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Trump’s firing of Comey draws criticism, concern
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By DAVID SKOLNICK
and JUSTIN WIER
news@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
President Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey as FBI director has drawn criticism and concern from various circles, with some saying it could possibly lead the nation toward a constitutional crisis.
“Anytime a president fires someone heading up an investigation into the president and his associates, how can we not approach a constitutional crisis?” said David B. Cohen, a University of Akron political science professor who specializes in presidential politics. “It was an attempt to shut down the investigation into the Russian connection to the Trump campaign. That Trump’s administration didn’t believe there would be any uproar from this shows there are rank amateurs working” for the Republican president.
But Jonathan Adler, who teaches constitutional law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said while there are reasonable causes for concern, the situation has yet to reach the level of crisis.
“I think talk of a constitutional crisis is premature and hyperbolic,” Adler said. “When everything is a crisis, nothing’s a crisis.”
A lot depends on the administration’s next move, he said. To restore public confidence in the FBI, Trump needs to quickly nominate someone who is beyond reproach and commands respect on both sides of the aisle.
“That will be difficult but not impossible,” he said.
Regardless of whether the removal of Comey represents a crisis, Adler said Congress has the right and duty to demand a more complete explanation of why the administration chose to make the decision when it did.
Trump fired Comey on Tuesday writing in a letter to him that getting rid of him was needed to restore “public trust and confidence” in the FBI. Comey was overseeing an investigation into Russia’s involvement in the presidential election and an examination of Trump campaign’s ties to that country.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, said firing “the person investigating you happens in a Third World dictatorship and not the United States. Everybody should be very concerned about this, even if you voted for the guy.”
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from the Cincinnati area, said: “Given the timing and circumstances of the decision, I believe the White House should provide a fuller explanation regarding the president’s rationale. The American people must have faith in a strong, independent FBI. I’m concerned about eroding trust in this premier law enforcement agency. It is important that whoever is nominated to succeed Director Comey is a highly qualified and respected leader who will provide a fresh start for the bureau.”
U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th, downplayed the firing, saying, “This president, like any president, is free to hire and fire appointees to federal agencies. Moving forward, it is critically important that our nation’s top law enforcement agency have the complete trust of the American people.”
Ryan said Trump is “raising a lot of red flags by getting rid of Comey. He’s using the power he has to protect himself. The whole thing stinks. Comey is great to Trump until he investigates him. If he fired Comey on Jan. 21 [Trump’s second day in office], I would have been fine. But Comey is in the middle of an investigation of the president, and it raises all kinds of suspicions. It sets a dangerous precedent.”
Ryan said an independent special prosecutor is needed to investigate Trump’s ties to Russia because Americans “deserve the truth.”
Ryan, who unsuccessfully challenged Nancy Pelosi for minority leader in late November after Democrats failed to capture the House, also said he hoped an investigation “would rise above the normal partisan back and forth in Washington.”
Ryan and Cohen compared Trump getting rid of Comey to then President Richard Nixon’s decision in 1973 to fire Archibald Cox, the independent special prosecutor overseeing the Watergate investigation that eventually led to Nixon’s resignation.
“It’s a scary precedent,” Ryan said.
“If Donald Trump doesn’t serve out his entire term we can point to the firing of James Comey as a key reason,” Cohen said.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, said, “Trump made a decision to fire a guy he thought was going to hurt the presidency.”
Brown said Democratic and Republican senators have expressed concerns to him about ties between Russians and Trump’s campaign, administration, family and businesses.
Comey was “getting too close to finding things out” about Trump’s Russian connections and the president fired him because of that, Brown said.