[Special] FBI Director James Comey Fired by White House

• New York Times: F.B.I. Director James Comey Is Fired by Trump by Michael D. Shear and Matt Apuzzo

President Trump on Tuesday fired the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, abruptly terminating the law enforcement official leading a wide-ranging criminal investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s advisers colluded with the Russian government to steer the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

The stunning development in Mr. Trump’s presidency raised the specter of political interference by a sitting president into an existing investigation by the nation’s leading law enforcement agency. It immediately ignited Democratic calls for an independent prosecutor to lead the Russia inquiry.

Mr. Trump explained the firing by citing Mr. Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, even though the president was widely seen to have benefited politically from that inquiry and had once praised Mr. Comey for having “guts” in his pursuit of Mrs. Clinton during the campaign.

But in his letter to Mr. Comey, released to reporters by the White House, the president betrayed his focus on the continuing inquiry into Russia and his aides.

“While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau,” Mr. Trump said in a letter to Mr. Comey dated Tuesday.

L.A. Times: Betsy DeVos Squeaks Through as Education Secretary After Pence Casts First-Ever Tie-Breaking Vote

By Joy Resmovits:

Phone calls jammed congressional switchboards. Two Republican senators defected. Democrats held a last-ditch, 24-hour Senate debate in hope of shaking loose one additional vote.

But the effort was not enough to prevent Betsy DeVos from becoming U.S. secretary of Education.

DeVos squeaked through the confirmation process Tuesday with the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Mike Pence and the participation of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), whose confirmation vote for attorney general was scheduled after DeVos’ so he could vote for her.

It was the first time a vice president’s tie-breaking vote was needed to confirm a presidential Cabinet appointment.

DeVos, a Michigan-based Republican activist, former state party chairwoman and fundraiser, spent her career campaigning for school vouchers, which send tax money to families to help them pay for private and often religious schools. As the wife of the billionaire heir to the Amway fortune, she contributed millions of dollars to candidates who supported vouchers, including several of the senators who voted to confirm her.

She is the first secretary of Education since the department was created in 1979 to have neither attended nor sent her children to public school, the Education Week Research Center found.

The Full Story (February 7, 2017)

[Special] Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State Nominee

Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, has been chosen by President-Elect Donald Trump to be his Secretary of State. Like Trump, Tillerson has no government or military experience. Like most of the people surrounding Trump, including the Trump clan, Tillerson has interesting ties to Russia, although not urine related.

Tillerson's confirmation hearing begins today, January 11, 2017, and you can follow live updates over at Talking Points Memo (via journalist Caitlin MacNeal). To get up to speed on Tillerson, here are some links:

• Washington Post: Trump Expected to Pick Rex Tillerson as His Secretary of State by Steven Mufson and Philip Rucker (December 10, 2016)
  
• New Yorker: Rex Tillerson, From A Corporate Oil Sovereign to the State Department by Steve Coll (December 11, 2016)
  
• Washington Post: Rex Tillerson is an Able Executive. But What About His Ties to Russia? by the WaPo Editorial Board (December 12, 2016)
  
• New York Times: Rex Tillerson, Exxon C.E.O., Chosen as Secretary of State by Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman (December 12, 2016)
  
• Talking Points Memo: ExxonMobil CEO Has Cozy Relationship With Russia, Complicated Climate Record by Matt Shuman (December 12, 2016)
  
• Washington Post: Trump Picks ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State by Steven Mufson, Philip Rucker and Karoun Demirjian (December 13, 2016)
  
• L.A. Times: Rex Tillerson Could be a Good Secretary of State — but not in a Trump Administration by Max Boot (December 15, 2016)

[Special] Los Angeles Times: Trump Backers Tweet #repealthe19th After Polls Show He'd Win Only If Men Voted

By Seema Mehta:

As polls show that Donald Trump would overwhelmingly win if only men were allowed to vote, the GOP nominee's supporters have spawned a new Twitter hashtag: #repealthe19th.

That’s a reference to the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

The Twitter commentary began after Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight published an article Tuesday looking at men’s and women’s voting patterns.

He found that if the election only counted the male vote, Trump would swamp Clinton, 350 electoral votes to 188. A candidate must win 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

The Full Story (October 12, 2016)