It appears that President Trump fired James Comey as FBI Director because he wouldn't commit to being loyal to him. Evidently, Trump asked this of Comey during a one on one White House dinner several days after Trump announced that Comey would remain on the job. Comey would only commit to being honest with Trump.
But Trump doesn't want to be told he's not wearing any clothes. No doubt Trump had buyer's remorse from that point on and was looking for a reason to dump him. Comey's misstatement of facts of the Hillary Clinton email investigation during congressional testimony gave Trump his reason. But Trump could not stick to the script from the moment he wrote of Comey's assurances that he was not under investigation.
No President of the United States should ask the FBI Director or any other civilian or military official within the federal government for loyalty to him. The FBI Director takes an oath to support and defend The Constitution of the United States, not the President of the United States. If Trump's next FBI Director is required to give an oath of loyalty to him, whether done in public or in private, is yet another leap taken from democracy to authoritarianism.
I can only recall one Western world leader in the 1930s who demanded a personal loyalty oath.
ReplyDeleteAnd eventually that ended badly for everyone.