Yesterday, our leader fired the Director of the FBI, James Comey. Trump made this radical decision even though Comey and his agency were in the midst of multiple investigations of possible collusion between Russian agents and the Trump administration concerning Russian intelligence  interference in a presidential election in this country.  For the last 4 months, though repeatedly encouraged by the White House, Comey refused to publicly disavow the multiple linkages among Trump advisors and family members and Russian intelligence agents. Because he was not willing to spout the administration nonsense, Director Comey earned Trump’s enmity.

As is reflective of this administration’s class and dignity, the Director learned of his firing from a news announcement while speaking to the press. Naturally, he thought it was a joke. The joke, however,  remains in the oval office.

Trump is taking the position that he acquiesced to pleas from the Justice Department to remove Comey because he could no longer lead the nation’s criminal investigative agency. Let’s look at this claim for just a bit. When Trump made public his termination letter to the Director, he attached 2 letters – 1 from the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, and 1 from the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein. Forget Sessions – he’s a racist, sycophantic, Trump hatchet man. His opinion has no weight nor bearing on this discussion.

Rod Rosenstein based his recommendation on Comey’s handling of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails. Now, let’s be clear. Comey botched the public relations surrounding that investigation. First, by announcing the results in early July that there was no evidence to indict the Democratic nominee for President while still chastising her for sloppy handling of sensitive material (totally outside his purview). Then, 2 weeks before the election, announcing that more emails had been found on a computer during an unrelated investigation of a pervert and that the FBI would be reopening the investigation of the nominee for President (nothing found). Unprecedented for the Justice Department to discuss an investigation prior to announcing the findings. Historical for an FBI Director to influence the electorate in favor of one candidate over the other. Not even J. Edgar Hoover had ever interfered in the electoral process in such an obvious way. Comey’s actions changed the election and tilted the trends in favor of an idiot. That idiot continually bragged about Comey and his “guts” on the campaign trail over the last 2 weeks of the election.

Speed ahead 6 months and in the midst of investigating the Russian interference issue and their links to Trump, the President fires the FBI Director and attempted to lead the American people to believe that the reason is that Comey did not handle the Clinton email investigation properly. WHAT?? Something that got you elected 6 months ago and that you bragged about suddenly 6 months later causes you to fire the Director of the FBI? Rosenstein wrote that Comey handled the Clinton investigation poorly, had made decisions that defied belief, and still did not recognize his mistakes. Mostly true. Rosenstein then concluded that Comey could no longer lead the FBI. Keep in mind that Rosenstein has been in the job for 2 weeks. 2 weeks in DC and felt that he was in a position to write, unsolicited, to the President and recommend that he fire the FBI Director. 2 weeks as Deputy AG and you tell the President he should fire the FBI Director. NOT A CHANCE! Government just doesn’t ever work that way. He was told to write that memo and told what to put in the document to justify the removal.

Just a couple of more points. 1, Trump had taken to Twitter over the last few weeks to attack Comey. What a spectacle – the President of the US criticizing the FBI Director in 144 characters or less as the man tries to lead the country’s police agency. 2, Comey was loved and respected within the FBI. Internally, his leadership was not ever in doubt.

So, we are left with only one question. Forget all the hand waving and White House prevaricating. The germane question for the American people is, if not for Clinton’s email investigation, why did Trump fire James Comey? This situation feels an awful lot like 1973 when Richard Nixon, as the noose tightened, attempted to fire the Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. When the AG, Elliot Richardson, refused to fire Cox, Nixon fired him. Richardson’s Deputy AG, William Ruckelshaus also refused and was also fired. Cox was eventually fired when Nixon reached a person of similar morals, Robert Bork, the third person in the Justice Department hierarchy. This horrible chapter in US history is known as the Saturday Night Massacre and sealed Nixon’s fate with the American people. Oh, for an Elliot Richardson or William Ruckelshaus today. Where are these type of men?

Trump fired Comey because he could not control him and because he feared him. I have no doubt that Comey would have followed the Russian investigation wherever the facts led. He drove me nuts last summer and fall, but I trusted him leading this investigation and he seemed independent of the White House. Can we say that about whomever Trump and his flying monkeys will put forward now? Does anyone believe that anyone getting this nomination will not be subject to a quid pro quo concerning the Russian investigation?

The American people need to demand an independent investigator of this Russian-White House matter. We need a bipartisan Senate to conduct in-depth questioning of the FBI Director nominee. None of what we are seeing here is normal. We need to be very suspicious of these White House actions and the man in the oval office.