCNN/status/864606587482255360

… .

[ProudModerate2]

Comey shared his memo at the Justice department with before he got fired:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This could be a big story also !
Comey shared this info with the DOJ, before he was fired.
Why would Sessions and Rosenstein recommend firing, knowing this ?
I'm almost certain that Sessions/Rosenstein shared this info with the orange-haired clown, and you know that the orange slug "snapped" and went full-blown crazy-mad about this.
Seems that trump, Sessions, Rosenstein and the rest of their clownish administration, just started to create stupid excuses to fire Comey, when it was really based on this new revelation.

[ApatheticAustrian]

FoxNews reporting on the air now that they can't get a Republican member on the air right now to defend Trump
https://twitter.com/sarahcwestwood/status/864611207545843713

[Matty]

I think the thing that is always striking me about these reports is they always seem so coordinated and timed in an engineered manner.

1) At around 5:15 ET is when they are released.

2) other news sites confirm what the previous one had reported, as if one site was "given" the right to release it first.

[Virginiá]

I know it's important for the public to know things as soon as possible, but do you think it is smart tactically to saturate the public daily with a new report? Wouldn't it be wiser to release one, let it fester for a bit for max effect, then release another once all the juice is squeezed out of the other one?

It seems like doing things daily leaves some "juice" unsqueezed. The public has a attention span of about a week on average, and a previous story is likely to be forgotten even more quickly if another story takes its place.

Yes, but the media isn't really playing like that. They all want to break the story first I'm sure. If they were an actual arm of the DNC, and not just one in the context of jokes or snipes from conservatives, than yes that is probably how they would be doing this.

Now that you mention it, I am a little disappointed this is coming out so quickly. Let's do a slow drip well into next year

[ApatheticAustrian]

I think the thing that is always striking me about these reports is they always seem so coordinated and timed in an engineered manner.

1) At around 5:15 ET is when they are released.

2) other news sites confirm what the previous one had reported, as if one site was "given" the right to release it first.

as i said, this IS a conspiracy, but trump has only himself to blame.

as we know now, the DOJ was informed about this and ignored the intel.

[The_Doctor]

This is why Trump needed to make friends with the establishment. It's all out war on him and it's his own fault. His presidency is being crippled and his incompetence is a large part of this.

[Matty]

John Kasich is probably thinking he has a chance in the primary in 3 years.

[publicunofficial]

All these leaks must be from Democrats working in the White House! It couldn't possibly be that the Trump administration staff are a bunch of antisocial career men who have no share no real overall goal and are united only by their skill at kissing Trump's ass, and would leak s**t constantly in attempts to one-up each other.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

All these leaks must be from Democrats working in the White House! It couldn't possibly be that the Trump administration staff are a bunch of antisocial career men who have no share no real overall goal and are united only by their skill at kissing Trump's ass, and would leak s**t constantly in attempts to one-up each other.

Well, this leak is from Comey, so