FBI director’s abrupt dismissal has shaken Washington and triggered questions and fears that the US is facing its biggest constitutional crisis since Watergate

The FBI director, James Comey, asked the justice department for more resources for his investigation into alleged ties between the Donald Trump election campaign and Russia just days before he was fired, it was reported on Wednesday.



Comey’s abrupt dismissal has shaken Washington, triggering a torrent of unanswered questions and fears that America is facing its biggest constitutional crisis since the Watergate scandal.

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Accusations that Trump is seeking to quash the FBI inquiry were further fuelled by claims, reported by the New York Times and Associated Press, that Comey had recently told Congress that he had requested more resources to support the Russia investigation from the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein.

Asked if Trump knew of this, the White House deputy press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said: “Not that I’m aware of and I think that would be a better question for the Department of Justice.”

Ian Prior, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, described the reports that Comey had sought additional resources as “totally false”.



The White House was struggling to deal with the fallout of Tuesday’s stunning decision to topple Comey, which once again saw Trump smash precedents and stir bitter political divisions.

There were numerous questions over why Trump had acted now rather than when he took office, whether Rosenstein was pressured to take up the issue shortly after taking up his post, what Comey knows and why the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was allowed to influence the decision, after he was forced to recuse himself from the Russia investigation because of past contacts with the Russian ambassador to the US.

There is also deep uncertainty over who will succeed Comey and whether that person will be able to guarantee the autonomy of the FBI investigation.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president offered a simple defence, saying of Comey: “He was not doing a good job. Very simply, he was not doing a good job.”

Scenting a cover-up, Democrats drew parallels with Richard Nixon’s conduct during Watergate and demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor, but the White House and congressional Republicans continued to resist.

It was a memo from Rosenstein, concluding that the FBI director had mishandled last year’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, that ostensibly sealed Comey’s fate. This was despite Trump having praised Comey for having “guts” during the campaign.

But confusion deepened on Wednesday when Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, claimed that Trump had lost confidence in Comey due to “a series of missteps and mistakes” over several months. “Frankly, he’d been considering letting Director Comey go since he was elected ... I think it’s been an erosion of confidence.”

This was despite Sanders’ boss, Sean Spicer, repeatedly saying from the same podium that Trump had confidence in the director.

Using colourful language, Sanders also cited Rosenstein’s letter as having contributed to the decision: “I think also having a letter like the one he received and having that conversation that outlined the basic, just, atrocities, and circumventing the chain of command in the Department of Justice.”

With somewhat poetic timing, Trump held meetings at the White House on Wednesday with Sergey Lavrov, the Russian ambassador, then 93-year-old Henry Kissinger, who was Nixon’s secretary of state.

Earlier, visiting the state department, Lavrov was asked whether Comey’s dismissal had cast a shadow over his meeting with US secretary of state Rex Tillerson. The diplomat replied with tongue in cheek: “Was he fired? You’re kidding. You’re kidding.”

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And the Russian president, Vladimir Putin – interviewed by CBS while he was in his ice hockey gear – denied having had any influence on Comey’s removal. “Don’t be angry with me,” Putin said. “We have nothing to do with that. President Trump is acting in accordance with his confidence and in accordance with his law and constitution.”

On Capitol Hill, Vice-President Mike Pence also strenuously denied any connection with Russia. “That’s not what this was about,” he told reporters. “The president’s decision to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general to remove Director Comey as the head of the FBI was based solely and exclusively on his commitment to the best interest of the American people.”

Pence added: “Director Comey had lost the confidence of the American people. I personally am very grateful that we have a president willing to show the kind of strong and decisive leadership necessary to fire him.”

Comey has been blamed by Clinton and her supporters for having helped tip the election in Trump’s favour with a late intervention last October. Trump tweeted on Wednesday: “Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me!”



But if the president calculated his political rivals would therefore welcome Comey’s departure, he was mistaken. Democrat after Democrat lined up to denounce the move, with some using terms such as “Nixonian” and “constitutional crisis” while threatening to slow down congressional business in protest.



Speaking on the Senate floor, the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, posed several questions, including: “Are reports that the president has been searching for a rationale to fire the FBI director for weeks true? Was Director Comey’s investigation making significant progress in a direction that would cause political damage for the White House?”

He added: “We need to get to the bottom of this … and get a handle on all of the facts so that we can grapple with them.”

Elijah Cummings, a Democratic congressman from Maryland and ranking member of the House committee on oversight and government reform, demanded “immediate emergency hearings”.

Republicans were more divided. More than a dozen senators voiced concerns; John McCain said he was “disappointed” by the decision. But the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, stood by the president. “Our Democratic colleagues [are] complaining about the removal of an FBI director whom they themselves repeatedly and sharply criticised,” he said.

Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, also dismissed calls for a special prosecutor. His committee has invited Comey to give evidence behind closed doors next week. The acting FBI director, Andrew McCabe, who was set to meet the president on Wednesday, will testify on Wednesday in Comey’s place during a Senate hearing on worldwide threats.

Comey learned of his own professional demise in farcical circumstances. The White House tried to inform him by email and in a letter delivered to FBI headquarters in Washington. But the director was speaking to FBI staff in Los Angeles at the time and actually learned of his dismissal via newsflashes on TV screens. “In response to the reports, Mr Comey laughed, saying that he thought it was a fairly funny prank,” the New York Times reported, but colleagues then took him aside to inform him it was true.