Former FBI Director James Comey testifying to Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
James Comey, fired by Trump this week from his post as FBI director, said he had long believed the US president can fire the head of the FBI “for any reason or no reason at all.”
Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) James Comey, who was fired on Tuesday by President Donald Trump, wrote a letter to a number of FBI staff addressing his dismissal and acknowledging the US president is well within his powers to remove the FBI head.
“I have long believed that a President can fire an FBI Director for any reason, or for no reason at all,” Comey stressed in the letter revealed by CNN.
Comey refused to make any remarks on Trump’s decision to remove him.
“I’m not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed,” he told them. “I hope you won’t either.”
“It is done, and I will be fine, although I will miss you and the mission deeply,” Comey added.
Trump’s Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cited Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation for reasons to recommend his dismissal in a three-page memo titled, “Restoring Public Confidence in the FBI.”
In a letter to Comey, Trump explained he was following the recommendation of Attorney-General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein, and that “it is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission.”
In his letter to FBI staff Comey acknowledged the need for the FBI to retain credibility.
“I have said to you before that, in times of turbulence, the American people should see the FBI as a rock of competence, honesty, and independence,” Comey wrote. “What makes leaving the FBI hard is the nature and quality of its people, who together make it that rock for America.”
It is very hard to leave a group of people who are committed only to doing the right thing,” he continued. “My hope is that you will continue to live our values and the mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution.”
By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News
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