President Trump Fires FBI Director James B. Comey, Jr.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Less than an hour ago, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced the dismissal of FBI Director James B.Comey,Jr. Memos released from the Justice Department indicate that the firing of Comey was recommended to the President by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and newly sworn in Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein. Spicer said that the president informed Comey personally that he has been “terminated and removed from office.”
Here is a copy of the letter in a tweet posted by Peter Alexander:
BREAKING: Full letter from Trump to Comey says former FBI Director "not able to effectively lead the Bureau." pic.twitter.com/P7Y1nowqCF
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) May 9, 2017
Director Comey became embroiled in the controversy of last year’s presidential election, when he first announced on July 5th of last year that the investigation into Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s emails had been concluded and no actionable charges could be filed.
This was followed later by another announcement on October 28 – just 11 days before the election that the investigation was reopened on the basis of additional communication discovered on Ms.Clinton’s personal assistant Huma Abedin’s computer that involved discussions with former New York Congressman, Anthony Weiner – Ms. Abedin’s husband.
Today’s firing by President Trump, is sure to spark a new round of intense controversy, coming as it has just one day after former Assistant Attorney General Sally Yates’ explosive testimony before a Senate panel, confirming that Trump was in possession of information she provided to his executive White House Counsel, Don McGahn that General Michael Flynn had misled Vice President Pence about his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
It is not currently known how Comey’s firing will affect the status of the FBI’s ongoing counterintelligence investigation into collusion of Trump’s campaign and Russian government entities.
