June 7, 2018

Trump Is Waiting For You to Thank Him for Firing James Comey

The president awaits a nation’s gratitude.

Cheriss May/ZUMA

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On Thursday, President Donald Trump complained about a lack of appreciation for firing James Comey as head of the FBI, asking on Twitter when the gratitude will start pouring in.

The president’s rhetorical question overlooks the fact that his explosive decision to fire Comey was the catalyst for the gravest threat to his presidency: the appointment of Robert Mueller as a special counsel investigating Trump’s campaign ties Russia. Soon after Comey’s May 2017 firing, Trump seemed to confirm to NBC’s Lester Holt that he got rid of Comey because of the investigation, and reportedly told Russian officials that the firing had relieved pressure on his administration. The admissions have become central to Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice by sacking Comey.

Trump’s tweet comes ahead of the imminent expected release of a Justice Department inspector general report on Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. CNN has reported the findings are likely to be critical of the actions of both the former FBI director and Loretta Lynch, the Obama administration’s final attorney general.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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