The Trump administration once again found themselves in hot water when President Trump fired FBI director James Comey. This comes in the midst of the FBI investigation of the Trump Campaign and any possible relations with Russia. And while the white house claims that there was no relation to the investigation, and was a consequence of the way he handled the Clinton email scandal, the timing and holes in the story are more than troubling.
It isn’t the simple fact that James Comey was fired. Republicans and Democrats alike had championed for his stepping down. The timing of this, however, is seemingly uncanny. Just days before being fired, James Comey asked for more documents in relation to his inquiry in Russia. And he isn’t the first person investigation Trump the be fired. Since January, Sally Yates, former acting attorney general, and Preet Bharara, New York District attorney, also found themselves with pink slips.
It’s unsettling to think that Trump has fired anyone that is close to revealing any information that could risk his presidency. It just continues to shows how unfit he is for his presidency.
Even more unsettling, is that we don’t have a cohesive answer from the white house about the reasons that he was fired, and whether or not it was related to the Russian investigation.
According to white house officials, he was fired after recommendation from Rod J. Rosenstein. Rosenstein said in a statement that he was fired because he could not “defend the director’s handling” of the Clinton investigation. However, Trump said in a statement that Comey was fired because “he’s a showboat, a grandstander” and “the FBI has been in turmoil” pointing mainly at Comey’s lack of loyalty for his firing, loyalty being the key word here.
The FBI is supposed to be bipartisan and does not have to show loyalty to the president, especially when the president is in the midst of being investigated. The FBI is loyal to the American people, even if that means revealing flaws within a presidential administration.
With no clear story, and a president who evades questions and excuses these contradicting stories with his infamous tweets, we are left wondering what will happen with the investigation now.
As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
House Democrats are pushing for a special, third party investigation team, while the white house claims that there is no reason for that. But how can we trust a Trump pawn to do a fair investigation of his campaign?
Republicans claim that a new head of the FBI won’t disturb the investigation because Comey isn’t in charge of the investigation, but clearly Comey had some pull if he was asking for financial documents and other resources that could point to connections with Russia. If we put someone who Trump appoints in charge, who’s to say this ‘loyalty’ that Trump so badly wants won’t cause the investigation to end.
As a result of Comey being fired, we are now seeing the lethal flaws in the presidential administration that could ultimately lead to its demise. The corruption and distortion of the truth is obvious.. These stories that are coming out are increasingly reminiscent of Watergate, and if Trump isn’t careful, he and Nixon might soon share the same fate. How are we supposed to trust this administration when we can’t ever get a full story and anyone who tries to give us one is fired? It is like a bad episode of "The Apprentice" that never ends, but I hope it ends soon.
