US legislators accused President Donald Trump yesterday of derailing
their investigations into his links with Russia by sacking FBI director
James Comey.
In an unexpected move on Tuesday, Mr Trump told Mr Comey in a letter that he was sacking him following the recommendations of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, who criticised Mr Comey’s controversial handling of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Democrats, who bayed for Mr Comey’s blood last year after he announced a fresh probe into presidential candidate Ms Clinton’s alleged breaches of national security just weeks before the election, rushed to the sacked spook’s defence.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said the president was “making a big mistake.”
He said that the ongoing probe into claimed Russian interference in the election on Mr Trump’s behalf — now led by Mr Rosenstein after Mr Trump’s recusal — was “getting too close for the president.”
On Breakfast TV yesterday Connecticut Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal even said Mr Comey’s firing had prompted a “looming constitutional crisis.”
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden demanded Mr Comey immediately be summoned to testify to Congress about the status of the Trump-Russia investigation.
California Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said the White House was “brazenly interfering” in the probe.
And warhawk Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said Congress must form a special committee to investigate Russia’s alleged interference in the election.
But fellow ultra-conservative Lindsay Graham, chairman of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating the claims, said: “Given the recent controversies surrounding the director, I believe a fresh start will serve the FBI and the nation well.”
In an unexpected move on Tuesday, Mr Trump told Mr Comey in a letter that he was sacking him following the recommendations of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, who criticised Mr Comey’s controversial handling of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Democrats, who bayed for Mr Comey’s blood last year after he announced a fresh probe into presidential candidate Ms Clinton’s alleged breaches of national security just weeks before the election, rushed to the sacked spook’s defence.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said the president was “making a big mistake.”
He said that the ongoing probe into claimed Russian interference in the election on Mr Trump’s behalf — now led by Mr Rosenstein after Mr Trump’s recusal — was “getting too close for the president.”
On Breakfast TV yesterday Connecticut Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal even said Mr Comey’s firing had prompted a “looming constitutional crisis.”
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden demanded Mr Comey immediately be summoned to testify to Congress about the status of the Trump-Russia investigation.
California Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said the White House was “brazenly interfering” in the probe.
And warhawk Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said Congress must form a special committee to investigate Russia’s alleged interference in the election.
But fellow ultra-conservative Lindsay Graham, chairman of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating the claims, said: “Given the recent controversies surrounding the director, I believe a fresh start will serve the FBI and the nation well.”
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