Comeys' greatest "crime" is that he's independent - as he's supposed to be. You generally know that when both sides of politics are unhappy that someone is doing their job properly.
As events are developing, it looks like a completely failed opportunistic attempt at killing several birds with one stone.
Democrats were not happy with the way Comey 'interfered' with the final stages of Hillary's campaign (BTW Trump was happy, praising Comey at the time!). Republicans are not happy with what might be revealed by the ongoing investigations of collusion between Trump associates and Russia. In Trump's simple reality, slaughter the person in charge of both activities, and reap praise from both sides...
Normally, one would have then invited Comey to the White House and give him the dismissal message and letter.
Instead, an email was prepared to let the press do the work of spreading the news. As Comey was traveling to give a speech in Los Angeles, the news that he had been fired reached him through the media. However, the email was never sent, so as Comey flew back to the East, the news preceded the prepared email offensive. That also kind of derailed the staged WH lawn press meeting (press gathered, lights blazing, anticipation rising), and caught Spicer, Conway, and Huckabee Sanders, totally off guard.
What then unfolded was a game of hide-and-seek, Spicer hiding in the bushes trying to figure out what went wrong, lights being turned off inside the WH to conceal the three spokespersons having a short meeting to discuss how to proceed, cameras had to be turned off for an
informal press gathering, and then the message was shared with the press. By then, the whole operation had already backfired.
The net effect, people (correctly) second-guessing the motives for the poorly timed activities, and a call for even more investigations, not less (since Comey had recently requested more resources for uncovering recent findings that his bureau considered important).
Comey infuriated Trump with refusal to preview Senate testimony: aideshttp://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-comey-decision-idUSKBN1862WP"The anger behind Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday had been building for months, but a turning point came when Comey refused to preview for top Trump aides his planned testimony to a Senate panel, White House officials said.
Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had wanted a heads-up from Comey about what he would say at a May 3 hearing about his handling of an investigation into former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
When Comey refused, Trump and his aides considered that an act of insubordination and it was one of the catalysts to Trump’s decision this week to fire the FBI director, the officials said.
"It gave the impression that he was no longer capable of carrying out his duties," one official said. Previews of congressional testimony to superiors are generally considered courteous.
Comey, who testified for four hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it made him feel "mildly nauseous" that his decision to make public his reopening of a probe into Clinton's handling of classified information might have affected the outcome of the Nov. 8 presidential election. But he said he had no regrets and would make the same decision again.
Trump's sudden firing of Comey shocked Washington and plunged Trump deeper into a controversy over his campaign's alleged ties with Russia that has dogged the early days of his presidency."Cheers,
Bart
