The story so far?
The FBI never found anything that would show Trump colluded with the Russians to hack emails, or even that anyone working for him did that.
We also know that Comey hates Trump, and that Comey wants him impeached (if you have even the least ability to read between the lines of Comey’s testimony, then you know that).
Comey knows that if you investigate enough, eventually you find something. There are so many laws that everyone is guilty of something, especially if you’re involved in activities with very complicated laws, an activity like dealing with foreign governments.
Flynn was seen as the weakest link among Trump’s people, so he became the main target of investigation. He was investigated for talking to Russians AFTER Trump already won the election and not filling out government paperwork correctly (which is probably like not filling out your taxes correctly in a manner that’s beneficial to the taxpayer, something that most people have done). If everyone on Hillary Clinton’s team was investigated so thoroughly, I am sure the similar stuff would have been found there. If anything, more so, I get the impression that Hillary’s people don’t think that the law applies to them.
Comey says Trump is a “liar,” but what Trump allegedly lied about is why he fired Comey. Let’s get real here, no ever says the real reason why they fire someone. NEVER. Trump didn’t feel like it was appropriate to to say “I fired Comey because he’s trying to get me impeached, and I’m really pissed about that.” So instead he said some bullshit.
Normally, at that level, people are asked to hand in their resignation, and everyone pretends like there wasn’t actually a firing, but Trump knew Comey would never have agreed to that.
Lion of the Blogosphere 
“everyone pretends like there wasn’t actually a firing, but Trump know Comey would never agree to that.”
Facts not in evidence.
We have no idea if Comey could have been eased out because Trump never tried anything. It would have made for more sense to do thing diplomatically behind the scenes and all this nonsense could have been avoided.
That why Romney should form a caretaker government in waiting now. He can actually to the administrative work and Trump can tweet and hold foreign leaders hands for the camera.
Lion o' the Turambar
June 9, 2017 at 7:48 AM
“That why Romney should form a caretaker government in waiting now.”
I swear, you nevertrump cucks just don’t quit.
destructure
June 9, 2017 at 10:26 AM
“I swear, you nevertrump cucks just don’t quit.”
It’s crazy. I bet every time Ryan meets with Trump, he’s wearing a wire, hoping to get something incriminating.
Mike Street Station
June 10, 2017 at 6:25 AM
“We have no idea if Comey could have been eased out because Trump never tried anything. It would have made for more sense to do thing diplomatically behind the scenes and all this nonsense could have been avoided.”
The way Comey handled that Ashcroft hospital bed incident makes it pretty clear he would never willingly relinquish power.
Richard
June 9, 2017 at 10:44 AM
What does “Romney caretaker government” even mean? If Trump resigns, doesn’t Pence smoothly slip into his place, much to the joy of the GOP establishment?
Gozo
June 9, 2017 at 11:05 AM
Pence would inherit Trump’s apparatus. Maybe he doesnt need the Kushners, Priebus’, Omerosas, and Tillersons hanging around but how is he supposed to fire everyone and not have anyone running things.
But we dont need things to be chaotic for another year. Trumps mistake was trying to hire outsiders and to move fast. You cant do both with out making mistakes.
Lion o' the Turambar
June 9, 2017 at 5:08 PM
The chaos and skrieking from the Deep State that ensued after Comey’s firing just proves Trump handled it exactly right. Comey was their man in a key post stonewalling investigations that could throw light on all of it and they never thought Trump would actually fire him. Comey never would have been allowed by his handlers to step away without assuring that someone just as compromised as him could slide immediately into place. And what would have been the point of that?
Andrew E.
June 9, 2017 at 11:15 AM
What an absolute turd Comey has been. I didn’t understand the convulsions when Comey was fired. It was because he was the man on the inside trying to find a way to take Trump out.
And all the while he managed to cultivate an image as a straight shooter. His leaking all over the place, but only of things that hurt Trump, his refusal to report that Trump is not under investigation, his hiding things from Trump, his hiding everything from the committees in Congress that are supposed to have oversight since summer of 2016, his continuous efforts to investigate Trump and associates without any statute being violated, what unbelievable dishonesty.
If you want to talk about an attempted ‘deep state coup’, what could be more deep state than the head of the FBI cultivating a certain image while scheming to get the president impeached?
What lack of integrity and what an act!
Dan
June 9, 2017 at 9:34 AM
I’m starting to think Comey really did hang himself with that memo leaking. NPR had Ben Cardin on this morning, and the host asked if Comey had violated any law there. Now Cardin is a longtime senator from Maryland, a Democrat, a big wig, so he should be very well tuned in to what the spin of the day is. And his answer was that Comey had committed no wrongdoing because the memos were “private papers.”
Which is an extremely unconvincing answer. Comey typed up these memos in a government office, immediately after each meeting, probably on a government computer. If, as he says, he thought Trump was trying to influence the investigation then he had a duty to report this to the DOJ or somebody with power to do something about it, and his excuse is that he did by informing his colleagues in the FBI and sharing with them his memos, in which case they’re an essential part of the government paper trail in justifying his actions vis a vis Trump’s “obstruction.” They can’t be both “private papers” and a key element in his response to Trump’s alleged wrongdoing.
Comey also said that he decided to leak the memo when he woke up in the middle of the night because he was anxious about a Trump tweet. Who makes wise decisions under those conditions?
Richard
June 9, 2017 at 11:00 AM
Very good analysis/summaries coming from you the past few days. Between your post on climate change, trump vs comey and now this one you’re en fuego.
“Comey knows that if you investigate enough, eventually you find something.”
Not just find something but force something. Any investigation will turn up details people are too embarrassed, scared or proud to admit. And THAT is what gets people charged with perjury or obstruction and impeached. I agree that Flynn was targeted as the weakest link. And while he didn’t do anything that rose to the level of perjury or obstruction I have no doubt they would have gone after him until he did.
This investigation has nothing to do with anything Trump or his administration did wrong. And everything to do with digging up something that can be used to pressure them into doing something wrong. It’s also about keeping shit going to undermine his agenda. This isn’t politics as usual. This is an abuse of power by congress and the deep state (and of course the donors and special interests) in collusion with the msm.
They’re so triggered that we peasants revolted against their divine right to rule us that they’re determined to take Trump down by any means necessary. I agree that Comey was trying to engineer a coup against a democratically president under the color of law. And that Trump either figured it out (or was told by someone Comey’s circle what he was up to) and fired him because of it.
This is why I think Democracy is sh*. Because there’s no such thing as democracy. As we’re seeing right now, It’s really an oligarchy hiding behind a veneer of democracy. If we’re going to have an oligarchy then I’d rather it be out in the open. At least then we could demand they be loyal rather than globalist traitors hiding behind politicians.
destructure
June 9, 2017 at 9:57 AM
Because there’s no such thing as democracy. As we’re seeing right now, It’s really an oligarchy hiding behind a veneer of democracy. If we’re going to have an oligarchy then I’d rather it be out in the open. At least then we could demand they be loyal rather than globalist traitors hiding behind politicians.
That’s not the way oligarchies work, that’s how democracies work.
Magnavox
June 9, 2017 at 2:04 PM
That’s not how democracies work. Democracy is a fraud.
destructure
June 9, 2017 at 7:24 PM
Exactly. The Deep State, who already control most of the government apparatus, are eager to establish, in whatever way they can, a legitimate out-of-the-shadows arm in order to obstruct and control the Trump administration publicly.
Panther of the Blogocube
June 9, 2017 at 2:28 PM
Per Spengler:
Democracy is simply the political weapon of money, and the media are the means through which money operates a democratic political system. The “tragic comedy of the world-improvers and freedom-teachers” is that they are simply assisting money to be more effective. In reality, freedom of the press requires money, and entails ownership, thus serving money at the end. Suffrage involves electioneering, in which the donations rule the day. The ideologies espoused by candidates, whether Socialism or Liberalism, are set in motion by, and ultimately serve, only money. “Free” press does not spread free opinion—it generates opinion, Spengler maintains.
Spengler admits that in his era money has already won, in the form of democracy. But in destroying the old elements of the Culture, it prepares the way for the rise of a new and overpowering figure: the Caesar.
Spengler’s analysis of democratic systems argues that even the use of one’s own constitutional rights requires money, and that voting can only really work as designed in the absence of organized leadership working on the election process. As soon as the election process becomes organized by political leaders, to the extent that money allows, the vote ceases to be truly significant. It is no more than a recorded opinion of the masses on the organizations of government over which they possess no positive influence whatsoever.
On the subject of the press, Spengler is equally contemptuous. Instead of conversations between men, the press and the “electrical news-service keep the waking-consciousness of whole people and continents under a deafening drum-fire of theses, catchwords, standpoints, scenes, feelings, day by day and year by year.” Through the media, money is turned into force—the more spent, the more intense its influence.
fakeemail
June 10, 2017 at 11:34 AM
It is obvious the FBI does not have enough evidence of collaboration between the Russians and the Trump campaign to make an arrest or file charges. If they did, people would have already been arrested.
Flynn’s judgment is highly questionable. Flynn is a retired army lieutenant general and the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Flynn retired from DIA and the army in 2014. The rumor is that Flynn was forced to resign because Flynn was abusive with staff, didn’t listen, worked against policy goals and had bad management style.
After he retired from the army, he kept his security clearance and he appeared as a commentator and analyst occasionally on RT (formerly Russia Today), the Russian government owned media network. In December 2015 Flynn attended a dinner celebration for RT in Moscow. Flynn sat at the head table next to Vladimir Putin which came as a shock to American officials. Flynn also gave a talk while in Moscow and was paid at least $45,000.
Retired military intelligence officers like Flynn are required to obtain prior permission to accept payments from foreign governments. Flynn apparently did not obtain prior permission and failed to report the payment when he applied for an extension of his security clearance.
Flynn’s consulting firm also took a $530,000 contract from a Dutch company owned by a Turkish businessman with Russian connections. It has been reported that in September 2016 Flynn attended a meeting in NY with several high level Turkish government officials that proposed kidnapping Fethullah Gulen and sending him to Turkey, Gulen is a Turkish former imam and political leader living exile in the US. Obviously, nothing came of this proposal.
Flynn also lied to the FBI about telephone calls he had with the Russian ambassador.
There are reports that US intelligence intercepted discussions between Russian government officials who believed that they could use Flynn to influence US foreign policy if Trump was elected. RT and other Russian propaganda outlets became much more negative on the Trump administration the day after Flynn was fired, apparently at the order of Putin.
This information certainly raise serious questions about Flynn and his relationship with Russia. It is clear that Flynn has violated some laws, although they may be technical violations. The Russian’s apparently thought they could use Flynn. Was that because Flynn had been compromised? Or because the Russians were paying Flynn? Or because Flynn had just become a big fan of Putin?
mikeca
June 9, 2017 at 10:36 AM
A small amount compared to how much money Bill Clinton got paid for making a speech in Russia.
Lion of the Blogosphere
June 9, 2017 at 2:41 PM
“And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new order to things; for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the old order as his enemies; and he has only lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new. This lukewarmness partly stems from fear of their adversaries, who have the law on their side, and partly from the skepticism of men, who do not truly believe in new things unless they have personal experience in them.” — Niccolo Machiavelli
“Well used are those cruelties (if it is permitted to speak well of evil) that are carried out in a single stroke, done out of necessity to protect oneself, and are not continued but are instead converted into the greatest possible benefits for the subjects. Badly used are those cruelties which. although being few at the outset, grow with the passing time instead of disappearing. Those who follow the first method can remedy their condition with God and with men…; the others cannot possibly survive.” — Niccolo Machiavelli
Trump should have read The Prince and fired Comey as soon as he took office.
Cerberus
June 9, 2017 at 11:16 AM
“Comey knows that if you investigate enough, eventually you find something”
The US legal system is cruel indeed. Ask Conrad Black about that. But this went one further – an attempt to topple the most powerful man on earth merely because of the threat he represents to their power. We knew that Washington hated Trump, and that they would do their utmost to take him down. It’s not over, but at least the biggest snake in the swamp has now had it’s head crushed (and may have bitten itself in it’s dying throes).
Excellent commentary Lion. You nailed it.
gda
June 9, 2017 at 11:56 AM
It’s all still very murky, but I suspect the overall thrust of this sad spectacle was to embarrass Trump. However, the most interesting revalations so far concern Loretta Lynch and her downgrading the probe into Hillary’s emails and her tarmac encounter with Bill Clinton. Will we have hearings about this stuff?
Black Death
June 9, 2017 at 12:09 PM
We also know that Comey hates Trump, and that Comey wants him impeached (if you have even the least ability to read between the lines of Comey’s testimony, then you know that).
Partly because liberals blame him for getting Trump elected so he wants to save his legacy by bringing Trump down
But Trump knowing Comey had already ailienated the left, probably felt Comey was vulnerable enough to persuade (i.e. the left already hates you; don’t make the right hate you too)
pumpkinperson
June 9, 2017 at 3:57 PM
“the left already hates you; don’t make the right hate you too”
Trump needs to follow that advice
Lion o' the Turambar
June 9, 2017 at 5:19 PM
Yeah. Because your judgement when it comes to trump has been so sound in the past.
driveallnight
June 9, 2017 at 7:24 PM
Shouldn’t conservatives be happy with Trump so far? Gorsuch, DeVos, out of the Paris agreement, concrete hopes for deregulation and infrastructure reform, and it looks like the feared trade war with China is not going to happen.
Gozo
June 10, 2017 at 8:23 AM
Conservatives don’t actually care about that stuff. They are all about cuck identity politics and Trump is the wrong kind of person.
Otis the Sweaty
June 11, 2017 at 12:23 PM