The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Trump tells Russia to rein in Assad, Iran
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his decision to fire James B Comey, the FBI director, telling reporters that Comey “wasn’t doing a good job” and accusing Democrats of hypocrisy for criticising the dismissal of a law enforcement chief they too had assailed.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump responded to a question about the reason for Comey’s termination. “He wasn’t doing a good job,” Trump said. “Very simply. He was not doing a good job.”
Asked whether the furor over the firing had affected his just concluded meeting with Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, Trump said, “Not at all.”
Earlier Wednesday, in a series of visceral posts on Twitter, the President said he was justified in dismissing Comey because Democrats and Republicans had lost faith in his leadership. He went on to highlight Comey’s “scandals”.
Comey’s request to expand probe
According to three congressional officials, days before he was fired, James Comey had asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in resources for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference.
Comey asked for the resources last week from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who also wrote the Justice Department’s memo that was used to justify the firing of Comey this week, the officials said. Comey then briefed members of Congress on the meeting in recent days, telling them about his meeting with Rosenstein, who is the most senior law enforcement official supervising the Russia investigation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself because of his close ties to the Trump campaign and his undisclosed meetings with the Russian ambassador.
Thetimingofcomey’srequest is not clear-cut evidence that his firing was related to the Russia probe. But it is certain to fuel bipartisan criticism that Trump appeared to be meddling in an investigation that had the potential to damage his presidency.
The FBI declined to comment. But Sarah Isgur Flores, the Justice Department spokeswoman, said, “The idea that he asked for more funding” for the Russia investigation was “totally false.” She did not elaborate.
In his briefing with members of Congress, Comey said he had been frustrated with the amount of resources being dedicated to the Russia investigation, according to two of the officials.
To a president who puts a premium on loyalty, Comey represented a fiercely independent official who wielded incredible power. Comey made his career standing up to members of the George W Bush administration. And his advisers have cast his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as evidence that he was equally willing to criticise the Democratic nominee.
Comey’s handling of the Clinton investigation was the stated reason for his termination, and the White House has insisted it had nothing to do with the Russia inquiry, which has become a major distraction for the Trump administration.
Other Democrats continued to attack on Wednesday saying Trump clearly was trying to upend the FBI investigation into the Russian meddling. “It simply defies logic that President Trump, who made the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails a centerpiece of his campaign, would all of the sudden convert to the view that Clinton was treated unfairly,” Democratic Senator Christopher Murphy said.
Trump abruptly dismissed Comey late Tuesday, saying that the FBI director was “not able to effectively lead the bureau.” While he attributed the decision to the Clinton case, Trump acted against Comey just a day after publicly asserting that the Russia investigation should be dropped, calling it a “charade.”
Vice President Mike Pence addressed the subject Wednesday morning during a visit to Capitol Hill. “This administration is very confident that with the appointment of a new director of the FBI, because of the president’s strong leadership, we will be able to get this nation’s leading law enforcement agency a fresh start,” Pence said.
Pence did not respond directly to a question about whether the firing was related to the FBI’S investigation into Russian meddling in the election.
“It was the right decision at the right time,” Pence said.
Democrats said that despite their concerns about Comey’s actions last year, Trump’s dismissal evoked the days of Richard Nixon, who ordered the firing of the special prosecutor looking into the Watergate case. They called for the appointment of a special counsel to lead the Russia inquiry. NYT DONALD TRUMP Wednesday asked Russia to “work together” with the US to end the Syrian conflict and underscored the need for Moscow to rein in the Bashar al-assad regime there, and Iran and their “proxies”.
The White House said in a readout of their meeting that Trump “emphasised the need to work together to end the conflict in Syria, in particular, underscoring the need for Russia to rein in the Assad regime, Iran, and Iranian proxies.”
Lavrov is the highest-ranking Russian official to meet Trump.
And Us-russia ties had soured under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama over Russia’s unyielding support for Syrian President Bashar al-assad and the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
The war in Syria has forced million of refugees to flee the country, over which the US and Russiahaveforthefirsttimesince World War Two had flown combatmissionsinthesameairspace.
Over the past six years, the US and Russia have sparred several times over the Syrian conflict, especially concerning Assad’s fate, but have failed to manage a solution to end it.
During the meeting, Trump also raised the issues concerning Ukraine and expressed his administration’s commitment to remain engaged in resolving the conflict. “He also raised the possibility of broader cooperation on resolving conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. The president further emphasised his desire to build a better relationship between the US and Russia,” the White House said. PTI