Trump is behaving even more though he was a NY mob boss -- an incompetent one of course, since he's completely incautious with his statements and tweets. I interpret this as speaking loudly to his mental state with everything closing in on him. I doubt his tweets will be forgotten once the Democrats are back in charge, which could be as early as Jan 2019.* These Trump indiscretions are likely to come back and bite him in the ass. Trump has apparently let the power of the Presidency blind him to the risks he is taking. It's extraordinary! One does not see this in stable, competent people. Nothing at all like Nixon who, like Trump, was a criminal, but a cautious one, when in the Oval office behind closed doors, but presented an entirely different persona to the public eye. *Now that the number of those around our mentally compromised President who might have acted as a source of reason have been seriously decimated, can we begin to expect that Trump will stop at nothing. He has already said he could murder someone on Fifth Ave. and get away with it. Although it seems the crazy stuff of our resident conspiracy theorists (where is jem?), will Trump be so bold as to enlist St. Petersburg's help in fixing the November election? I assume they still have the Cambridge Analytica files? And the intelligence community has been warned. Trump will probably focus on Mueller next. Sessions, who surely must have a closet full of skeletons, appears scared shitless of him. Trump has efficiently delivered his message to Jeff. "This is what happens to those who stand in my way." At the moment, I would like to know how far from retirement the FBI's IG is?
You can officially put me down for taking the other side of that trade. Even aside from anything else that the IG has, there are enough issues openly on the record to justify his firing. Failure to recuse based on donations to wife, holding on to and not revealing to other department members new Huma emails for a full month after he knew about them in an attempt to let the election pass first, failure to remove Ohr from conflicted interactions with Fusion, and then lying to the IG and other DOJ personnel about all those matters. Nope. The IG has sufficient known issues, and a deep, deep pit filled with other issues that will come out drip, drip, drip as segments of his reports are released soon. And then there are other issues that will not come out until he has completed his investigation even after his report comes out. Keep in mind that the IG and the Department have copies of all of McCabes emails- and even though the court has ordered them to be released, DOJ will not do it because they argue that it is part of a criminal investigation. Since there is ZERO chance already that a case can be made that there is no basis or evidence for firing McCabe, you can assume that another six months of this unfolding will only work against him. Here's where we can both go kumbaya though: The IG reports equally to Congress and the DOJ. It is fully within the oversight authority of the Intel Committee to hold hearings on the firing of McCabe and I presume that we are both all for that. You think it will help him and I think it will dig him in deeper. That's fine. I am up for that. If McCabe has something to say for himself to help even the score, then I will watch. Keep in mind though, that the last time McCabe appeared before Congress, he felt a sudden need to announce his resignation the next day so he might want to work on that routine a little.
I will currently agree "I am on the other side of this trade". However I am willing to change my position if more information comes out that clearly makes the case that McCabe was properly fired. The primary issue at the moment is the total lack of standard documentation that is normally available when the FBI fires an employee. For instance where is the supporting statement from the I.G.'s Office of Professional Responsibility. We will see what comes out over the next few weeks.... and I am willing to alter my position if the facts support it.
It's there for those who have a need to know when a personnel matter is ongoing and/or a criminal investigation. You are not one of those who has a right to see it at this time but the IG may choose to release it or not. The internal review committee that signed off on the firing would have reviewed all of that and they heard from McCabe as part of the process and again when he went in to plead for his case again on Friday, I think it was or Thursday. His supporting statement definitely exists though as it would be part of the referral and recommendation that the IG made. And Sessions quoted from it in his statement.
The IG and people in charge of the oversight are allegedly handovers from previous adminstration, so the allegations may hold merit. What doesn't, and experts agree, is the expedience in which it took place, and the lack of supporting documents handed to the defense.