TRUMP FIRES FBI’S COMEY
To ‘restore public trust and confidence’
• President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey Tuesday, dramatically ousting the nation’s top law enforcement official in the midst of an FBI investigation into whether Trump’s campaign had ties to Russia’s election meddling.
In a l etter to Comey, Trump said the firing was necessary to restore “public trust and confidence” in the FBI. Comey has come under intense scrutiny in recent months for his role in an investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s email practices, including a pair of letters he sent to Congress on the matter in the closing days of last year’s election.
Trump made no mention of Comey’s role in the Clinton investigation, which she has blamed in part for the election result that put him in the White House. But in announcing the firing, the White House circulated a scathing memo, written by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, criticizing Comey’s handling of the Clinton probe, including the director’s decision to hold a news conference announcing its findings and releasing “derogatory information” about Clinton.
The firing of an FBI director is rare. Democrats slammed the move, comparing it to president Richard Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” decision to fire the i ndependent special prosecutor overseeing the Watergate i nvestigation, prompting the resignations of the Justice Department’s top two officials.
“This is Nixonian,” Sen. Bob Casey, D- Pa., declared on Twitter. “Outrageous,” said Oregon S e n. 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.”
Trump has also 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.
Tuesday’s stunning announcement came shortly after the FBI corrected a sentence in Comey’s sworn testimony on Capitol Hill last week. Comey told lawmakers that Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton, had sent “hundreds and thousands” of emails to her husband’s laptop, including some with classified information.
On Tuesday, the FBI said in a two- page letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that only “a small number” of the thousands of emails found on the laptop had been forwarded there while most had simply been backed up from electronic devices. Most of the email chains on the laptop containing classified information were not the result of forwarding, the FBI said.
Some lawmakers welcomed news of the dismissal.
“Given the recent controversies surrounding the director, I believe a fresh start will serve the FBI and the nation well,” said Republican Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, chairman of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating the Russian campaign interference.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Trump called her Tuesday afternoon to inform her of his decision.
“The next FBI director must be strong and independent and will receive a fair hearing in the Judiciary Committee,” she said in a statement.
Comey’s role in the 2016 presidential campaign raised questions about his judgment and impartiality.
Though the FBI did not recommend charges against Clinton f or mishandling classified information, Comey was blisteringly critical of her decision to use a personal email account and private Internet server 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.