Trump fires FBI Director James Comey
Move brings renewed calls for independent Trump-Russia probe.
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, throwing into chaos the politically fraught investigation into whether Russia had colluded with Trump’s campaign during the presidential campaign.
Democrats immediately renewed the i r calls for the appointment of an independent investigator in the Russia probe.
“Any attempt to stop or undermine this FBI investigation would raise grave constitutional issues,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.. “We await clarification by the White House as soon as possible as to whether this investigation will continue and whether it will have a credible leader so that we know it will have a just outcome.”
The firing of an FBI director is exceedingly rare. Democrats slammed the move, comparing it to President Richard Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” decision to fire the independent special prosecutor overseeing the Watergate investigation, prompting the resignations of the Justice Department’s top two officials.
“This is Nixonian,” Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., declared on Twit-
ter. “Outrageous,” said Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, calling for Comey to immediately be summoned to testify to Congress about the status of the Trump-Russia investigation.
Trump has ridiculed the FBI investigation, as well as concurrent congressional investigations, as a “hoax” and has denied that his campaign was involved in Russia’s election meddling. In his letter to Comey, he asserted that the FBI director had informed him “on three separate occasions that I am not under investigation.”
The White House said the search for a new FBI director was beginning immediately.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at the White House that Comey had been fired Tuesday afternoon after Trump received letters from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommending the dismissal.
Spicer declined to answer additional questions, but said the firing was effective immediately. The FBI is being run by its deputy, Andrew McCabe, as the administration launches a search for a new leader.
Trump upon taking office had asked Comey to stay on as FBI director even though he was overseeing the Russia investigation into collusion and the hacking and public release of top Democrats’ private emails.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Trump called her at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to inform her that he was firing Comey because the FBI needed a change. She did not praise Comey, but in a statement merely said: “The next FBI director must be strong and independent and will receive a fair hearing in the Judiciary Committee.”
“Given the recent controversies surrounding the director, I believe a fresh start will serve the FBI and the nation well,” said Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C. “I encourage the president to select the most qualified professional available who will serve our nation’s interests.”
Comey had a long career as a federal prosecutor, rising to deputy attorney general during the George W. Bush administration. Former President Barack Obama appointed Comey to a 10-year term in 2013, but Trump had the prerogative of removing him from the job.
Rosenstein was charged with overseeing the Russia investigation after Sessions recused himself because of disclosures that he had met with Russia’s ambassador while acting as a Trump campaign adviser.
Just two weeks after the Senate confirmed his nomination, Rosenstein signed a scathing memo Tuesday that assailed Comey’s unorthodox decision last July to publicly announce he would not recommend criminal charges against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Comey took the action just days after it was disclosed that Attorney General Loretta Lynch had met on the tarmac of an Arizona airport with Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Rosenstein accused Comey of usurping the attorney general’s authority on July 5, 2016, when he announced his conclusion that the case should be closed without prosecution. He blasted Comey for holding a press conference to “release derogatory information” about the subject of a declined criminal investigation. He accused Comey of giving conclusive findings to the news media instead of presenting the bureau’s findings to federal prosecutors.
“It is a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do,” Rosenstein said.
He cited comments of several former attorney generals, including Eric Holder, who served under Obama, and Alberto Gonzales, who served under Bush, to back his arguments.
“Almost everyone agrees that the director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives,” Rosenstein wrote.
Sessions, in a letter to Trump, said he “concluded that a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the FBI.”
“It is essential that this Department of Justice clearly reaffirm its commitment to longstanding principles that ensure the integrity and fairness of federal investigations and prosecutions,” Sessions said. “The director of the FBI must be someone who follows faithfully the rules and principles of the Department of Justice and who sets the right example for our law enforcement officials and others in the department.”
Praised by both parties for his independence and integrity, Comey has spent three decades in law enforcement. But his prominent role in the 2016 presidential campaign raised questions about his judgment and impartiality. Though the FBI did not recommend charges against Clinton for mishandling classified information, Comey was blisteringly critical of her decision to use a personal email account and private internet sever during her four years as secretary of state.
Clinton has partially blamed her loss on Comey’s disclosure to Congress less than two weeks before Election Day that the email investigation would be revisited. He later said the FBI, again, had found no reason to bring any charges.
Trump disagreed with her assessment, tweeting that Comey actually “was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!”
Clinton’s advisers were stunned by Trump’s decision. Former campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said that while he believed Comey “inflicted severe damage” on the FBI, “the timing and manner of this firing suggest that it is the product of Donald Trump feeling the heat on the ongoing Russia investigation and not a well thought out response to the inappropriate handling of the Clinton investigation.”
But some conservatives rallied to Trump’s defense. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the decision to fire Comey would restore the public’s trust in the FBI.
“Mr. Comey did not seem to understand some of the laws he was asked to investigate and unfortunately politicized his sensitive positon (sic) as the FBI director. President Trump took the right step in cleaning house at the FBI.”
Earlier Tuesday, the FBI wrote the Senate Judiciary Committee and said Comey recently overstated to Congress the number of emails Clinton aide Huma Abedin forwarded to her then-husband, Antony Weiner, while working at the State Department. The FBI said just two of those messages contained classified information.
The search for new permanent FBI director will begin immediately.