Happy Mother's Day to All. I got some good news from the TL kids (there are now two) which I can now share. [More....]

Donald Trump tells NBC's Lester Holt he decided to fire Comey before asking for Rosenstein's report.

"I was going to fire Comey-- my decision. There is no good time to do it, by the way," Trump told NBC News’s Lester Holt. “I was going to fire regardless of recommendation."

This contradicts Trump's firing letter which said he was acting at the recommendation of Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod J. Rosenstein in firing Comey.

His staff said several times he talked to Sessions and Rosenstein about Comey on Monday and decided to fire him Tuesday based on their recommendation. [More...]

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe would not tell Congress if Trump was under investigation.

In an FOIA case pending in federal court in the District of Columbia, filed by Ryan Shapiro and Jason Leopold, the FBI has been a little more forthcoming.

In August, 2016, Shapiro and Leopold, in separate FOIA requests, asked for:

“disclosure of any and all records, including investigative records, mentioning or referring to Donald J. Trump’s statement on 27 July, 2016 [regarding Secretary Hillary Clinton’s State Department emails], ‘Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,’ and ‘I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.’”

The FBI did not timely respond, so they sued. Their cases are consolidated. In its first response, the FBI refused to confirm or deny there were documents that were responsive to the request.[More...]

Donald Trump's approval rating keeps on slipping. A new Quinnipiac University national poll released today (and conducted before Comey's firing)reports a 58 percent job disappproval rating. His approval rating is 36%.

Among the big losses: "white voters with no college degree, white men and independent voters."

• 66% believe he is not level-headed
• 64% believe he does not share their values
• 61% believe he is not honest.
• 59% believe he doesn't care about average Americans.

[More...]

The firing of James Comey is still big in the news. Here's some things reported today.

The New York Times reports just days ago Comey sought more money to investigate Russian interference in the presidential election. The request was made to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. A DOJ spokesperson denies it.

The new acting director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, according to this March 28, 2017 letter from Republican Senator Charles Grassley to Comey says McCabe is the subject of an OIG investigation. [More...]

I'm a little late to the news but Donald Trump fired James Comey.

How did it happen? Apparently

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein made the case for it, Attorney General Jeff Sessions agreed, and President Trump ultimately pulled the trigger.

Here are the termination letters.

What a hail storm we had yesterday. This is not snow, but hail.

Time for a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Pro Publica reports James Comey's testimony to Congress this week was inaccurate as to some major details.

FBI officials have privately acknowledged that Comey misstated what Abedin did and what the FBI investigators found. On Monday, the FBI was said to be preparing to correct the record by sending a letter to Congress later this week. But that plan now appears on hold, with the bureau undecided about what to do.

....Abedin forwarded only a handful of Clinton emails to her husband for printing — not the “hundreds and thousands” cited by Comey. It does not appear Abedin made “a regular practice” of doing so .......None of the messages carried classified markings at the time they were sent.

...According to two sources familiar with the matter — including one in law enforcement — Abedin forwarded only a handful of Clinton emails to her husband for printing — not the “hundreds and thousands” cited by Comey. It does not appear Abedin made “a regular practice” of doing so. Other officials said it was likely that most of the emails got onto the computer as a result of backups of her Blackberry.

The Washington Post has more.

How annoying for El Chapo's wife Emma and El Chapo that this young woman keeps showing up at court appearances claiming to be El Chapo's daughter and talking to media about how she misses her dad, when the family says he doesn't recognize her and has never lived with her or spent time with her. Her birth certificate shows someone else as her father. El Chapo has denied he's her father. She's been around a while with her claims, many of which have been proven false. Could she be a daughter of El Chapo? Yes. Could she be one that has spent time with him or anyone in the family and is recognized by him? Unlikely, given the number of El Chapo's close relatives who deny it.

Another person not to give credence to: José Luis González Meza, 73 year old histrionic activist-lawyer from Mexico who attends court appearances gets himself on the media with things like asking Trump to send El Chapo back to Mexico. He does not represent El Chapo. [More...]

Donald Trump has nominated ten people to serve as federal judges. All are conservatives.

Not a single criminal defense attorney was nominated. Several are long term prosecutors. A few were law clerks to Justice Clarence Thomas or deceased Justice Anton Scalia. Some only have state court or academic experience. [More..]

France dodged a right-wing bullet by electing Emmanuel Macron. Marine Le Pen has conceded the race.

I heard earlier on the car radio that French turnout was high -- 77% or so. That may be considered high when compared to the U.S. which has hovered around 55%. But reports are that the French turnout was around 75%, lower than the past two French elections. Then again, this report has French turnout in 2012 at 71%. (Belgium had an 87.2 percent turnout rate in 2014, Turkey's was 84.3 percent in 2015, and Sweden's was 82.5 percent in 2014.)

Regardless, it was not a close race. Marcron won 65.% to Le Pen's 35%.

Lucky for France they don't have an electoral college.

Trump's going to the Middle East. With Melania, Jared and Ivanka. Trump is going first to Saudi Arabia and then to Israel and then to Italy.

Israeli news reports Trump is expected to have an entourage of 1,000 people.

It sounds like he wanted to give a sermon on the mount: Israeli news says Trump was considering making a speech from the the ancient mountain fortress of the Masada ruins in the Negev desert.