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Everybody’s talking about President Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey, and some consider the dismissal improper. On the other hand, as Michael Corleone might say, “Where does it say you can’t fire the head of the FBI? I am talking about an FBI boss who overstepped his authority, who got mixed up in a candidate’s email scandal, and who got what was coming to him. Now that’s a terrific story.” That is true, and there’s a lot more to the story. As it happens, Comey has a long history of carrying water for the Clintons. Trump was right to fire him, but one has to wonder why the president has not fired many others, particularly in the Internal Revenue Service.
As Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal notes, after the Citizens United ruling, “the IRS deliberately put some 400 conservative organizations, representing tens of thousands of Americans, on political ice for the 2010 and 2012 elections.” Louis Lerner took the fifth and no surprise that the previous administration failed to fire anybody. John Koskinen became IRS boss in 2013 and handed out bonuses while obstructing investigators at every turn. Calls have been ringing out for the president to fire Koskinen, but he has not done so. Perhaps that is because back in 1975, when Koskinen was vice president of the Palmieri Company, he handled the sale of the Commodore Hotel for rising star developer Donald Trump.
The National Security Agency could also use some cleanup. As Mary Theroux noted, the NSA has been grabbing every domestic communication. Those who conducted the warrantless searches should be shown the door, but no such reports have surfaced.
Meanwhile, James Comey is a good start but the federal government, with its massive waste, fraud and abuse, remains a target-rich environment. To paraphrase the late Don Rickles, the president should make himself at home and start firing more high-profile people, starting with John Koskinen. Few if any taxpayers will object.