CNN's Jeff Zeleny reporting that Comey's office is cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape.

[Tactical Peek]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[still_one]

1. Who did it? Because trump has no jurisdiction to order that done.

[tosh]

6. I don't believe trump recognizes a boundary such as this.

Talk me down.

[Hortensis]

31. So true! But I'm remembering that cons in Congress

and the Justice Dept. have shown a disturbing willingness to abandon their traditional principled, and even constitutionally mandated, independence to regard Rump as their leader and take orders from him, notably very much including Sessions.

And the 45th's enormous clusterfuck also brings to mind Franklin's, "We must all hang together,..."

[kairos12]

2. Beware that they don't haul everything away in a Drumpt Truck.

[Tactical Peek]

3. Message deleted by DU the Administrators

[murielm99]

4. WTF?

Who did this?

[ATL Ebony]

8. I bet it's Sessions, doubt tRump would even think of it.

[WinkyDink]

5. Who can arrest the FBI?

[Honeycombe8]

7. Why? nt

[ATL Ebony]

9. Probably to block any FBI from entering and possibly removing evidence

I don't know but it's probably something as stupid as that. Stupid because someone must believe Comey left behind something damaging to tRump so they may need to bar anyone from entering. Betting if they found anything, multiple copies have already been circulated. My $.02

[ProfessorGAC]

10. A Different Take

FBI allies did it to demonstrate that the firing was a crime.

[NCTraveler]

11. That was my first thought. Nt

[murielm99]

13. I have been thinking about this.

Maybe it is not so alarming after all. The FBI could have done this to preserve any evidence left behind, if there was anything left by Comey. That is possible, since his firing was so abrupt. The FBI could have wanted to preserve documents and evidence of any ongoing investigations. The Russia investigation is not the only thing they have going.

Maybe we will hear something plausible enough to end speculation.

[SticksnStones]

14. I agree, it's the FBI personnel's version of a political statement

A crime occurred here.

[Cosmocat]

15. You would hope to god

that if there is indeed a active, broad investigation, that they would act very quickly to try to protect evidence ...

[ProfessorGAC]

16. In Comey's Office?

Somehow i don't see that happening. I am envisioning allies at the bureau who felt that his getting fired was a criminal act, and symbolically declared his office a crime scene. Obviously they have access to the police line tape. There's probably a closet full of that stuff.

The more i think of it, i'm more and more convinced that this is symbolism. That tape doesn't stop Li'l Jeffy from going into an office he's in charge of.

I don't think they're protecting evidence. I think they're demonstrating that they're pissed off.

[Cosmocat]

17. That seems more than a bit sophmoric for the FBI

nm

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Then We Don't Agree

I don't see that it's sophomoric for anybody to pursue a symbolic protest.

I think it more likely than there is some unprotected and stand-alone evidence in the director's office that needs to be protected.

Now, that notion seems sophomoric.

[Cosmocat]

24. lol

ok ...

[countryjake]

22. Exactly.

5 Questions About James Comey’s Firing, Answered
A former FBI special agent weighs in.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/11/5-questions-about-james-comeys-firing-answered-215127

President Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to fire FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday has put us in uncharted territory and prompted a flurry of questions. What does this mean for the FBI’s ongoing investigation that could implicate the administration? If Trump is determined to make the investigation disappear, could he? And, more simply, what happens next? Based on my experience as a former FBI agent who worked on counterintelligence matters, here’s some insight into the most common queries that have been raised in the wake of Tuesday’s surprise. Don’t worry; it’s mostly comforting.

What happens to Comey’s documents and to investigative files that have already been gathered? Can they be destroyed?

Remember that the FBI is a law enforcement agency. Not that Comey’s office is exactly a crime scene (yet), but the culture is one that places a high value on preserving information, not destroying it. Particularly in light of a letter from Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee requesting that all documents pertaining either to Comey’s firing or to the investigation into Russia’s election interference be preserved and put off-limits to White House officials and associates (as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, specifically), the FBI is under an affirmative duty to comply, and a failure to do so could be considered obstruction of justice. In general, any official documents that were in Comey’s office relating to the Russia investigation, such as memos regarding investigative steps or conclusions, approvals for decisions taken and communications with field offices would become part of the case file itself. Personal notes, emails and informal communications would likely be compartmentalized, classified if necessary, and remain in the custody of acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.

FBI investigative files are official Department of Justice documents and as a legal matter, cannot be destroyed. (One of J. Edgar Hoover’s legacies is that he never got rid of anything: The National Archives contains FBI files going back to 1908, including up to 17,000 pages of documents maintained by Hoover himself in his personal vault.) This would be especially true for a case that has two active congressional intelligence committee investigations underway.

As a practical matter, it would not be possible to destroy FBI documents anyway, since case files are electronic and not paper-based—so there can be no “accidental” fires in the file room. Files are also kept in a secure system that tracks all access and is designed to prevent unauthorized tampering such as alterations or removal, so you can step down from the ledge: Everything will remain intact.

(bolding of the word "yet" within this article is mine)

[politicaljunkie41910]

32. Agree with most of what you've said and just wanted to add my two cents worth.

Having worked for DoD in a highly classified area, our office doors had locks, our individual office's file cabinets had locks and we had heavy duty fire-proof safes which stored our data and files in when we left for the day. All file cabinets or safes had combinations, or keys. The type of data stored in each was determined by the classification, and everything that came in our door had a classification except food wrappings. Everyone had at least one of their own safes and file cabinets and access to other's if needed. Besides our hEven though the current environment is one of electronic files, hard copy data still exists and would need to be stored. Also electronic files and personal work computers are required to be backed up regularly to a server, ( our requirement was at least weekly) in case of some catastrophic event (power failure, fire, flood, etc) which caused a lost of our on-site data, that data could be recovered as of the last backup. I doubt that Comey's office was any less secured than ours.

[scipan]

33. You've convinced me, with one addition.

Trump's minions would definitely want to get ahold of anything Comey might have that were maybe too sensitive to put on a computer, or personal notes, or whatever, relating to Trump/Russia. And it explains why Trump fired him while he was in L.A., to get the docs before Comey returned, which makes it a calculated move rather than pure vindictiveness.

[ecstatic]

20. But who in the FBI would have directed that?

Rosenstein? McCabe?

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Any Agent With A Security Badge That Gets On That Floor

It didn't have to be directed if it was a symbolic gesture of protest against the firing.

I think that far more likely than someone feeling a need to protect information that would ONLY exist in Comey's office.

Then, of course, the media gets told about it. What point would there be to a symbolic gesture if nobody knew about it?

But, if it were really to protect information, the opposite question seems germane: why would the media need to know this?

[countryjake]

21. That's pretty much what they said on CNN...

that the FBI said it was the best tape they could find to protect Comey's office.

[underpants]

29. BINGO! Just about to post that.

[democratisphere]

12. In drumpf world the innocent are made guilty and the guilty get away

with murder.

[Xolodno]

19. After Hoover died, didn't the FBI keep everyone at the

...justice department at bay before letting them in? And by the time they did get in, it was cleansed of anything damaging?

[mfcorey1]

25. One thing they cannot do is take away what he knows and one day we will find out too!

[get the red out]

26. Did he have the cooties?

Who is protecting what from whom?

[niyad]

27. I can see the agents doing this. of course, I am guessing that they already removed every single

piece of information in that office, since the minute comey's firing was announced.

[padah513]

28. Message deleted by DU the Administrators

[Thrill]

30. Hopefully Comey anticipated this and has password protected

Backups

[spanone]

34. purging all of comey's files? incinerator?

[Amaryllis]

35. It should be the Oval Office being wrapped in yellow tape.