President Trump Fires F.B.I. Chief
Former FBI Director James Comey testifing before the House Judiciary Committee in September. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)
Update: 4:29 p.m. PDT: The head of the American Civil Liberties Union and former National Security Agency contractor-tuned whistle-blower Edward Snowden both commented publicly about Comey’s firing after the news broke. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero offered his thoughts in a statement:
The independence of the FBI director is meant to ensure that the president does not operate above the law. For President Trump to fire the man responsible for investigating his own campaign’s ties to the Russians imperils that fundamental principle.
Regardless of how one judges the performance of James Comey in either the Hillary Clinton or Russia investigations, President Trump’s dismissal of a sitting FBI director raises serious alarm bells for our system of checks and balances.
The terms of FBI directors were purposefully structured to span across sitting presidents to ensure the FBI’s independence and insulate the bureau from partisan politics. President Trump’s dismissal of Comey raises questions about the administration’s inappropriate meddling in bureau operations — precisely at a time when the bureau appears to be investigating the president, his advisors, and his campaign for potential collusion with Russian agents in our last election.
Meanwhile, Snowden sounded off on President Trump’s favored platform—Twitter:
This FBI Director has sought for years to jail me on account of my political activities. If I can oppose his firing, so can you. https://t.co/zUp5kquy8q— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) May 9, 2017
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He weathered a contentious election season—to which he added no small measure of conflict—and the tumultuous transition that ensued from the Obama administration to the Trump White House, but as of Tuesday, F.B.I. Director James Comey was obliged to step down from his post.
The reason? According to officials from the current regime, it once again came down to Hillary Clinton’s infamous emails.
The New York Times relayed word that President Trump fired Comey over his handling of the investigation into the former secretary of state’s use of a private email server for State Department-related communications
Mr. Comey was leading an investigation into whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
“While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau,” Mr. Trump said in a letter to Mr. Comey dated Tuesday.
“It is essential that we find new leadership for the F.B.I. that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a post on Twitter that Mr. Comey “should be immediately called to testify in an open hearing about the status of Russia/Trump investigation at the time he was fired.”
The paper also reported that the newly installed Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein advised the president to oust Comey.
—Posted by Kasia Anderson