Obama to Nominate Comey as Head of FBI

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The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama plans to nominate James Comey, the former Bush deputy attorney general who became famous for declining to certify the legality of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program, to become head of the FBI:

The White House had narrowed the search in recent days to Comey and Lisa Monaco, a former assistant attorney general for national security who became Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser earlier this year.

Law enforcement and administration officials said the White House was concerned that Monaco’s confirmation process would run into obstacles in Congress. Comey’s nomination, on the other hand, was described by some officials as a symbol of bipartisanship.

Of course. Because everyone knows that nominating a Democrat to run the FBI would be an intolerable provocation.

I sure hope this reporting is wrong. Nominating Comey because he thinks he’s the best person for the job is one thing. But if Obama thinks that nominating Comey will be seen as some kind of bipartisan olive branch, he’s crazy.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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