Sen. Coons: “If this really was the reason for his firing, why wasn't he fired in the first few days of the Trump administration?”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees, last night joined CNN to discuss the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

“That is exactly why this is hard to square with reality. The Trump administration has been in place for six months now. There are no new developments here. His handling of the Clinton email issue was questioned, was criticized by many at the time, but that's not a new or recent development,” said Senator Coons. “And it doesn't seem as if it is a full justification of why President Trump would take this action at this time. Just in the last few days, we've had concerning testimony from Sally Yates, the fired former acting Attorney General, that suggests there's more going on with the National Security Advisor General Flynn than was previously understood. And, my concern is that we now have to take strong action to ensure that the American people can be confident that the FBI is capable of an independent investigation into this topic. That the Senate Intelligence Committee remains capable of an independent and effective investigation into this topic, and it may well be time for us to have a special counsel appointed so there is more confidence in the independence of the investigation that is not yet concluded." 

“That's about as brazen and aggressive a way you could fire somebody, and, as you just referenced in the previous segment here, President Trump's letter saying, you have told me three times I am not under investigation, just seems to protest too much the idea that there is nothing going on here other than sort of clearing the decks,” said Senator Coons. “And, I'll remind you, FBI Director Comey is just in the third year of his ten-year term. If this really was the reason for his firing, why wasn't he fired in the first few days of the Trump administration?”

Full video and audio available here.

Excerpts from the interview:

Senator Coons on the firing of FBI Director Comey: “This was a simply stunning development. Not just because of the timing, but also because of the justification. It's striking to me that the Attorney General who had recused himself from involvement in the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign, the Trump administration, and Russia, had a direct role, had a hand in this decision to fire the FBI Director, the Director who is responsible oversight of the agency that we recently learned is conducting an ongoing investigation into that exact matter. So, it is striking, and I think this deserves unique focus and attention in a bipartisan way in Congress in the coming days.”

More on Comey's firing: “That is exactly why this is hard to square with reality. The Trump administration has been in place for six months now. There are no new developments here. His handling of the Clinton email issue was questioned, was criticized by many at the time, but that's not a new or recent development. And it doesn't seem as if it is a full justification of why President Trump would take this action at this time. Just in the last few days, we've had concerning testimony from Sally Yates, the fired former acting Attorney General, that suggests there's more going on with the National Security Advisor General Flynn than was previously understood. And, my concern is that we now have to take strong action to ensure that the American people can be confident that the FBI is capable of an independent investigation into this topic. That the Senate Intelligence Committee remains capable of an independent and effective investigation into this topic, and it may well be time for us to have a special counsel appointed so there is more confidence in the independence of the investigation that is not yet concluded.”

More on Comey's firing: “Not at all. And, in fact, the way that the firing was done was particularly striking. Director Comey is a respected career, law enforcement official, public servant, and he was fired essentially through the press. He found out that he had been fired while he was speaking to FBI personnel in Los Angeles, and there were press reports that a letter had been delivered to the FBI headquarters. That's about as brazen and aggressive a way you could fire somebody, and, as you just referenced in the previous segment here, President Trump's letter saying, you have told me three times I am not under investigation, just seems to protest too much the idea that there is nothing going on here other than sort of clearing the decks. And, I'll remind you, FBI Director Comey is just in the third year of his ten-year term. If this really was the reason for his firing, why wasn't he fired in the first few days of the Trump administration?” 

Senator Coons on what to do now: “That's the core challenge that we face. As I understand it, under existing statute, a special counsel could be appointed by the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. That would require Republicans to stand up and say, as well as Democrats, that we have real concerns, that we think we have to do more to restore independence to this investigation, and to express concerns. So far, we've heard from the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee who has expressed some of those exact concerns and a few other senior Republicans. But, frankly, it is my hope that in the interest of restoring the rule of law, in the interest of restoring public confidence and the respect for the United States internationally, as a country where this is a separation between partisan politics and the FBI and the Department of Justice, that this important step will be taken.”

Senator Coons on why people should have confidence: “Well, I think there's a lot that has to be done to restore and ensure that confidence. I'll remind you that the escapade with Congressman Devin Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee really set that investigation off track. Really took them off track for a number of weeks. But, they've not reconstituted themselves. I'm optimistic that the Senate Intelligence Committee continues to operate in a bipartisan way and that there are Republicans and Democrats that on that committee willing to stand up to the president and willing to issue subpoenas if necessary and required, and that they've got the staff and the determination to get to the bottom of it. As for the FBI, I think that is going to take some work, and I think it's going to require the career professionals who run the investigation and the current leadership of the Department of Justice, most principally Rod Rosenstein, to step forward and take strong action to restore that confidence, that confidence in the independence of the investigation.”

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