President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday leading to a furor from Washington pundits. The talking points and arguments are in full gear now, but the most pernicious and annoying argument comes from those, such as Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC and Austin Sarat from US News and World Report who argue this was treason or an attack on our democracy. That attack shows a continuation of liberal attempts to delegitimize Trump and spin on his use of presidential powers.
This was not the first time a president fired the FBI chief and Comey’s behavior led many on both sides of the political divide to believe his tenure should end. Just a few days ago for example, Hillary Clinton blamed Comey’s behavior for costing her the election. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., expressed little confidence in his ability, and Republicans remained furious that Comey did not prosecute Clinton for failing to secure classified information. More egregiously, when Comey announced his decision not to prosecute Clinton, he assumed the role of prosecutor instead of remaining an investigator.
His zig-zagging throughout the campaign earned him few friends and created many detractors, but his abrupt firing suddenly caused the Democrats to make a stunning reversal. Even though many believed that Comey cost Clinton the election, Democrats saw their opening to defend Comey as a brave public servant unfairly removed from office. They built on their “Russia stole the election narrative” and accused Trump of treason by arguing that Comey was fired for investigating and eventually exposing Trump’s Russian connections.
Though there is absolutely no evidence that Russia affected a single vote, it has become a favorite argument of the Left (after blaming the Electoral College, of course.) They argue that he is trying to make himself above the law by removing law enforcement officials, but he is within his rights to do so, and as reported by OpsLens analyst Jon Harris, there were plenty of non-treasonous reasons to do so.
Read the rest of the piece at OpsLens.
Morgan Deane is an OpsLens Contributor and a former U.S. Marine Corps infantry rifleman.
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