If Hillary wins the election, does she have the power to get FBI Director Comey out?

FBI Directors serve a term of ten years, set by Congress in response to how long J. Edgar Hover served.

Removal is possible, but would not be received well absent a serious cause (such as indictment for violation of the Hatch Act).

Although the FBI Director gets appointed to a 10-year term, he/she serves at the President’s “pleasure” and can be dismissed.

Back during the 90s, Bill Clinton terminated William S. Sessions’ tenure due to some improper use of government resources.

So, Hillary Clinton would certainly have the authority to fire James Comey. It would be very imprudent, however, to do for any reasons that even hint of a personal grudge.

@Love_my_doggie ” It would be very imprudent, however, to do for any reasons that even hint of a personal grudge.”

I don’t see that. Rather, it would be a sign of weakness to allow him to keep his job despite his open hostility to the serving President and his obvious lack of good judgment and discretion.

Technically the FBI is a branch of the Dept. of Justice, so of course she could fire him. It would be a stupid move as well as political suicide, and despite Trump’s protestations to the contrary, Clinton is nobody’s fool.

She won’t fire him, but sometime within her first 100 days he’ll announce his retirement “to spend more time with his family”. Then he’ll settle in to a nice lucrative private sector career in the legal firm/lobby/consultant/paid speech circuit.

I feel that Hillary Clinton has the power to do just about anything she desires including moving mountains.

@dappled_leaves All that may be true, but her detractors, who are convinced that she’s lying and deceiving about the emails, would be up in arms about her private vendetta and further subterfuge. The action could haunt her entire presidency. All in all, likely not worth it…

@Darth_Algar Bill Clinton tried that with William S. Sessions, who refused to resign. After he’d been dismissed, Sessions returned to Texas for the “spend more time with his family” thing.

@Love_my_doggie “The action could haunt her entire presidency. ”

I seriously doubt Clinton cares about this. She is going to be attacked by the Republicans for whatever takes their fancy for as long as she’s in office, just as any Democrat would be. She’ll ignore them and do her job. That’s what she’s always done.

Yes, Presidents appoint FBI Directors all the time. They can ask for the current director’s resignation.

@Love_my_doggie

And? So one guy was particularly obstinate more than two decades ago. That doesn’t really have any bearing on now.

@dappled_leaves I’m guessing that President Clinton’s plate will be quite full with things she does care about. I happily await 2017 and its onward movements toward unknown destinations.

@Love_my_doggie Agreed!