Rep. Jim Himes said Friday that President Trump firing former FBI Director James Comey is a much more serious offense than reports he was considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller.

“He didn’t actually fire Mueller, so no act was committed, now that takes us back to Jim Comey who actually did get fired an then the president goes on Lester Holt and says he did it to make the Russia thing go away, and that’s a much more serious episode,” Mr. Himes, Connecticut Democrat, said on CNN.

Mr. Himes was reacting to reports in both the New York Times and Washington Post that Mr. Trump tried to fire Mr. Mueller, but was stopped by White House Counsel Don McGahn, who reportedly threatened to resign over the issue.

Mr. Trump did fire Mr. Comey last summer, but he said it was due to the former FBI director’s handling of the Clinton email investigation, as well as the Russia issue.

The Connecticut congressman said, however, he doesn’t think Mr. Trump has a strategic plan in his actions, but rather wants to solve the issue in the moment.

“I think the president sees a problem in front of him and says ‘I’m going to solve this problem by making it go way,’ and that’s I think exactly why his lawyer stepped in front of him and said, ‘Sir, you’re not going to do this. This puts you three-fourths of the way to a charge of obstruction of justice,’” Mr. Himes said.

The president called reports of his attempt to firing Mr. Mueller “fake news” on Friday.

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