By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
President Trump’s sudden and brazen decision to fire FBI Director James Comey drew immediate and fierce criticism from both sides of the aisle Tuesday, with some comparing the bombastic Republican to Richard Nixon.
Here are 10 reactions from elected officials:
- “This is Nixonian,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania.
- “The only way the American people can have faith in this investigation is for it to be led by a fearless, independent special prosecutor,” said the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
- “I am troubled by the timing and reasoning of Jim Comey’s termination,” said Sen. Richard M. Burr, R-N.C.
- “What happened during the Nixon period, there were people of principle who stood up against some of then-President Nixon’s actions,” Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee. “I’m hoping in the coming days that we’ll see either out of the administration, and frankly from a lot of my colleagues, a willingness to rise above partisanship.”
- “The President’s sudden and brazen firing of the FBI Director raises the ghosts of some of the worst Executive Branch abuses,” said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in a statement. “We cannot stand by and watch a coverup of the possible collusion with a hostile foreign power to undermine American democracy.”
- “Not since Watergate have our legal systems been so threatened and our faith in the independence and integrity of those systems so shaken,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut.
- “I have long called for a special congressional committee to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “The president’s decision to remove the F.B.I. director only confirms the need and the urgency of such a committee.”
- “We are careening ever closer to a Constitutional crisis, and this development only underscores why we must appoint a special prosecutor to fully investigate any dealings the Trump campaign or administration had with Russia,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts.
- “The inescapable conclusion from the circumstantial evidence here is the President wanted to stop or stifle this investigation,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told ABC News.
- “Russia attacked our democracy and the American people deserve answers. President Trump’s decision to make this move tonight is an attack on the rule of law and raises more questions that demand answers. Firing the FBI Director does not place the White House, the President, or his campaign above the law,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
