Trump to FBI boss: You’re fired
Shocking dismissal brings calls for special prosecutor to handle probe of possible ties to Russia
WASHINGTON— U.S. President Donald Trump has fired the controversial FBI director who was in charge of investigating the possibility of illegal collusion between his campaign and Russia, a stunning move that prompted comparisons to Richard Nixon and allegations that Trump was attempting to thwart a probe with the potential to jeopardize his administration.
Trump said the sudden termination of James Comey was meant to restore “public trust and confidence” in the FBI, which has been battered over the past year by bipartisan criticism of Comey’s actions. But Trump’s decision raised further questions about the extent to which the public can be confident in the Russia investigation or in the president himself.
“Not since Watergate have our legal systems been so threatened, and our faith in the independence and integrity of those systems so shaken,” said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
Democrats called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to handle the Russia investigation rather than allow Trump to hand it over to the person he selects to replace Comey. While some senior Republicans endorsed the abrupt dismissal, others expressed deep concern.
“I am troubled by the timing and reasoning of director Comey’s termination,” said Sen. Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I have found director Comey to be a public servant of the highest order and his dismissal further confuses an already difficult investigation by the committee.”
The firing was all the more staggering for Trump’s public rationale, which was greeted with broad skepticism. In a dizzying rhetorical turnabout, Trump’s administration essentially argued that Comey was unfair to Hillary Clinton in his handling of the investigation of her private email server.
Trump has long accused Comey of being too soft on Clinton, the Democratic candidate he defeated in November. But the letter he released Tuesday to explain the dismissal, written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, adopted the claim of Clinton’s own campaign — that Comey exceeded his authority when he held a July 2016 press conference to discuss details of the case and to criticize Clinton.
In a letter dated Tuesday to Comey, Trump wrote: “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.”
As Clinton’s aides have maintained since, Rosenstein said Comey should merely have given a private recommendation to federal prosecutors.
“Derogatory information sometimes is disclosed in the course of criminal investigations and prosecutions, but we never release it gratuitously,” he wrote. “The director laid out his version of the facts for the news media as if it were a closing argument, but without a trial. It is a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do.”
Democrats rejected this explanation as implausible. “There’s nobody in America who’ll believe that Trump fired Comey because he was mean to Hillary Clinton,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on MSNBC.
The New York Times reported that the White House had put Attorney General Jeff Sessions in charge of “coming up with reasons” to fire Comey, building a case since “at least last week.”
Sessions recused himself in March from matters related to the Russia investigation in the wake of the revelation that he had falsely told Congress that he had not had contact with Russian officials during the campaign. But Trump said his decision to dump Comey was also based on Sessions’s recommendation.
“It is essential that this Department of Justice clearly reaffirm its commitment to long-standing principles that ensure the integrity and fairness of federal investigations and prosecutions,” Sessions wrote in a letter released by the administration. Comey was far from beloved among either Clinton or Trump supporters. Trump, who believes Clinton should have faced charges, continued to castigate Comey during his presidency. Clinton believes she would have won had Comey not issued an October letter announcing that the FBI was again investigating a matter related to her emails; that investigation amounted to nothing at all.
Comey found himself in more hot water with Democrats on Monday night, when the news outlet ProPublica reported he had given inaccurate testimony about Clinton’s emails to Congress last week; the FBI was forced to issue a written correction on Tuesday. But even Clinton’s staunchest backers said they were troubled by the firing.
“Twilight zone. I was as disappointed and frustrated as anyone at how the email investigation was handled. But this terrifies me,” Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, tweeted.
Comey, a longtime Republican recently turned independent, was appointed to a 10-year term by Democratic president Barack Obama in 2013. He had previously served as a deputy attorney general under Republican George W. Bush.
The Times reported Comey learned of his ouster from televisions left on at an FBI office in Los Angeles while he spoke to employees there. He is only the second director to be fired; Bill Clinton dismissed William Sessions in 1993 over alleged ethics violations.