Rex Tomb served in the FBI from 1968 until his retirement in 2006. For most of his career he served in the Office of Public Affairs, retiring as Chief of its Investigative Publicity and Public Affairs Unit. His column addresses the firing of FBI Director James Comey.
By Rex Tomb
The timing and handling of this was shocking.
Also, a President who has a courier deliver a termination letter to someone of Comey’s station (who wasn’t even there to receive it) has no class whatsoever.
As to why he was sacked, I’m going to wait and let the dust settle. A couple of things kinda stand out for me, though:
- If Mr. Comey knows/has a lot of incriminating information about the President, it would seem to me that the President would want to handle him with kid gloves. As Lyndon Johnson once said about Mr. Hoover – “I’d rather have him inside the tent pissing out, than on the outside the tent pissing in.”
- I’ll be watching to see who Trump nominates to replace Comey. What kind of person will he choose? If the nominee is highly respected and of good character that’s a signal to me that Comey’s dismissal might be motivated by something other than a cover-up.
- Subpoenas were issued re the Russian probe I believe as late as yesterday, so things are not slowing down. Regardless of who is appointed, the FBI is relentless in their investigations & will not allow ANYONE to stand in their way. They certainly proved that during Mrs. Clinton’s email probe… The Watergate investigation was also relentlessly persued.
- I’m always suspicious of historical comparisons. Many times they turn out to be hysterical comparisons. Another Watergate? Comparing Trump to Hitler? Way too early to tell & history never really repeats itself, though there have certainly been historical variations on a variety of them.
This is one story I plan to follow, and I don’t rule out ANY possibility.
What I will try to resist, however, is allowing my emotions to take control of my brain. I’ve done that before & have almost always regretted it… I had & have a lot of respect for Mr. Comey. They gave him an impossible job and he surely knew it might end this way, but did his duty, nevertheless.
Wonder what I’d do, or for that matter, any of the rest of us?
