Federal Bureau of Investigation chief aimed to expand Russian Federation probe before Trump fired him

There has been ample reporting from inside the White House that the decision to fire Comey had been in the works for days, if not weeks; that it was motivated by the president’s irritation at the FBI’s continuing investigation into various Trump associates’ alleged collusion with the Russian government to throw the presidential election to Trump.

Trump’s biggest mistake in this whole fiasco may have been including this farcical claim in his very short letter of dismissal to Comey: “I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation”.

The New York Times reported that Comey was sacked shortly after asking the Justice Department “for a significant increase in money and personnel for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election”.

In this case, Comey’s investigation may have been close to revealing Trump’s and his cronies’ close ties to Russian Federation.

Jeff Sessions to come up with a legal basis for firing FBI Director James Comey; ironically Sessions and his deputy came up with something that happened months ago concerning Comey’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s email, the very thing Trump complimented him for doing during the campaign. “In the past, there was a hard-won notion of presidents staying out of investigations that are targeting them”.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had pondered dumping Comey as soon as he took office on January 20, but chose to stick with him. The White House relies on the bureau for regular security updates and for unvarnished information during crises. Hoover’s successor L. Patrick Gray, acting director under President Richard Nixon, was forced out after just under a year for obeying White House orders and burning Watergate-related documents.

TRT World’s Oliver Whitfield-Miocic reports the latest.

McCabe took part in a private meeting with Trump at the White House on Wednesday, after deputy White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the President would talk to him about morale at the bureau following Comey’s departure. This, Trump and his aides, took it as an act of insubordination.

“Frankly, I think it’s startling that Democrats aren’t celebrating this since they’ve been calling for it for so long”, she said. She referred to what she called Comey’s “atrocities in circumventing the chain of command” at the justice department. The polls, which give Trump a record-low approval rating for a president this early in his first term, indicate that his supporters will stick with him, while the majority in the country seems hardened against him. Democrats intensified accusations that Comey’s removal was meant to undermine the FBI probe and demanded an independent investigation.

The investigations already under way could continue. According to multiple sources-though denied by the Department of Justice-Comey went to the assistant attorney general to request additional resources for the investigation on Monday.

Trump’s advisers have repeatedly tried to downplay the Russia-election matter, with Sanders saying Wednesday the FBI was “doing a whole lot more than the Russian Federation investigation”.

The appointment of a special counsel would not end the congressional probes. However, a special counsel would not have the authority to demand Congress halt a probe.