Donald J. Trump can insist all he wants that his decision to fire FBI Director James Comey had nothing to do with Russia.
Mike Pence can echo the president as well, that the Russia probe played no role in Comey’s sudden and shocking dismissal.
I do not believe either man. Not for a nanosecond.
Call it purely circumstantial, but the evidence seems to be mounting that Comey’s departure as FBI boss had everything to do with the Russia investigation he was leading and nothing to do with the FBI director’s handling of the 11th-hour dump on Hillary Clinton regarding some e-mail messages that turned up late in the 2016 presidential campaign.
As the New York Times editorialized: “The explanation for this shocking move — that Mr. Comey’s bungling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server violated longstanding Justice Department policy and profoundly damaged public trust in the agency — is impossible to take at face value.”
As the Times continued: Mr. Trump had nothing but praise for Mr. Comey when, in the final days of the presidential campaign, he informed Congress that the bureau was reopening the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s emails. ‘He brought back his reputation,’ Mr. Trump said at the time. ‘It took a lot of guts.’”
The media are reporting that Comey asked just days earlier for more money and staff help to ratchet up his investigation into allegations that the Trump campaign cooperated with Russian government operatives seeking to interfere with the 2016 election.
Then he gets canned? Just like that? Trump and Pence want us to believe the Russia probe played no part in this matter?
They are insulting the intelligence of Americans.
I am picking up the whiff of a cover-up.