US media says James Comey found out he had been fired when the news flashed up on TV.
ADVERTISEMENTThe now ex-FBI Director James Comey was in Los Angeles when he learned he had lost his job.
The New York Times says he was addressing staff when the news flashed on a TV in the background. He laughed at first, thinking it was a joke.
How James Comey learned he had been fired https://t.co/APMC0R3wempic.twitter.com/mW5OjG9UQO
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) 10 mai 2017
Others too are stunned. Some Democrats compared President Donald Trump’s move to the “Saturday Night Massacre” of 1973, in which President Richard Nixon fired an independent special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal.
“It is really quite remarkable, the notion that you would fire one of your top investigating officials when that person is in the midst of an investigation that could involve you or people high up in your administration,” said Sam Erman, an Associate Professor at USC Gould School of Law in Los Angeles.
“We have seen a president fire people investigating him before but that was Richard Nixon and he eventually had to resign.”
The bombshell forced Comey, 56, to cut short his California trip. FBI staff are reeling, nearly all having confidence in him, according to one anonymous insider.
Timeline: How the Comey saga played out at the FBI https://t.co/Lg8Us9Ne31pic.twitter.com/azzxqWzIDq
— The Hill (@thehill) 10 mai 2017
The FBI source says agents are concerned that Comey, formerly the top US law enforcement official, was dismissed because of leading the probe into the Trump presidential campaign’s possible collusion with Russia.
White House officials have denied allegations that there was any political motive in the move.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any meddling in the election and the Trump administration denies allegations of collusion with Russia.
with Reuters