2 min readOct 11, 2019
- I never said that Comey was investigating Trump. At that time, the investigation was focused on Russia and their attempts to interfere with our election. Michael Flynn was one of the targets of that investigation, and it was on Flynn’s behalf that Trump tried to have the investigation shut down. (Trump isn’t the type to stick his neck out for other people, so Trump’s going to the mat for Flynn lead people to speculate that the investigation into Flynn could uncover some things Trump would rather keep hidden, but this was just speculation at the time.)
- It doesn’t matter whether Trump was interfering in the investigation in order to protect himself or to protect Flynn. Either way, it’s obstruction.
- How did Trump know that Flynn was under investigation? That was common knowledge at the time. It was widely reported in the press.Everyone knew about it.
- How was Comey the investigator? He wasn’t personally investigating Flynn, I wouldn’t imagine, but as director of the FBI, he was overseeing those investigations and it was in his power to determine which investigations remain active and which are closed down.
- How does Comey being fired affect the investigation? Trump privately met with Comey and asked that he drop the investigation. When Comey refused, Trump fired him, in the hopes that he would be able to install a successor who would be more willing to play ball.
- The president does have the authority to fire the FBI director. That’s true. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some circumstances where firing Comey would be illegal. Firing him because he refused to shut down an investigation at Trump’s request is one such example.
- I’ll remind you that Nixon attempted to do the same thing. You might want to Google the phrase “Saturday Night Massacre.” It was obstruction of justice when Nixon did it, and it was obstruction of justice when Trump did it.
- I’ll further remind you that there were 10 other examples of obstruction aside from Trump’s attempt to fire Comey. Even if you believe Trump has the authority to fire the FBI director for any reason, he never had the authority to fire Mueller. But he tried to do that, too.