James Comey has been asked by President Trump to stay on as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Comey is three years into a ten-year term.
News at NYT (which broke the story), USA Today, Washington Post, CNN, and The Hill.
Here's the bulk of our extensive past coverage of FBI Director Comey's career (oldest first):
2014:
FBI Director Concerned about Encryption on Smartphones
F.B.I. Director Calls "Dark" Devices a Hindrance to Crime Solving
To FBI Director Comey: You Reap What You Sow!
2015:
F.B.I. Has No Doubt that North Korea Attacked Sony, says Director
FBI Chief Links Video Scrutiny of Police to Rise in Violent Crime
2016:
Apple Ordered by Judge to Help Decrypt San Bernadino Shooter's phone
FBI Unable to Decrypt California Terrorists' Cell Phone
FBI vs. Apple Encryption Fight Continues
New York Judge Sides with Apple Rather than FBI in Dispute over a Locked iPhone
Apple Lawyer and FBI Director Appear Before Congress
FBI Error Locked San Bernardino Attacker's iPhone
FBI's iPhone Hack Only Works on 5C and Older
Washington Post: The FBI Paid "Gray Hat(s)", Not Cellebrite, for iPhone Unlock
FBI Director Blames 'Viral Video Effect' for Spike in Violent Crime
FBI Recommends No Prosecution for Clinton
FBI Chief Calls for National Talk Over Encryption vs. Safety
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 27 2017, @01:10PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday January 27 2017, @01:59PM
Maybe. With such an intensive spotlight shone on him, the career bureaucrat whose chief goal in life is to keep his job and avoid professional risk, would have dithered, trying to figure out how best to not alienate the party or parties that would determine whether he can keep his job. That is what we saw in Comey, deciding first this way, and then that. He also had to contend with a restive staff who were adamant that the Rule of Law should apply to great and small. In the end he did not indict Hillary so his relationship with his staff can't have improved.
I hypothesize that Trump kept Comey because he knows that, which means he has an FBI director who is dead man walking without continued support from the Oval Office. So, anything Trump wants done, Comey will do knowing he has no choice (if he wants to keep his job). In pure power terms it's useful to have one of the top law enforcement officers in your hip pocket, especially if you intend to take down other loci of power in the country, like Congress, the media, or the nation's intelligence apparatus.
The roadmap to doing that kind of thing has been defined by past societies that slipped into authoritarianism. America is primed to follow. Strict adherence to the Rule of Law was critically undermined by Trumps' predecessors in the Bush and Obama Whitehouses. Credibility of the Fourth Estate was totally blown away in this last election cycle, by the Fourth Estate themselves, and in their death throes they have also so undermined the concepts of fact and truth that Trump can say whatever he wants and get away with it. That means that if and when he decides to send the FBI Director out to arrest top people in the CIA or elsewhere, he can claim whatever justification he wants and he'll have a man who'll do what he's told.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @09:48PM
Oh stop with the hysterics! It could never happen here! Trump's only been in the office for a week stop freaking out like he's going to ruin the country and turn it into a dictatorship! You liberal progressssives are just butthurt cause you lost!
*barf*
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday January 28 2017, @12:34AM
With such an intensive spotlight shone on him, the career bureaucrat whose chief goal in life is to keep his job and avoid professional risk, would have dithered, trying to figure out how best to not alienate the party or parties that would determine whether he can keep his job.
All he had to do was dither past the election. It was even expected of him. And his staff wouldn't be able to argue with such a delay.
I hypothesize that Trump kept Comey because he knows that, which means he has an FBI director who is dead man walking without continued support from the Oval Office. So, anything Trump wants done, Comey will do knowing he has no choice (if he wants to keep his job). In pure power terms it's useful to have one of the top law enforcement officers in your hip pocket, especially if you intend to take down other loci of power in the country, like Congress, the media, or the nation's intelligence apparatus.
Sorry, I don't buy that the Clintons are competent mob bosses. And in a power struggle between the FBI and the intelligence apparatus, I'd put money on the latter, especially with their military connections.