Trump defiant after shock Comey sacking
WASHINGTON: The White House Wednesday slapped down calls for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations that Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, after the US president abruptly fired his FBI director.
Trump’s shock dismissal of James Comey – the man overseeing federal investigations into suspected Kremlin interference in the 2016 vote – has sparked a political firestorm in Washington and plunged his young presidency in turmoil.
Comey himself was measured about the abrupt turn of events in a letter to FBI agents and colleagues, urging them not to be concerned for him.
“I have long believed that a president can fire an FBI director for any reason, or for no reason at all. I’m not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. I hope you won’t either,” he said.
“It is done, and I will be fine, although I will miss you and the mission deeply,” he wrote.
“In times of turbulence, the American people should see the FBI as a rock of competence, honesty, and independence,” he added.
Furious Democrats, however, suggested the FBI’s work will now be hopelessly tainted and demanded a special prosecutor akin to those appointed during Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal or the run- up to Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
“We don’t think it’s necessary,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, batting back that demand.
Sanders said the White House wanted the FBI probe – and parallel congressional investigations – to continue and to wrap up their work. — AFP