If President Donald Trump has had a couple of lousy weeks, it is still considerably better than the experience of his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Not only has the media reported (and the White House has not denied) that Trump overruled his security and legal advisers in ordering a clearance for Kushner, but Kushner is the subject of a new book and confirms earlier accounts that he was the mastermind behind the disastrous decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey. What is striking about the account in Vicky Ward’s new book, Kushner, Inc. is how clueless Kushner (and by extension the President) seemed about the likely response to the firing. With every other advisor, including Steve Bannon, warning of the inevitable backlash and disaster, Trump went with Kushner and fired Comey. The result was the Special Counsel appointment. Had Trump let Comey finish the investigation and then fired him, the Russian investigation would have likely ended many months ago.
In addition Kushner has been accused this week of using private or personal email for official business despite years of controversies over such use and his own father-in-law’s campaign on the issue against Hillary Clinton.
Ward quotes sources as saying that Kushner made an impassioned case for firing Comey — predicting that the FBI rank-and-file would be thrilled as would Democrats. Of course, the firing made Comey into a martyr and led to the predictable demand for a Special Counsel. Indeed, I was one of those who expressed skepticism over the need to appoint a Special Counsel without more clear evidence of criminal conduct. I immediately called for such an appointment after Comey was fired despite my criticism of his performance as Director. The firing has been widely described by Republicans and Democrats as one of the greatest blunders in American politics.
To make matters worse, Ward notes that, during this period, Kushner was not only having trouble on his clearance but his own meetings with a Russian banker and diplomat was making news.
I am not convinced that there is a nexus between those issues or a deeper motivation on the part of Kushner. The most likely explanation is simple naivete by a political novice in Washington. No one in Washington would seriously argue that firing Comey would be a positive move and it was clear that the move would create an existential threat to the Administration.
On top of all this bad press, Kushner has even been pulled into the college admissions scandal over his own controversial admission into Harvard.
So if the firing of Comey was legitimate, as even he testified when before Congress, does it really matter who suggested it to President Trump?
Also, since Comey was very likely one of the key people involved in the Russia “scandal,” is it really reasonable to think he would have reached a conclusion so quickly? Remember that he was very responsible for closing the inquiry into the Hillary Clinton “matter” because he wanted to see her elected President.
My opinion: I think he would have dragged his “inquisition” into the Trump-Russia affair further out than even his best friend Robert Muller was able.
Greatest blunder? If there is one thing clear from all of this it is that Comey was rightly fired. If you did not think so at the time, his behavior since has confirmed it.
Professor,
Vicky Ward has been Editor at Large for Huffington Post, which is the National Enquirer of political publications.
Personally, I would not take her opinions and her “sources” seriously.
TRUMP, JARED AND IVANKA WERE ALL POLITICAL NOVICES
A new president with no political experience is bound to make mistakes. Yet Trump brought Jared and Ivanka to the White House as Senior Advisors. How was that allowed to pass??
It suggests that Trump refused to heed advice from anyone with experience. No wonder he wound up with a Special Counsel probe! It happens to novices who think their gut instincts are infallible.
“Had Trump let Comey finish the investigation and then fired him, the Russian investigation would have likely ended many months ago.”
A guess by Professor Turley that carries no weight at all. Professor Turley seems to be engaging in too much piece work and it is starting to seem that some of his ideas might conflict with one another.
Allen, JT is hedging his bet Months ago he wrote that there was nothing there, let’s move on. Now JT wants to play both sides of the fence. Something has changed his mind. But like art, it’s in the eye of the beholder.
+10
FishWings, Turley is center left and dislikes Trump and has been brought up in the establishment. I like him but I think his innate personality is too far to the left for me, to accepting of the academic elite and too disliking of the way Trump handles himself (not that important). These things permit him to neglect the real story whether pro or con Trump. I also think he has to demonstrate his adaptability towards the PC crowd and leftists. If he doesn’t do that a source of his income will disappear and he might be put in the same boat as Alan Dershowitz who has lost all his friends. Turley still has children that he has to watch out for so l understand his dilemma.
If you review what Turley has written over a period of years not on this blog you will note he now stays away from certain issues or skirts them. He has little choice unless he wishes to do so under an assumed name like many people I know have been forced to do.
Sounds like more the opposite in the war against the anti constitutionalist left After it was the left that coined ‘appearance of impropriety’ and passed the 18 year write off, and okayed by example the victimization of women, and ‘balanced budget’ a number of other but none as bad as War Powers Act. Not to mention the new deal which means only the President makes the deals and the US Military is this administrations greatest enemy. The left has zero room to talk including why aren’t they impeaching their own mistakes or refusing to seat their own mistakes.
I think it’s time for Jared to retire to minding his other private business. His judgment on policy and government is weak. Trump is loyal to a fault, he would have done better with Chris Christie, whom Jared shunted aside. Fire Jared
The idea – relayed by Turley – that rank and file FBI agents would be thrilled by Comey’s firing is ludicrous. Comey was much admired in the agency for much the same reason as he was nationally as a straight shooter and stand up leader who had his agents back. I know DOJ people who work closely with agents, including having won an FBI award.
Turley has been infected with too much GOP/Trump propaganda which like it’s story on Mueller which seeks to sully what is an almost universally held – see previous GOP leaders statements on both of them – admiration.
.
Anon:
For all your bluster and non-sequitur conclusions, you’re right about the FBI rank and file sentiment of Comey. He had a lot of us fooled who knew him. The ones not fooled were those attorneys he worked for in the various US attorneys offices. They knew the self-serving schmuck he was.
As for all the effusive praise lavished on just about anyone in DC by everyone else in DC, I can only guess you haven’t been around that back-slapping, back-stabbing, backwardly moral crowd. Beneath those Armanis and Canalis are reptiles.
My source is a non-political hard working AUSA – in DC for a few years and now elsewhere – who through investigations is also very close to agents.
PS My thoughts – not my sources – are that Comey’s fault was his self importance, moral and otherwise, which is different than corruption or partisanship. He took his own purity too seriously and Dudley Doo Right crashed through the glass and into the wedding cake.
nonpolitical AUSA? what is that, a leopard without spots?
AUSA are not political appointees and my source works well and professionally with people of varying political stripes which, by the way, has nothing to do with their job of prosecuting criminals
you’re a federal employee bootlicker I can tell.
you’re also kidding yourself if you think ANY appointee position is not political. Keep on dreamin kid
You’re a j… o.. I can tell. No, I own a small business and have made payroll for over 40 years.
My source is a hard worker who in his job has gone after Democratic office holders, corrupt federal agents, MS13 gangs, Asian mafia lords, and Russian Bit Coin thieves. I don’t think bootlicking is in his job description.
Maybe you do something more important and valuable for society.
Anon…….are you a girl business owner or a boy business owner?
Boy/man
Anon……….and at birth, also? Boy/man?
Anon……I was trying to seriously ask if you’re a transngendered person.
but yiu don’t have to answer.
You first “Cindy”
Anon……..I am female. Have never been or wanted to be a man. Was not even a tomboy growing up.
I was painfully girly growing up. I still don’t pump my own gasoline because it’s not feminine.
Yesterday I was forced to pump gasoline because I was on a day trip to see wildflowers with my young grandsons. All of a sudden I saw that I was very low on fuel and did not have enough for return trip home.
So I stopped at a filling station in another small town and pumped gas. It did not end well….I got gasoline on the rear side of my sedan and the cement, and had to re insert my card 4 times….I kept screwing it up…I absolutely hated that experience. If you’re ever at the Valero on Hwy 290 in Brenham, Tx.., you would do well not to mention my name.🤠
Cindy, I was born and still am male, married to the same woman I fell for in my early 20s for many decades now. She pumps gas, but I still kill or catch the spiders and take the garbage out.
Did you say “federal employee?”
None of that is constitutional and all “employees” and “departments” must be privatized causing necessary “regulation” to be effected and funded by the related industries, all the while under the threat of criminal prosecution and civil litigation.
Shut it down!
Understanding that the only constitutional regulation is that of commerce, trade or exchange “…among the several states…” to preclude favor or bias by one state over another, privatization is the constitutional resolution and mandate.
Make America Constitutional Again!
Stay on their azzes George, you’re on target! Thanks!
At his last appearance before Congress as FBI Director, a few days before he was fired, a Senator accurately noted that Comey was “about as popular as cholera” among both Democrats and Republicans”.
Comey’s defenders we’re few and far between, and his blunders justifiably damaged his reputation.
And the reputation of the FBI. I have no way of knowing what those who, are now, embracing and praising Comey were saying about him before he was fired.
But getting fired by Trump, or otherwise becoming a Trump enemy like Michael Cohen, is a good step for rehabilitation and revisionism when former critics of both now want to “adopt” them.
Anyone with very short or very selective memories should go back and read contemporaneous articles about Comey written in the final 6-10 months before he was fired.
He had very little support from either Democrats or Republicans. As far as speculation about how Comey was regarded by rank-and-file FBI agents, the theories and claims are all over the place.
It may be that we’ll get a more accurate picture of how Comey was regarded by those agents as they retire, and are freer to speak out.
I think you now have 2 sources from both sides who confirm Comey’s reputation among agents was very high. That support was similar with politicians on both sides of the aisle before the presidential campaign.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-23/rank-and-file-fbi-agents-sickened-comey-and-mccabe-want-come-forward-and-testify
We can play the “dueling sources” game all day long.
I can post links to a dozen similar articles, and doing so doesn’t mean jack****.
Just as citing the “2 sources” means squat.
Dude, DiGenova is a long standing right wing hack going back 20 years and we know about :The Daily Caller”. Undoubtedly ideologues can find “a few” agents who won’t like anybody. I am telling you what a very close and non-political source within the DOJ who works closely with agents knows and mespo above confirms – Comey was respected and liked by agents.
“Dude”,
Try reading a cross-section of opinions about Comey, especially before he was fired.
As I mentioned earlier, we can go back and forth all day long citing all kinds of sources giving conflicting opinions as to Comey’s standing among rank and file FBI agents.
The most realistic assessments from those agents might come after they are retired.
It’s not like there is some polling done among those agents that gives us an accurate picture of how Comey was viewed by those agents.
My hunch is that it’s a mixed bag, and I qualify that as a hunch without pretending to be “in the know” re Comey’s reputation within the FBI.
I’m “in the know” on Comey’s reputation within the agency.
You don’t have to hate everything about someone to still find fault with them or oppose something he’s done. It’s a lie that he was not popular in the agency, no matter what else you want to fault him for.
popular in agency, ok, so what? I’m not some FBI sycophant who cares. maybe you are?
The main thing that both Republicans and Democrats can all agree upon, is that he screwed up badly overstepping his bounds on Hillary. that was not a cop’s call that was a prosecutor’s call. That was Lynch’s call not his. Major screw up and huge political miscalculation that leaves us all in the same impasse where we still are, in the wake of it.
With all due respect, I will take an anonymous anon’s statement that Anon is privy to information from anonymous sources for what it’s worth.
Tom, Trump never should have given that interview to Lester Holt. And he never should have invited the Russian Ambassador to assure him Comey was gone. Those two moves were about the stupidest things any new president ever did.
I’ve said the same thing more than once in these threads.
The firing of Comey by itself may not have made the appointment of a Special Counsel inevitable; Trump’s statements made right after firing Comey virtually guaranteed there’d be a SC.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/23/washington-dc-the-psychopath-capital-of-america-218892
What, the Prince and Princess are using private e-mail for private business and government business? on unsecured phones? With top level intel? With leaders of foreign nations? Lock them up right? Nahhhh, nothing to see here, lets move on. Now if we could only get a investigation of Hillary and lock her up.
+100
If “the Prince and Princess” are or were mishandling classified material by use of private email or unsecured phones, we know that they are merely “extremely careless”.
Tip-toeing around possible criminal charges by studiously avoiding words like “gross negligence” should satisfy those who think the “downgrading” Hillary’s mishandling of classified material was proper.
Unless they’re avid fans of double-standards.
Republican Volleyball Head Syndrome.
trump campaigned on the theme of The system is rigged, she never should’ve been allowed to run, Crooked H, Lock Her Up. The emails, emails, emails were Exhibit A in Trump’s campaign theme. But like YONT keeps telling us, “Its Okay If You’re A Republican.”
Because there’s no known cure for Republican Volleyball Head Syndrome. None.
I know that the concept of equal treatment under the law is upsetting and offensive to a hyperpartisan clown and propandist like L4B. I hope it does not cause her to much distress when I point out consistency in applying the law should be at least an ideal.
That concept or ideal is obviously meaningless to L4B.
If this were a normal exchange with a normal person, I would ask what the person thinks should happen to Ivanka/ Kushner) Jr. if they were found to have mishandled classified material. I know from experience that it is unrealistic to expect a straight answer from a chicken**** games- player like L4D.
She seemed to have a problem with my use of the word “duplicitous”, so I’ll accommodate her by substituting the more colorful description.
Sort of like recognizing the Golan as part of Israel after Israel expelled Syrians from that region, and negatively sanctioning Russia for annexing Crimea where the population requested to be part of Russia.
you’re taking a dig at Trump here Sam which is not well founded
first of all his twitter declaration about Golan has no legal significance.
it’s probably just a boost for his buddy Bibi in the elections there.
second of all sanctions did have legal signficance. so the two are not compable.
thirdly, it is true the Crimeans want to be part of Russia and had a legit vote there which proved it. it was at least as legit as the Kosovars seceeding from Serbia. hence, I believe it was improper for sanctions to be imposed on Russia for the Crimean thing. but nobody cares what I think. and the candidate I voted for in part because he said positive diplomatic things about Russia, has been badgered from day one by frustrated losers falsely accusing him of being a “russian asset” …. had Trump vetoed the sanctions bill, his veto would have been over-ridden, anyways, so he made the right political choice and signed it.
Samantha, where were you when the Syrians were continuously assaulting Israel from the Golan heights without provocation? No where. A nation has a right to defend its borders and after almost 3/4 of a century of being attacked from the Golan Israel refuses to permit the perpetrators to again occupy the area and attack Israel from it.
the mastermind behind the disastrous decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey.
Comey’s was fired for cause, and deserved to be. There was no disaster incorporated into his dismissal.
Like so many Presidents, Trump failed to realize the biggest threat to his administration isn’t political but legal. DOJ considers itself the independent arbiter of the law running roughshod over Presidents, judges and Congress. It’s a legal monopoly on the law and ought to be broken up like any monopoly. It’s too big, too powerful and deems itself accountable to no one. Don’t think so? Rod Rosenstein still works there.
Well, break it up.
1. Assign the Attorney-General, the division chiefs, and the U.S. attorneys the task of representing the government as plaintiff and plaintiff-appellant, consequent to referrals from federal agencies.
2. Assign the task of co-ordinating representation of the government as defendant and friend of the court to another official, the U.S. Counsel.
3. Organize protective services into at least four cabinet departments: one for civil defense and rescues, one for prisons and detention centers, one for investigations, and one for security services at federal installations and mobile dignitary protection. You can assign federal marshals, the customs inspectorate, the border patrol, and the transit security to one of these departments or create another department. The military would retain its MPs and inter-service investigatory services and the Congress would retain its in-house security. The FBI would be broken up as well into a series of specialized bureaux.
UH, so protection of Trump now requires knee capping the DOJ and making it a fully dependent Administration tool. Got it!
By the way, Rosenstein the Republican has had a much admired and ethical career, incl US Attorney in Baltimore. I know someone who has interacted with him personally on a prosecution of two corrupt federal agents out of that office and his concern was in getting to the bottom of it, not politics or a.s covering. We are lucky that he was a Republican and on someones list for his present appointment.
UH, so protection of Trump now requires knee capping the DOJ and making it a fully dependent Administration tool. Got it!
It does for obvious reasons. It’s a self-serving apparat as we speak, and a tool of partisan interests. That’s what Democrats want.
It’s not done in state and local government to assemble functions of this sort under one roof.
So, the element of DOJ independence and it’s required fealty to the law, not only the executive branch, makes it a tool of partisan interests which only the President and his minio… sorry, allies in Congress can correct. Do I have that right?
I did not know that.
The Obama-Holder-Lynch model might have been an unrealistic expectation of Trump as he entered office.
He “did not know” that the mutual partisan ass-kissing between the White House and DOJ enjoyed by the previous administration would not be a feature of his DOJ.
Anon,
I’m glad I was able to catch your post here as you leave no doubt you’re a total Whack Job!
Eureka! Voila! Congratulations!
Wipe the “sleep” from your eyes.
Now that you’re conscious and functioning, read the “manifest tenor” of the Constitution. The entire American welfare state is false, illegal and unconstitutional including, but not limited to, affirmative action, quotas, welfare, food stamps, social services, forced busing, utility subsidies, WIC, TANF, HAMP, HARP, Education, Labor, Obamacare, Obamaphones, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Medicare, Medicaid, “Fair Housing,” laws, “Non-Discrimination” laws, etc.
Government was constructed to be infinitesimal and exists solely to facilitate the freedom and free enterprise of individuals.
the special counsel law needs to be fixed, that’s a lot more simple and doable reform
Still upset by his sabotaging Hillary’s campaign I see.
Where was Jared Kushner born? Does he take LSD? He looks wacko.
he is indeed a nutty looking geek. I bet the Trump boys have a bucketfuls of laughs about what a wimp their sister is married too. Do they beat him up for fun, at thanksgivings? lol
but you can’t judge a book by its cover. jared is psychologically tough, ruthless, and cunning. which is why DJT prolly likes him and listens to him. probably smarter than his brother in laws, by far.
Yes, I understand his negotiations to become Charles Kushner’s son were not for those with weak stomachs or afraid of blood. Nothing has been seen like that in NYC since Donald Trump won the appointment as Fred’s oldest.
you’re clueless lady
That’s sir, Mack.
More Nothing Burgers from McMuellers. Do we at least get “freedom fries” with that?
Compare and contrast Comey to new FBI Director Christopher Ray. Comey was a political hack while Ray keeps head down, and quietly does his job – including cleaning house i.e. jettisoned McCabe and other bad actors. Turley seems to base his characterization of the Comey firing being a “disastrous decision” on the political fallout and not the merits of the decision. End result is that we have a better FBI director in place today and Trump did his job by making that move. The bold move by Trump to fire Comey and replace with an upgrade will bode well for Trump in 2020 election – shows proven leadership. On the other side there is a lefty loon standing on restaurant bars/tables and apologizing for a playful and supportive comment about his loyal wife, and for good/proactive measure apologized for his white privilege. Compare and contrast.
Good comment!
“Comey was a political hack” says Fox Propaganda News which plants lies in the rich soil of weak, vulnerable minds, about 1/3 of the US adult population. The Base. Period. Full stop. To paraphrase Jefferson, “When morons vote the American Experiment will be toast.”
Dear Acrimonious: I do not rely on Fox News to form my viewpoints, but rather abide by the Steve Mariucci school of thought: “Believe what you see”. And this man sees Comey as a political hack. Hope that clears that up for ya.
Ray is doing a good job and trying to keep his head down while meanwhile the President and his own party are busy trashing and trying to politicize the FBI every chance they get. Comey was too self important but he was no political hack. If he was, how’d he manage to make Trump the president with his October surprise at the same time as being accused of protecting Hillary? Why did he do it? Two reasons. He feared anti-Hillary agents in the NY office were going to leak it, and he considered his promise to Congress – not legally binding – as more important than it’s obvious and predictable effect on a presidential election. That is self importance of an otherwise ethical strain taken to extremes
And to quote Anon: “Hey you kids! Get off my lawn!”
Turley wrote, “Had Trump let Comey finish the investigation and then fired him, the Russian investigation would have likely ended many months ago.”
The FBI agents conducting the background check on Kushner would have discovered the June 9th, 2016, Trump Tower meeting even if Comey had not been fired. The discovery of the June 9th, 2016, Trump Tower meeting would have led to the appointment of a special counsel even if Comey had not been fired. The special counsel would have executed search warrants on Paul Manafort even if Comey had not been fired. The warrant returns on Paul Manafort would have led to pretty much everything that special counsel Mueller has uncovered even if Comey had not been fired.
BTW, Trump fired Lt. Gen Michael T. Flynn well before Trump fired Comey. So, had a special counsel NOT been appointed, Flynn would have had to have proffered a cooperation agreement with The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office. And that proffer and cooperation from Flynn almost certainly would have led to the appointment of a special counsel–even if Comey had not been fired.
Nice try though. Remember: “If we all close our eyes, no one will be able to see us.”
P. S. Who hired this Kushner fellow, anyhow? Might it have been the same guy who refuses to fire Kushner? Why not? What sort of kompromat does this Kushner fellow have on Trump, anyhow?
The town drunk, L4D is back in the bar room asking questions.
P. S. Who hired this Kushner fellow, anyhow? Might it have been the same guy who refuses to fire Kushner? Why not? What sort of kompromat does this Kushner fellow have on Trump, anyhow?
Answer: Who Cares
Evidently, Professor Turley cares. Otherwise, he would not have offered his original post for this thread, today.
P. S. If you read between the lines, Turley is shifting the blame for the Comey firing from Trump onto Kushner. Chances are that The Professor has never watched a single episode of The Apprentice, starring . . . Donald Trump. You know. The guy with the registered trade mark on the catch phrase “You’re fired.”
That means what to mean. You don’t agree with leadership instead of pandering pussyfooters who count up campaign dollars first as more important than all else?
While it should have said “That means what to me – as an independent self governing citizen of the group with the largest voting bloc in 2016” as written it still makes more sense. I like the smell of scorched tennies in the morning and watching the other side beat the feet of retreat.
it’s the Smell of Victory!
Dear Who Cares, Calling L4D “The town drunk” is going too far. Though she does have delusional views – she is playful and not mean-spirited.
Aw shucks!
Bill Martin,
I think “the town drunk” phrase used by “Who Cares” was actually an attempt to provide a diminished capacity defense for what L4B publishes here in here columns.
Viewed in that light, maybe the town drunk description was put out there as an excuse for her loony comments here.
Somebody tries to do her a favor😇, and you say that’s “going too far”.😉😀😁
Your fearless leader is running and hiding behind Israel and The Jews and the supposed fact that “The people won’t stand for it,” if the Mueller report goes against him. What wheedling little school girl, Trump is.
Own it.
Perhaps L4B would now like to see another Special Counsel appointed to investigate Trump and “The Jews”.
Late4……We csn’t own something that doesn’t exist. Nothing you described is reality.
Get a grip, girl.