Fact Check: Americans lied! President Nixon never fired an FBI Director; Clinton did

by Ezinne Ajoku

Trump has fired James Comey as FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Director and Americans are beside themselves with rage.

According to President Donald Trump, this is why Mr Comey was relieved of his position:

“While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau.

“It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission.”

But Democrats have advanced a different reason for Trump’s decision:

To buttress Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) tweet, Congressman Seth Moulton said:

The icing on the cake is this one by Senator Bob Casey:

But is this correct?

 

It depends on which side of the coin one is looking at.

TECHNICALLY

First of all, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has existed for just over a century and in all its years of existence, firing an FBI director has been a rarity. Perhaps because the agency is so old. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation was created within the Department of Justice by Attorney General Charles Bonaparte in 1908 at the urging of Stanley Finch, who pushed for Justice to have its own investigatory team. Finch became the first head of the Bureau of Investigation,” the Washington Post writes.

Of its 109 years of existence, only 11 people (all men) have held the position of director and 7 others have served as acting directors in between confirmations. Of those 11,  J. Edgar Hoover ran the agency for nearly half of its existence. “Hoover was the director of the bureau for 44 percent of the time that there has been an FBI.” So Hoover takes a good portion of the blame for why the Bureau has been mostly dismissal-free.  Again, directors are rarely ever fired because of their long term of office- usually 10 years. Until 24 years ago. Director William Sessions, who served from 1987 to 1993 – he, it was, who first broke the jinx on that good fortune.

The Post’s 1993 story explains why Sessions was terminated — and who was responsible for pulling the plug.

Apparently, William Sessions tenure was mired in ‘ethical lapses’ like using government money to fund his lifestyle. For example, he charged the government for personal travel, billed the FBI nearly $10,000 for a fence around his home, and refusing to turn over documents on his $375,000 home mortgage, which investigators said they suspected involved a “sweetheart deal.”

President Bill Clinton personally called Sessions to fire him.

But J. Edgar Hoover, who served at the pleasure of at least six presidents ( President Calvin Coolidge through President Nixon) was never fired by President Nixon.  He was appointed in 1924 by Coolidge and died in office before Nixon’s watergate scandal blew up.  Even though Presidents Truman and Kennedy toyed with the idea of firing him, his political strength intimidated them.

So yes, the president of the Nixon Library is right.

FAIR COMPARISON?

“This really is astonishing. The most immediate comparison is the Saturday Night Massacre … by firing Comey, Trump is asserting his control over the FBI on the political level.”
-Scott Horton, a New York attorney and expert in international law.

“This is a Nixonian move clearly designed to take out the man who was investigating collusion with a foreign power. We are in a completely new space. It will blow past Watergate. Nixon was being investigated for crimes. This is when the FBI is in the middle of a counter-espionage investigation. This is a spy hunt. We have never had that in the White House. This is third world dictator stuff.”
-Malcolm Nance, a former navy cryptographer and author of a book on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election

What’s the comparison between Trump firing Comey and Nixon’s Watergate scandal?

In June 17, 1972, VOX reports, “five men were caught attempting to bug the Democratic National Committee’s offices in the Watergate, a residential/office complex in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of DC.

Three of them were Cuban by background, a fourth was an American who had participated in the botched Bay of Pigs invasion, and the fifth was a former CIA employee. They were found with two listening devices, and two ceiling panels in an office adjacent to that of DNC chair Lawrence O’Brien were removed, suggesting that the burglars were attempting to bug O’Brien’s office.”

This was not the first of such break-ins. President Nixon had operatives who engaged in a slew of criminal mostly to sabotage his political opponent. His White House had an investigative unit known as the “plumbers” who were tasked with much of this. The White House was also completely bugged, saved for Nixon’s bedroom and some other quarters. Few persons, apart from Nixon knew about this.  So when his administration was found out to be complicit in the break-in, Nixon tried to ensure that the White House tapes did not get out.

In 1973 “Saturday night massacre”, President Richard Nixon dismissed Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor appointed to look into the Watergate affair. He was a former solicitor general from the Kennedy administration and a Harvard Law professor. Cox had subpoenaed the tapes, which proved that Nixon was complicit in the Watergate scandal but the White House refused to budge. After offering Cox a compromise which he refused, Nixon ordered the Attorney-General, Eliot Richardson to fire Cox. Eliot refused and resigned. The new acting Attorney General, William Ruckelshaus followed suit. Eventually, the third in command at the Justice Department, Solicitor General Robert Bork fired Cox. The office of special prosecutor was abolished, and the investigation was sent back to the Justice Department proper.

That singular action set in motion a chain of events that led to Nixon’s resignation.

This is what Senator Bob Casey and other democratic leaders mean when they tag Trump’s move “Nixonian” but is it actually the same thing or are they merely spouting conspiracy theories out of frustration?

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s campaign have been subjects of the FBI’s counter-intelligence investigation.

It is common knowledge that the FBI director, Comey,  was overseeing an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. It is also common knowledge that he was conducting an investigation into Trump’s campaign and their ties with the Russians. He had even issued subpoenas for a grand jury. Comey had also indicated that he was investigating leaks from inside the FBI to the Trump campaign in the course of the election.

US Intelligence agencies concluded in a January report that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an effort to disrupt the US election in Trump’s favour.

Therefore, the timing of this throws some suspicion on Trump’s motives. However, Trump has from day one of the campaign trail, set himself apart as contrary so there may be nothing more to this decision than that Trump doesn’t want to work with Comey anymore. On the other hand, Comey has perjured himself on the stand, said different things about Hillary Clinton, usurped authority and therefore lost the ethical ground to remain director of the agency.

Whether or not there are merits to Trump re-enacting watergate, only time will tell.

[Read also]: “The New York Times asks its readers to say something nice about Trump and Twitter blows up”

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