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Trump’s firing of Comey may put heat on him
Administration will likely have to accept special counsel at some point, experts say
WASHINGTON — In firing FBI Director James Comey, President Donald Trump might have hoped to bring the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election under control. Instead, as reaction in Washington spread on Wednesday, the move seemed to carry a large risk of making his troubles worse.
Trump has seethed for weeks about the investigation into whether anyone connected with his campaign had cooperated with Russian efforts to influence the election. He was angered further last week that Comey would not publicly back his claim that no evidence of collusion exists.
“The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax” and a “taxpayer funded charade,” he tweeted Monday, the day White House officials now say he first discussed firing Comey with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
But if the goal was to get the investigation over with, firing Comey likely moved matters in the wrong direction, according to former White House officials.
“In the short term it certainly fans the flames,” said Ed Rogers, a longtime Republican strategist and aide to former Republican presidents.
In an email lament circulated among prominent Republicans, A. B. Culvahouse Jr., former Reagan White House counsel and head of Trump’s vice presidential search effort, said the firing “both prolongs the FBI/ DOJ investigation and undermines the credibility of the Trump campaign’s denials of no conspiracy with Putin.” Former FBI Director James Comey moves about the grounds of his home Wednesday in McLean, Va. Comey, who had wide support among FBI agents, was dismissed Tuesday.
“We could be talking about Russian hacking in the mid-terms at this rate,” he wrote.
Ironically, Comey’s track record for defying his bosses and charting an independent course — precisely the attributes that the White House cited in his dismissal — made him potentially very valuable to Trump.
Comey, with his long service under presidents of both parties and his wide support among rank-andfile FBI agents, could have provided credible closure at the end of an investigation, especially if the probe were to clear most White House officials.
That’s why experts and others predicted that eventually, despite current resistance, the administration will probably have to accept some form of special counsel or independent investigative commission.
“These issues are serious enough that I think eventually we’ll get there,” said Lee Hamilton, the former congressman and co-chair of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“Will it be next week? Will it be six months from now? I don’t know when, but I don’t think Trump has helped himself by firing Comey,” Hamilton said.
Demands for a special prosecutor of some form likely will play a major role in Senate hearings over a nominee to replace Comey.
So far, the administration has resisted that idea, and they’ve kept the backing of the people they need most, especially Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
“Today we’ll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation,” McConnell said in a Senate speech Wednesday. That “can only serve to impede the current work being done,” he said.
So long as McConnell stands firm, he could probably block any move in Congress to pass a new law creating an independent counsel of the type that investigated Bill Clinton during his administration.
The remaining route to a special counsel would be for Rosenstein to appoint one, using his authority as the overseer of the Russia investigation because Sessions has stepped aside over his close links to Trump during the campaign.
Democrats insisted Trump’s true motive had been to undermine the Russia probe, and not, as claimed, Comey’s fumbling of the 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email practices.
“If the administration truly had objections to the way Director Comey handled the Clinton investigation, they would’ve had them the minute the president got into office,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech Wednesday.
At least some Republicans seemed troubled, as well.
“I’ve spent the last several hours trying to find an acceptable rationale for the timing of Comey’s firing. I just can’t do it,” Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., tweeted Tuesday night.