Trump fends off firestorm after firing FBI chief

WASHINGTON — United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday (May 10) defended his decision to fire Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey, fighting a storm of criticism that the ouster was aimed at blunting the agency’s probe into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia last year.

This comes as The New York Times (NYT) reported that days before he was fired, Mr Comey asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in money and personnel for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

In brief remarks to reporters in the Oval Office late last night, Mr Trump insisted he dismissed Mr Comey “because he was not doing a good job”.

In a series of tweets earlier, Mr Trump said he was justified in firing Mr Comey because Democrats and Republicans had lost faith in the director’s leadership. 

According to the NYT report which cited unnamed three congressional officials, Mr Comey asked for the resources last week from deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who wrote the Justice Department’s memo that was used to justify the firing of Mr Comey.

Mr Comey then briefed members of Congress on the meeting in recent days, telling them about his meeting with Mr Rosenstein, who is the most senior law enforcement official supervising the Russia investigation. 

The FBI declined to comment. However, Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said “the idea that he asked for more funding” for the Russia investigation was “totally false”. 

The timing of Mr Comey’s request is not clear-cut evidence that his firing was related to the Russia investigation. 

Mr Trump’s abrupt dismissal of Mr Comey late Tuesday (US local time) stunned Washington and was swiftly condemned by Democrats and by some in his own party.

Democrats said that despite their concerns about Mr Comey’s handling of last year’s FBI probe into then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State, the President’s action is reminiscent of the “Saturday Night Massacre” of 1973, in which former president Richard Nixon fired an independent special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal. 

They called for the appointment of a special counsel to lead the Russia probe.

US intelligence agencies concluded in a January report that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an effort to disrupt the 2016 election that included hacking into Democratic Party emails and leaking them, with the aim of helping Mr Trump.

Russia has repeatedly denied any meddling in the election and the Trump administration denies allegations of collusion with Russia.

A White House official said on Wednesday Mr Trump is considering four senior FBI officials to serve as the interim replacement for Mr Comey.

The four candidates include acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, assistant FBI director in charge Paul Abbate, Chicago special agent in charge Michael Anderson and Richmond special agent in charge Adam Lee.

Vice-President Mike Pence on Wednesday defended Mr Trump’s actions, saying the “President made the right decision at the right time”.

He said that Mr Comey’s firing was not related to the handling of the Russia investigation.

Instead, Mr Comey had lost the confidence of the American people, added Mr Pence. AGENCIES