THROUGH HIS “FRIENDS”
by Sharon Rondeau
(May 20, 2017) — On Saturday’s edition of “Fox & Friends,” well-known Harvard University law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told the show’s three co-anchors that contrary to their comment that former FBI Director James Comey would be “breaking his silence” by having agreed on Friday to testify at a public Senate Intelligence Committee hearing after Memorial Day, Comey has “not been silent” since his firing on May 9.
“He hasn’t been silent at all; he’s been leaking information through his friends,” Dershowitz said.
In the late afternoon of Tuesday, May 9, the Trump administration announced that Comey was dismissed based on a letter signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a former U.S. attorney under Obama. Rosenstein, approved to his new position by the Senate on April 24, wrote in his letter that Comey had overstepped his authority when he publicly stated on July 5, 2016 that then-Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton should not be prosecuted for sending classified information over an unauthorized, private server installed in her home.
On May 12, Trump tweeted what appeared to be a warning to Comey about “leaking to the media” based on the possible existence of “tapes” of meetings between the two.
Dershowitz disagreed with what has been reported by The New York Times as Trump’s characterization of Comey as “a nut job” in a meeting with two Russian diplomats on May 10. However, Dershowitz agreed with Trump’s subsequent description of Comey in an interview with NBC Nightly News’s Lester Holt as a “showboat.”
Although Democrats had widely called for Comey’s dismissal last fall when he announced the unexpected reopening of the Clinton email probe 11 days before the election, they seized upon his termination as an alleged effort by Trump to stifle the FBI’s investigation into possible connections between Trump’s former campaign aides and the Russian government.
On Wednesday evening, Rosenstein’s office announced that former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III had been appointed to act as Special Counsel in the Russia investigation. In response, Dershowitz opined that he believes a “special commission” which can hold public hearings would be more effective than the appointment of a special prosecutor or special counsel. He maintained that either of the two are utilized when criminal activity is suspected, punctuating that part of the interview with, “I don’t see any crimes.”
That statement echoed those Dershowitz made on Friday night on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
The White House has unequivocally denied any wrongdoing. In a joint press conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday, Trump said that “no collusion” would be found once Mueller completes his mission.
In 1990, Dershowitz successfully sued a Boston Globe reporter, Mike Barnicle, for having attributed a statement to Dershowitz which Dershowitz claimed was false.
A renowned criminal-defense attorney, Dershowitz was a member of the O.J. Simpson defense team and reportedly participating in the defense of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Even before he became a candidate for president, Trump decried the U.S. media for what he perceived as its dishonesty. For a time, Trump acted as his own press secretary under an alias while building his real estate empire.
On the campaign trail, he told his audiences that the media has become the purveyor of “fake news.”
On May 12, it was reported that Comey declined to testify to the Senate Intelligence Committee privately about the circumstances surrounding his termination.
After Trump left on his first foreign trip on Friday afternoon, The New York Times and The Washington Post released respective allegations based on anonymous sources about Trump’s “nut job” comment and that a person close to Trump is a “significant person of interest” in the FBI’s Russia investigation.
On Friday night, The Post & Email contacted the FBI media desk for comment on the accuracy of The Post’s report.
Those articles follow a Washington Post report on Monday stating that Trump released “highly classified information” during his meeting with the Russian diplomats and a Tuesday New York Times article claiming that an unseen “memo” Comey allegedly wrote documented that Trump had asked him to discontinue the investigation into Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret), Trump’s first national security adviser.
Trump has denied both claims.
The White House responded to The Times’s latest report by stressing that leaks of “highly classified conversations” are injurious to the country’s “national security.”
Many believe that there is an orchestrated effort to undermine and remove Trump from office.
That is my point Robert Laity. Trump did not have to rely on any recommendation. So why did his surrogates try to convince people that the firing was due to the recommendations for 2 days?
I was also point out that the article does not mention this. It says “In the late afternoon of Tuesday, May 9, the Trump administration announced that Comey was dismissed based on a letter signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a former U.S. attorney under Obama.”
No mention of Trump’s reversal.
Whether you like Comey or not, he can say whatever he wants now that he is no longer employed by the government. The only exception is classified material.
Jackson, President Trump does not have to follow “recomendations”. He has the authority to fire Comey. Comey was malfeasant, nonfeasant and misfeasant in office. He may also be guilty of Misprision of espionage. Comey, in public hearings, says he won’t answer questions in a public forum. When they ask him in private, he still won’t answer.
The man was fired from his job. Like anyone else who is fired, he can talk about anything he wants as long as it is not classified.
The Trump administration initially stated that the basis of Comey’s termination was Rosenstein’s letter. But two days later, Trump stated in an interview with Lester Holt that the letter was not the reason for the termination.
In his interview with NCB Trump said.
“I was going to fire Comey — my decision. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation”