Sharply removing James Komi, Donald Trump fired a man who helped him become president of the United States and which could potentially be the greatest threat to his presidency.
This writes a loyal to the Democratic Party edition of the New York Times, adding that since the time of Watergate, no president has eliminated the person who conducted the investigation against him. Therefore, Trump's decision against the FBI director has already led to comparisons with the so-called "Monday Night Massacre" of 1973, when President Richard Nixon decided to fire the special prosecutor Archibalt Cox, who was investigating the Worgate case.
Having fired Komi, Trump quickly assured that his decision was not self-serving. But in fact for the US president, much is at stake, given the investigation of Russia's interference in US elections, which is conducted by the FBI. Many of Trump's entourage were suspected of collaborating with the Russian government.
The decision to dismiss the Komi shocked the deputies from both American parties, who saw in it the potential to further ignite an already politically dangerous investigation.
"Despite all the unusual behavior during the four months of the presidency, Trump still manages to shock everyone. And the dismissal of the Director of the FBI in the midst of the investigation passed all the permissible boundaries, "reads the article.
The publication adds that dismissing Komi will heighten suspicions that Trump really does have something that he hides. This may worsen his relations with members of the Republican Party. They can refuse to protect him at a critical moment, not knowing the whole truth. Some Republicans made cautious statements, and some of them expressed fears over the dismissal of the FBI director and called for an independent investigation into the case against Russia.
The appointment of a successor to the Komi will also not be a simple process, since anyone appointed by Trump will automatically be suspected. The US president himself could not convincingly substantiate his decision, saying that he had dismissed the Komi for how the FBI director before the elections had dealt with Hillary Clinton for using a private server. Then many people distrusted the announcement of the FBI director about the resumption of the case against the Democratic candidate 10 days before the voting. But Trump during the campaign promised to throw his rival in jail.
Advocates of the US president convince that the dismissal of the Komi does not change anything. For example, former Prosecutor General of Virginia Ken Kuchinelli assured that the case of Russia's interference in the elections will continue anyway. Although Trump himself made it clear that he does not like the very investigation of the FBI. He recently wrote on Twitter: "The story of cooperation between Trump and Russia is an absolute hoax. When will this circus end for taxpayers' money? ".
Comparison with Watergate was inevitable given all the circumstances. In the 70s, when the special prosecutor Cox called Nixon to court, the president ordered him to be dismissed. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy William Rukelshaus refused to do this and resigned. Only an official of the third rank of the Department of Justice Robert Brock executed Nixon's order and dismissed Cox. Democrats see in the act of Trump a clear parallel with those events.
"This is very much in the spirit of Nixon," said Democratic senator from Pennsylvania Bob Casey.
"Since the time of Watergate, our justice systems have not yet been under such a threat, and our belief in the independence and integrity of these systems has not been so undermined," said Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal.
Even Trump's longtime ally, Republican Roger Stone, has drawn a parallel with the 70's.
"Dick Nixon is now smiling somewhere," he said..
The publication notes that since the time of Watergate, presidents have not often decided to fire FBI directors. The only exception was the President-Democrat Bill Clinton, who dismissed William Sechshens in 1993 for ethical reasons. But the next FBI director, Louis Frie, was an even greater headache for Clinton, as he helped investigate the case against the president. However, Clinton did not dare to eliminate Free.
The former director of the Nixon library, Timothy Naftali, believes that a comparison of Trump's decision with Nixon's behavior is still not justified.
"With or without Komi, the FBI will continue to investigate Russia's intervention in the 2016 campaign. This error of a different kind. But if Prosecutor General Seshns can not prove the illegitimacy or negligence of the Komi, then suspicions that Trump is hiding something will increase, "he said..