President Trump's bombshell decision to fire FBI Director James Comey Tuesday evening led to Democratic suspicions that Trump's real goal was to hamper the probe into his alleged ties to Russia, and revived demands for a special prosecutor to carry out that investigation.
Many Democrats were openly claiming it was a brazen Trump cover-up of historic proportions.
"Nixonian," protested Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. A Democrat in the House, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, compared Comey's firing to the "Saturday Night Massacre" during Watergate and said it "places our nation on the verge of a constitutional crisis." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it a "big mistake."
At a minimum, Trump's surprise move ensures that the confirmation hearings for Comey's successor will be dominated by Democratic questions about alleged collusion between the Russians and members of Trump's campaign team. But it could also breathe new life into a Russia probe that has up to this been point been stalled, and hampered by partisan fights and inconclusive unclassified evidence.
The White House said the president acted on the advice of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has recused himself from the Russia probe after failing to disclose meetings with the ambassador from Moscow during his confirmation hearings, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the top Justice Department official for the investigation.
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01.17.2025