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Rep Barbara Lee Says Comey Firing Signals Constitutional Crisis

Published

8 years ago

May 10, 2017

Congresswoman Barbara Lee released after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey saying g the president’s action an “abuse of power (that) signals a full-blown constitutional crisis that we simply cannot ignore.

“I am deeply troubled by President Trump’s decision to fire the FBI Director who was investigating allegations of collusion between the President, his campaign and the Kremlin,” said Lee. “When it comes to Russia, this administration has proven it will not act in the best interests of the American people.

“Speaker Ryan must immediately call the House back into session so members of Congress can vote to create a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate Russian interference in our election,” she said. “History will remember our actions – the integrity of our democracy is at stake.”

The Huffington Post quoted the New York Times’ editorial board, which blasted President Donald Trump for firing James Comey on Tuesday, accusing the president of dismissing the FBI director for having information with “potentially ruinous consequences.”

In an editorial published Tuesday evening, the board said the need for a special prosecutor to investigate Russian interference with the 2016 election and the Trump administration’s ties to the Kremlin “is plainer than ever.”

The board wrote:

“Mr. Comey was fired because he was leading an active investigation that could bring down a president. Though compromised by his own poor judgment, Mr. Comey’s agency has been pursuing ties between the Russian government and Mr. Trump and his associates, with potentially ruinous consequences for the administration.”

The Times added that this is “a tense and uncertain time in the nation’s history,” and it drew comparisons between Trump and President Richard Nixon’s infamous 1973 Saturday Night Massacre. Though Nixon’s presidential library would like to remind everyone that not even the 36th president fired his FBI director.

In addition to the editorial that will run in the paper Wednesday, the Times will publish the dismissal letter Trump sent Comey on its front page.