Welcome to Thunderdome, Sean. In case you didn’t know it, the Administration’s explanations for firing FBI Director James Comey have fallen apart. Here are all of the things that happened since you’ve been gone (with few exceptions):
- Sarah Huckabee Sanders, your likely replacement in a few weeks, told reporters yesterday that the White House hoped terminating Comey would help bring the investigation to a conclusion.
- Trump admitted he was going to fire Comey regardless of Rosenstein’s memo.
- At the same time as Trump tried to undermine this investigation, the acting FBI director informed Congress that the bureau views this investigation as “highly significant.”
- Trump tried to extract a loyalty pledge from Comey, despite the fact that FBI directors are supposed to enforce law independent of political pressure.
- Also, legal experts have confirmed the total impropriety of Trump’s questioning of a sitting FBI director about the investigation he was leading into potential collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russian hackers who rigged the election in his favor.
Against the backdrop of the Comey firing, the public has also learned that the Trump Administration is working behind closed doors under former Goldman Sachs executive and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to neuter key Wall Street reforms put in place after the financial crisis, and that the “victory” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross claimed after negotiations with China was just old and empty news.
American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah calls on White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to answer the following questions:
- This morning Trump tweeted that there are “tapes” of his conversation with James Comey. For the sake of accountability and transparency, when will you release these “tapes” of conversations between Trump and Comey (after converting them to a digital format)?
- Why should we trust anyone that speaks from the White House podium to tell the truth?
- Why do the “few exceptions” outlining Trump’s Russia ties seem to be missing key examples?
- China has previously made the trade promises Trump tweeted about this morning, but not acted on them. Why should we believe when Donald Trump says this time is different?
- During the campaign Trump alleged that several opponents were “bought” by Wall Street, but today Bloomberg reports that the administration is working behind closed doors to undermine post-financial crisis reforms. Why should the standard he applied to others just month ago not apply to President Trump?
Published: May 12, 2017