USA TODAY International Edition
White House cites Comey ‘ atrocities’
Dems accuse Trump of trying to sabotage FBI’s inquiry into Russian links
A report that James Comey was fired days after requesting more resources for his investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia raised new questions about President Trump’s reasons for firing the FBI director — even as the White House doubled down on the decision.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Comey was fired for the “atrocities” he committed in his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of State.
Trump spent months considering whether to fire Comey, and his ultimate decision was based on recommendations from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and newly confirmed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Sanders said. She insisted the dismissal had nothing to do with the FBI investigation into Russia. “Any investigation that was happening on Monday is still happening today,” she said.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D- Ill., a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department and FBI, said, “I’m told that as soon as Rosenstein arrived, there was a request for additional resources for the investigation and that a few days afterwards, ( Comey) was sacked.”
The FBI made the request di-
rectly to Rosenstein for more investigators with specific skills, according to people familiar with the matter.
Durbin said he did not know the details of the request and did not have evidence that it was related to Comey’s firing. “I think the Comey operation was breathing down the neck of the Trump campaign and their operatives,” he said, “and this was an effort to slow down the investigation.”
Durbin cited only a “reliable source” for his information.
Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said Comey made no request for additional funding or personnel in meetings with Rosenstein. “No resources — personnel, money or otherwise,” she said. “That is false.”
Democrats accused Trump of trying to short- circuit the Russia investigation, and they united in their calls for the appointment of a special prosecutor.
Several described the Comey dismissal as “Nixonian” in reference to President Richard Nixon’s firing of the Watergate special prosecutor in 1973.
There could be some Republican support for an independent investigation. “It is now harder to resist calls for an independent investigation,” Rep. Charlie Dent, R- Pa., said on MSNBC’s Morning
Joe. “It’s pretty tough to fire the guy who’s investigating your campaign.”
The White House maintained that the FBI director’s overall record subjected him to dismissal.
In the report Trump used to justify his decision, Rosenstein criticized Comey for holding a news conference July 5 to announce that charges would not be filed against Clinton, even as he criticized her over her handling of classified information. “We do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation,” Rosenstein said. His letter also mentioned Comey’s decision to announce a new investigation of Clinton on Oct. 28.
Trump asked Justice Department leaders to put their recom- mendations about Comey’s leadership in writing, Sanders said, and he made the decision Tuesday after “having that conversation that outlined the basic atrocities in circumventing the chain of command in the Department of Justice. Any person of legal mind and authority knows what a big deal that is, particularly in the Department of Justice.”
Sanders noted that many Democrats blamed Comey for Clinton’s loss to Trump in the presidential election. “Frankly, I’m surprised that ( the firing) did create a divide since you’ve had so many Republicans and Democrats repeatedly calling for Director Comey to be gone,” she said.
Democrats insisted that Trump could have fired Comey over his handling of the Clinton investigation anytime during the past four months he’s been in office. Instead, they said, the president waited until the various Russia investigations heated up. “He feels the noose tightening,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D- Va., the 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said on Morning Joe.
Kaine noted that in Trump’s termination letter to Comey, the president thanked the FBI director for “informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation.” As Kaine put it: “That shows a deeply insecure president.”
Republicans joined in the criticism of the timing of Trump’s move.
Sen. Richard Burr, R- N. C., heading an investigation as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was “troubled by the timing and reasoning” of Comey’s firing. He said it “further confuses an already difficult investigation by the committee.”
Trump tweeted Wednesday that “Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me!”
Yet Trump had kind public words for Comey in recent months. Last week, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump had confidence in Comey.
Trump had praised Comey for reopening the Clinton investigation in October — and complimented the FBI director for months afterward. Introducing Comey during a White House event in January, the president said, “He’s become more famous than me.”
Wednesday morning, he tweeted, “The Democrats have said some of the worst things about James Comey, including the fact that he should be fired, but now they play so sad!”
Trump spoke in person about Comey’s abrupt dismissal after an Oval Office sit- down with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — which only sharpened the debate over possible ties between Comey’s firing and the Russia investigation.
Trump said, “Very simply, he was not doing a good job.”
The president said he will hire someone “who will do a far better job” in restoring the FBI’s prestige.
The new director will inherit the investigation into whether there was any collusion between associates of the Trump campaign and Russians who allegedly sought to influence last year’s election by hacking Democrats close to Clinton and releasing the stolen information to websites such as WikiLeaks.
The investigation focuses on whether there are Russian links to Trump associates Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager; Carter Page, a member of a Trump foreign policy advisory board; and Roger Stone, a longtime friend and political adviser to Trump.
Manafort, Page and Stone denied collusion with Russia during the 2016 election.
“Any investigation that was happening on Monday is still happening today.” White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders