During a press conference on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) argued that FBI Director James Comey’s firing doesn’t appear to be a coincidence, and that without a special prosecutor into the Russia investigation, “every American will rightly suspect that the decision to fire Director Comey was part of a cover-up.”

Schumer began by wondering why, if the Trump administration objected to Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation, they waited until today to fire him.

He later added, “This is part of a deeply troubling pattern from the Trump administration. They fired Sally Yates. They fired Preet Bharara. And now they’ve fired Director Comey, the very man leading the investigation. This does not seem to be a coincidence.”

Schumer also argued that if an independent special prosecutor is not appointed to handle the Russia investigation, “every American will rightly suspect that the decision to fire Director Comey was part of a cover-up.”

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