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Comment by Meegul | Hacker News Reader

This doesn't sound damning enough to you? 'He described the Russia investigation as “a cloud” that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country' 'He asked what we could do to “lift the cloud.”'

Additionally, his insistence on "loyalty" is terrifying to me. As soon as the FBI isn't independent, parties will be involved in the judicial process.

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He mentions several times that what's he looking for is PR on the fact (acknowledged by Comey) that Trump personally was not under investigation. Certainly could be inappropriate, but this isn't the smoking gun the dems wanted.

Agreed that it's not as powerful as some had hoped. That said, his repeated requests for loyalty, followed by asking him to halt or hinder an investigation, and then the subsequent 'firing' can be fairly easily related. It's not acceptable to ask the FBI director to stop an investigation and then fire him when he doesn't.

It's not a great look, but it's nothing actually illegal. And likely a thing every politician also would have done in his place, albeit with more tact.

In short, Trump lacks tact and isn't a skilled politician. I think we knew these things.

Where this is going to bite him is adding more "acting suspiciously" wood on the woodpile, should Democrats win a majority and move to impeach on the basis of some other spark. Nixon probably wouldn't have been impeached over Watergate if there hadn't been a pattern of behavior.

His requests for loyalty have a pretty innocuous explanation, that is hinted by Comey himself - this was in the midst of an anonymous revolt from intelligence agencies against the President, with constant leaks hitting the press every day. Alongside the leaks the President also had to contend with insubordination, e.g. Ms. Yates refusing to follow his executive orders. Regardless of the merit you see in his orders, it is logically consistent that a President who faces obstruction when trying to enact his vision would be specifically looking for loyalty among his subordinates.

I think we can agree the Russia issue is impacting his term. If he thinks he's innocent, he'd be asking for ways to get around it.

The loyalty part is worrying, agreed. But I don't see any actions to obstruct investigations.

I don't think I'd agree firing the director impaired the investigation.

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