7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2017
Comey sought more Russia resources before firing
President Trump
says both parties
will thank him
By ERIC TUCKER, EILEEN
SULLIVAN and JULIE PACE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In the days
before his firing by President Donald
Trump, FBI Director James Comey
told U.S. lawmakers he had asked the
Justice Department for more resources
to pursue the bureau’s investigation
into Russia’s interference in last year’s
presidential election, three U.S. offi-
cials said today.
The officials said Comey met last
week with Rod Rosenstein, the deputy
attorney general, to make the request.
Comey then alerted lawmakers with
ties to the concurrent congressional
investigations into Russia’s meddling,
according to the officials, who insisted
on anonymity in order to disclose the
private conversations.
Justice Department spokeswoman
Sarah Isgur Flores said it was false
that Comey had asked Rosenstein for
money for the Russia investigation.
The revelations raise new questions
about what prompted Trump’s deci-
sion to fire Comey. The White House
has cited a memo from Rosenstein, in
which he criticizes Comey’s handling
of last year’s investigation into Dem-
ocrat Hillary Clinton’s email practices
Rosenstein’s memo makes no men-
tion of the FBI’s Russia investigation,
which is probing both Russia’s hack-
ing of Democratic groups last year
and whether Trump campaign asso-
ciates had ties to Moscow’s election
interference.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump talks to reporters during a meeting with Dr. Henry Kissinger, former secretary of state
and national security adviser under President Richard Nixon, at the White House today in Washington.
Nominated in 2013
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
FBI Director James Comey lis-
tens on Capitol Hill in Washing-
ton earlier this month. President
Donald Trump has fired Comey. In
a statement Tuesday, Trump says
Comey’s firing “will mark a new
beginning” for the FBI.
Defending decision
Trump defended his decision
today, asserting in a flurry of tweets
that both Democrats and Republicans
“will be thanking me” for his action.
He did not mention any effect the dis-
missal might have on the FBI and con-
gressional investigations into contacts
between his 2016 election campaign
and Russia.
“He wasn’t doing a good job. Very
simply. He was not doing a good job,”
Trump said in brief remarks to report-
ers in the Oval Office, where he was
joined by former Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger.
The abrupt firing of Comey threw
into question the future of the FBI’s
investigation and immediately raised
suspicions of an underhanded effort
to stymie a probe that has shadowed
the administration from the outset.
Trump has ridiculed the investigations
as “a hoax” and denied any campaign
involvement with the Russians.
Democrats compared Comey’s
ouster to President Richard Nixon’s
“Saturday Night Massacre” during the
Watergate investigation and renewed
AP Photo/Jon Elswick
The termination letter from President Donald Trump.
calls for the appointment of a special
prosecutor.
Ironically, Kissinger, who was
meeting with Trump, was Nixon’s sec-
retary of state in 1973, just moved over
from being Nixon’s national security
adviser.
Earlier today, Senate Democratic
leader Chuck Schumer of New York
urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions
and his deputy, Rosenstein, to appear
before the Senate to answer questions
about the circumstances surrounding
Trump’s action.
However, Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell brushed aside calls
for a special prosecutor, saying a new
investigation into Russian meddling
would only “impede the current work
being done.” He noted that Democrats
had repeatedly criticized Comey and
some had called for his removal.
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6 PM
Trump made a case on Twitter, say-
ing Comey had “lost the confidence of
almost everyone in Washington,” add-
ing: “When things calm down, they
will be thanking me!”
Vice President Mike Pence said at
the Capitol that Trump had made “the
right decision at the right time.”
The Justice Department said Ses-
sions was interviewing candidates
to serve as an interim replacement.
Comey’s deputy, FBI veteran Andrew
McCabe, became acting director after
Comey was fired.
Restoring ‘trust’
In his letter Tuesday to Comey,
Trump said the firing was neces-
sary to restore “public trust and con-
fidence” in the FBI. The administra-
tion paired the letter with a scathing
review by Rosenstein, the recently
confirmed deputy attorney general, of
how Comey handled the investigation
into Clinton’s email practices, includ-
ing his decision to hold a news con-
ference announcing its findings and
releasing “derogatory information”
about Clinton.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Rep.
Adam Schiff of California, top Dem-
ocrat on the House intelligence com-
mittee, said today on MSNBC. As to
Trump’s contention that the firing had
to do with Comey’s decision-making
on such matters as the Clinton emails,
he said, “Nobody believes that.”
Trump, in his letter, pointedly
thanked Comey for telling him three
times “that I am not under investiga-
tion.” The FBI has not confirmed that
Comey ever made those assurances
to the president. In public hearings,
Comey has declined to answer when
asked if Trump is under investigation,
urging lawmakers not to read anything
into that statement.
LISTINGS
THE DAILY
ASTORIAN
A
While Comey has drawn anger
from Democrats since he reopened
the email investigation in the clos-
ing days of last year’s campaign, they
didn’t buy that justification for his fir-
ing. Several Republicans joined them
in raising alarms of how it could affect
probes into possible coordination
between Trump associates and Russia
to influence the election.
In one of the strongest statements
by Republicans, Sen. Richard Burr of
North Carolina, chairman of the Sen-
ate intelligence committee, said, “I am
troubled by the timing and reasoning
of Director Comey’s termination.”
“His dismissal further confuses an
already difficult investigation by the
committee,” Burr said.
Schumer told Trump in a phone
call he thought dumping Comey was
a mistake. Today, Trump labeled the
Senate minority leader “Cryin’ Chuck
Schumer.”
Trump will now appoint a succes-
sor at the FBI, who will almost cer-
tainly have an impact on how the
probe moves forward and whether the
public will accept its outcome.
It was only the second firing of an
FBI director in history. President Bill
Clinton dismissed William Sessions
amid allegations of lapses in 1993.
Republican Sen. John McCain of
Arizona said Congress must form a
special committee to investigate Rus-
sia’s interference in the election.
Comey, 56, was nominated by
President Barack Obama for the FBI
post in 2013 to a 10-year term, though
that appointment does not ensure a
director will serve the full term.
Praised frequently by both parties
for his independence and integrity, he
spent three decades in law enforce-
ment. Before the past months’ con-
troversies, the former deputy attorney
general in the George W. Bush admin-
istration was perhaps best known for
a remarkable 2004 standoff with top
officials over a federal domestic sur-
veillance program. In March of that
year, Comey rushed to the hospital bed
of Attorney General John Ashcroft to
physically stop White House officials
in their bid to get his ailing boss to
reauthorize a secret no-warrant wire-
tapping program.
But his prominent role in the 2016
presidential campaign raised questions
about his judgment and impartiality.
Though the FBI did not recommend
charges against Clinton for mishan-
dling classified information, Comey
was blisteringly critical of her decision
to use a personal email account and
private internet server during her four
years as secretary of state.
Comey strongly defended his deci-
sions during a Senate Judiciary Com-
mittee hearing last week. He said he
was “mildly nauseous” at the thought
of having swayed the election but also
said he would do the same again.
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