What is the controversy about Donald Trump firing FBI Director James Comey?

The Trump-Comey Relationship

Then FBI Director James Comey had his fair share of involvement in the 2016 Presidential elections. In July, he announced he would be investigating the Clinton email leaks. However, after the said investigation, he only said that Hillary Clinton had been “extremely careless” in handling her emails but there was nothing incarcerating in them. Two weeks before the election, he announced an email investigation yet again, clearing her name a few days later. According to Clinton, it was this second announcement that really cost her the election.

When President Trump came to power, he made it clear in January that he would like Comey to serve his entire term and Comey had agreed on the same. In a conference, he would later say, “You’re stuck with me for another six and a half years.”

The Pandora’s Box

In March, James Comey announced that FBI was investigating links between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government to the effect that it influenced the decision of the Presidential elections of 2016. On the other hand, Trump maintained that the Russian interference was only a hack introduced by the Democrats for political mileage.

Even thought the Democrats had been talking of Russian interference in their campaign, it was in June 2016 that the threat materialised more significantly. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) was hacked, with hackers getting access to DNC emails, opposition research on Trump and personal chats. The CIA had concluded that the hacks had indeed come from Russian networks. “It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected. That’s the consensus view,” a senior US official had said in an intelligence presentation made to US senators back in December 2016.

Demonstrators gather outside the White House a day after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in Washington. (AP Photo)

Soon after Comey announced an investigation in FBI, Trump reportedly did a U-turn. In an interview with Fox, he was asked whether it was “too late” to fire Comey. Trump said it wasn’t and that he’s just waiting to see how things turn out.

“You know, it’s going to be interesting,” he said.

On May 9, Comey was giving an address to FBI officials when the news broke that he had been fired. He laughed it off as a “fairly funny prank”. His staff was not amused as the news became official.

Trump Justifies Firing Comey

Donald Trump had initially said that it was on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that he had fired Comey for the mishandling of Clinton’s emails. However, in an interview with NBC news’ Lester Holt, he said he would have fired Comey regardless of the recommendation – rendering the first story meaningless.

According to Trump, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommended the dismissal. (AP Photo/File)

Trump has reiterated that Comey was fired because of incompetency. On Twitter, he also said that Comey lost the confidence of people, which called for his dismissal. “Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me!” he said. He also announced that someone more capable than Comey would be soon inducted as the FBI director.

Trump: “when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story” pic.twitter.com/MLbiJfyxmO

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 11, 2017

Trump also admitted to letting the Russia investigation influence his decision regarding firing Comey. “And in fact when I decided to just [fire Comey] I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won,’” he told Holt.

Further in the interview, he also blamed Comey for keeping FBI in “turmoil”. “He’s a showboat, he’s grandstander, the FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that. Everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil, less than a year ago. It hasn’t recovered from that,” he said.

FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 3, 2017, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing: “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” (AP Photo)

The White House kept changing its stance, with Sean Spicer announcing Tuesday that the president acted only on the recommendation of Rosenstein. They then said that the President had wanted to fire him since Election Day and the Russia investigation solidified that decision.

White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders added another narrative, saying it was dissatisfaction from within the team that caused the firing, that “the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director.”

The Russian Connection

According to various news reports, back in January 2017, after Trump was sworn-in as the President of United States, Comey was invited for dinner to the White House. Comey claimed that Trump asked him to pledge his loyalty to the president to which Comey responded by saying that he could pledge his honesty, but not his loyalty. The White House denies these claims.

Parallels have been drawn with the Watergate Scandal 44 years ago when then President Richard Nixon fired Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor in the scandal who was fired by Nixon for subpoenaing the “Nixon Tapes” of the White House. US media houses are calling Trump’s move a “cover-up” for the Trump-Russia investigation, even though a line in Comey’s dismissal letter mentions a very specific line regarding the Russian investigation that apparently clears him of this accusation.

“I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation,” the dismissal letter read.

A day before Comey’s dismissal, Donald Trump had tweeted, “The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?

The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017

Will the Russia investigation continue?

Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s deputy director, said on Friday that the investigation the Trump-Russia probe but the White House will not be updated regarding the same. McCabe also slammed Sanders account of Comey’s unpopularity by saying that he still enjoys respect in the organisation.

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe who was elevated to acting FBI director after FBI director James Comey was fired by President Donald Trump on May 9, 2017. (AP Photo/File)

“The vast majority of FBI employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey. I can tell you also that Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does,” McCabe said, effectively making null the explanation made by the White House deputy Press Secretary.