Donald Trump Impeachment: Comey Firing Leads To Massive Slash In Odds, Impeachment More Likely Now Than Ever

The talks of Donald Trump impeachment have never ceased since he took office in January. However, the firing of James Comey has resulted in a massive reduction in odds of Trump getting impeached before completing his full term.

This is not the first instance that the betting odds have been slashed, but at no other point has there been such a massive reduction in odds. Currently, there is a 60 percent chance that President Trump will not complete his entire term.

A Paddy Power spokesperson told Independent that following the news of Comey’s sacking, a lot of money was put on Trump getting impeached resulting in falling of odds from 10/11 to 4/6. He further added that this was the shortest they have reached for Trump leaving the White House.

Following the announcement of Comey’s firing, the U.S. based website PredictIt reduced the chances of Donald Trump serving as president at the end of 2017 to 83 percent from 87 percent. At the time of writing this, the price was stabilized at 81 percent.

Bookmakers in the U.K. also saw a surge in money on the removal of Trump following the sacking of Comey. Betfair said that an individual gambler was planning to put 100,000 pounds on Trump leaving the office before the end of his first term. He had already placed 30,000 pounds and was waiting for someone to accept the remaining wager.

I've been very critical of Trump, but I haven't called for his impeachment

Until now

Trump must be impeached.

— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) May 12, 2017

According to a spokesperson of Oddschecker, a betting comparison site, since Tuesday, 60 percent of the bets have been on Trump leaving before the end of 2017 at 2/1, which was shortened from 9/2 during the same period.

Not just the betting odds but the approval ratings for Trump had also tumbled even before Jame Comey was fired. According to a recent poll by Quinnipiac University, Trump’s approval rating was at 36 percent close to the lowest mark of 35 percent. On the other hand, Gallup said last month that Trump’s average approval ratings were lowest since it began the survey in 1953.

It is worth noting that, even when there were claims that Obama was a Muslim and not even born in America, his odds of impeachment were almost zero. Most betting sites did not even accept bets on Obama getting impeached.

Betting odds aside, is Donald Trump firing Comey an impeachable offense? Legally, it is well within President’s rights to fire a bureau chief. However, the timing of the decision and the reason given by the White House have caused the outbreak of impeachment talks.

James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

Before James Comey was fired, he had asked for a substantial increase in money and personnel for investigating the Trump-Russia collusion. There were also reports that grand jury subpoenas were issued to associates of Michael Flynn.

On the other hand, the reason given for the Comey’s ouster was his mishandling of Hillary Clinton’s email investigation. This is completely contrary to Trump’s earlier statements where he had praised the FBI director for his handling of the investigation.

Even though the action can be debated and opposed, it may not lead to Donald Trump’s impeachment. That is only possible if there is obstruction of justice by the President, as reported by Chicago Tribune. The most likely path for his removal is a refusal by the Trump administration to appoint an independent prosecutor or nomination of someone with obviously partisan affiliations to head the FBI.

‘Buckle up’: Maddow makes the case that ‘the only remedy is impeachment’ for Trump’s obstruction of justice https://t.co/k3hl2o3szL pic.twitter.com/IAi0SBNLH1

— Raw Story (@RawStory) May 12, 2017

Trump haters believe that there was a crime and the current cover-up is worse than the crime and Trump should be impeached, whereas for Trump supporters either there is a cover-up but no crime or no crime and no cover-up. Interestingly, any one of the above scenarios is possible.

In the foreseeable future, the investigations are likely to continue once the new FBI director is appointed. However, for Donald Trump to be impeached there has to be some substantial evidence that one agency was used to stop another from investigating wrongdoings of a president, similar to the Watergate.

[Featured Image by Heidi Besen/Shutterstock]