Firing Comey: An Impeachable Action
On May 9, President Donald J. Trump made the executive decision to fire Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations James Comey. In an official press release, the government said that he had acted under the advice of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. The latter had written a paper encouraging Trump to fire Sessions due to his “mishandling” of the Hillary Clinton email scandal and the consequential clearing of her charges.
While the White House continues to deny that the decision to fire Comey was not influenced by his formerly ongoing investigation into the Russian interference in the election, it is clear that Trump had that in mind when he asked Comey to resign. Three days after Comey left his post, Trump sat down with the National Broadcasting Company and confessed the truth. “Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey, knowing there was no good time to do it. And, in fact, 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. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won,’ ” Trump admitted.
When our country is especially politically polarized, it is not only critical for our government to have complete transparency but also the moral standard to investigate possible corruption. The Russian interference investigation was legitimate and necessary, and if it doesn’t continue under the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, we are headed down a path to corruption.
While Rosenstein’s letter may certainly have played a part in Trump’s decision to dismiss Comey, it is clearly not encompassing of the entire truth. The timing of an anonymous whistle-blower revealing a top-secret memo to Comey could not have come at a better moment. On May 16, The New York Times released an article detailing Trump’s request to Comey to “let [the investigation] go,” a dire warning which Comey very democratically did not heed. As Trump continues to insist publicly that the Trump/Russian relations are “fake news,” it is imperative that we take a hard look at what his recent firing of Comey means for democracy.
Many people within the White House have also began to call for action. Republican Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Representative Jason Chaffetz called for the to hand over every document they had concerning conversations between Trump and Comey. Senator John McCain called for the special investigation to continue, while Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker reiterated that the firing would raise questions and concern. According to Politico, many members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation were incredibly saddened by Comey’s dismissal, praising his leadership, integrity and dedication to justice.
Furthermore, many concerned citizens and outraged politicians have begun to draw the connection between Trump and Nixon; when the Federal Bureau of Investigation began to investigate the Watergate scandal, Nixon removed the current special prosecutor Archibald Cox, something known in history as the “Saturday Night Massacre.” This would later force him to resign before getting impeached. Now we must ask the question: is this not also an impeachable offense?