Comey questions an opening for Arkansas Democrats
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Democrats face an uphill climb trying to translate questions about President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey into political gains in a state that has turned solidly red in recent years.
But the party may at least have an opening to put Republicans in an uncomfortable spot defending the president and the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
None of the members of the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation are outright criticizing
Trump over Comey’s firing or calling for a special prosecutor to look into the potential Russia ties. But they’re not exactly offering a full-throated defense of
Trump over his handling of the issue.
“Americans deserve a full explanation as to the circumstances of the decision to immediately remove Mr.
Comey from his post,” Republican Sen. John Boozman said in a statement last week. “Our country has lost faith in many of our institutions and a better public accounting of this situation, along with a thorough and fair confirmation process for the next FBI Director, can help restore some of that broken trust.”
Republican Rep. French Hill said in a statement he didn’t think it would be appropriate to offer an opinion on Comey’s firing, but added: “The firing of an FBI director is a reasonable cause for concern for the American people who deserve an FBI that is immune to any political influence.”
The White House initially cited a Justice Department memo criticizing Comey’s handling of last year’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails as the reason for his firing. Trump has said he intended to fire Comey for months and that it had nothing to do with the Russia investigation.
So far the strongest defense among the state’s top Republicans has come from Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who said Comey had lost the trust of the American people.
“Director Comey became such a controversial figure because he went beyond the normal protocol of the FBI director, as the head of an investigative and law enforcement body and attempted to stand in the place of the attorney general and of the prosecutors in making those decisions,” Rutledge said on the Wilkow Majority show on Sirius XM’s Patriot Channel.
Democrats have blasted state Republicans for not calling for an independent counsel in the wake of Comey’s firing.
“It is shameful that not one of our elected officials in Arkansas has expressed any concern that President Trump has stolen a page from Richard Nixon’s playbook,” state Democratic Party Chairman Michael John Gray, who is also a state representative, said last week. “To fire a guy who is investigating your administration, it does not pass the smell test.”
Democrats hope for a similar albatross effect that they faced during Barack Obama’s presidency, when Republicans swept statewide and federal office and gained control of the Legislature by linking Democrats to an unpopular commander in chief. But so far that strategy hasn’t paid off with Trump. The president easily won the state’s six electoral votes last year, despite questions about a recording released in the final weeks of the campaign featuring Trump’s boasts about groping and kissing women without their consent.
Republicans then walked a careful line, distancing themselves from Trump’s offensive comments while not dropping their endorsement of the party’s standard-bearer. Boozman last year called both Trump and Clinton flawed candidates, but easily won re-election against a Democratic challenger who regularly brought up the GOP presidential nominee’s provocative remarks and stances.
Comey’s firing and Trump’s comments since then could put the GOP in a similar situation. It could also test whether there’s a path forward for a Democratic Party that’s still in rebuilding mode.