Photo caption: © Associated Press Photo/Carolyn Kaster – The White House is seen in Washington, Tuesday night, May 9, 2017. President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017, ousting the nation’s top law enforcement official in the midst of an… –
WASHINGTON — With his shocking dismissal of FBI Director James Comey, Donald Trump is propelling the presidency into rarely traversed territory.
His surprise announcement Tuesday flouts decades of presidential deference to the nation’s top law enforcement agency and its independence. It earns Trump the dubious distinction of being the first president since Richard Nixon to fire the official overseeing an investigation involving the commander in chief. And it cements a clear pattern of a man willing to challenge — in dramatic fashion — the institutions created to hold the president accountable.
“That’s why this is unprecedented,” said Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian. “He’s showed signs of not having a great deal of respect for the system by which this investigation has been operating.”
Sen. Richard Burr, the North Carolina Republican who is overseeing one of the congressional investigations into Russia’s election interference, said: “I am troubled by the timing and reasoning of Comey’s termination.”
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said he’d spent hours trying to find “an acceptable rationale” for Trump’s decision. “I just can’t do it,” he said.
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