President Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey, who was fewer than four years into what was supposed to be a 10-year term, on Tuesday evening. His ouster, which purportedly came because he mishandled the investigation of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server, is just the the second firing of an FBI director in history — the other by President Bill Clinton for ethical violations.

The firing comes as the FBI is investigating the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian officials. The dismissal now allows Trump to replace Comey, who was appointed by Obama but has served under presidents of both parties, with his own appointee.

That potential conflict of interest — an ally of the president, whether a Trump appointee or another member of his party, controlling the agency that is investigating Trump — is echoed across the different agencies and committees with a hand in the investigation.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that those individuals are actually shirking their responsibilities — just that they don't appear to be an unbiased third party.