President Trump Unexpectedly Fires FBI Director

Expect the unexpected continues via latest Trump surprise

The turbulent Trump administration continues following the unexpected firing of FBI Director James Comey.

Markets initially had a tepid reaction to President Donald Trump’s unexpected firing of James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). US stock futures were under pressure and so was the dollar. Comey’s dismissal comes amid the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in last year’s election. Trump said the bureau needed new leadership to restore “public trust and confidence.”

Reason for the dismissal. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Comey was fired because of his handling of the probe into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

With Comey’s departure, the FBI chief will be succeeded, at least temporarily, by his deputy, Andrew McCabe. McCabe came under scrutiny last year when he helped oversee the Clinton investigation even though his wife had accepted donations from Democratic political organizations for a failed 2015 election bid to the Virginia state senate. The FBI said in a statement at the time that McCabe “played no role” in his wife’s campaign “and did not participate in fundraising or support of any kind.”

Comey out, Russian official comes to town. The development comes as President Trump meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today, marking the highest level in-person meeting between the President and the Russian government since he took office. The meeting is the prelude to Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, expected within months. Lavrov is in the nation’s capital to meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, with strife in Syria and Ukraine on the agenda.

Democrats condemned Comey’s dismissal, calling it an effort to cut short the Russia probe and demanding the appointment of a special prosecutor to carry it forward.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said he is “troubled by the timing and reasoning of Director Comey’s termination.” Some other Republicans are wondering about the timing of the dismissal in the middle of his Russia investigation.

Some observers believe that the likely result will be a special counsel, which Democrats are now pushing nearly in unison. The Associated Press reported that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said last night that he told Trump in a phone conversation “You are making a big mistake.”

The announcement came 10 days before Trump leaves on his first foreign trip — Saudi Arabia, Israel and Rome.

Comments: The turbulent Trump administration continues. These types of developments have a way of backfiring.

While markets saw a muted response, even more volatility in the Congress developed after the dismissal. President Trump will now face intense scrutiny from Democrats and even some Republicans over why he dismissed the man in charge of investigating his campaign’s possible ties to Russia. Initial reaction is that it accelerated calls for a special prosecutor and set the stage for a major battle to get Comey’s successor through Senate confirmation. It left the White House pushing back against criticism that the move was designed to derail the Russia probes.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) today rejected a call for a special prosecutor. “Today we’ll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation, which could only serve to impede the current work being done,” McConnell said on the Senate floor, referring to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s current probe of Russian interference in the election and possible collusion with President Donald Trump’s campaign. McConnell also slammed Democrats for their criticism of the Comey firing after knocking his performance repeatedly.

Questions Schumer wants answered in closed briefings:

• Why was Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has recused himself from the Russia investigation, able to influence firing of Comey?
• Did Rosenstein act on his own, at the direction of his superiors, or the White House?
• Are reports that Trump has been searching for a rationale to fire Comey true?
• Was Comey’s investigation making progress in a direction that might damage Trump?
• Why didn’t Trump wait for the Inspector General’s investigation into Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation to conclude before firing him?