Editor’s note: This commentary is by Stephen C. Terry, who was legislative assistant for Sen. George Aiken from 1969 to 1975. He is also a former managing editor of the Rutland Herald and a retired vice president at Green Mountain Power. He is an occasional columnist for the Rutland Herald and Times Argus, in which this was first published, and does political analysis for WCAX-TV and WDEV-Radio. He lives in Middlebury.
[P]resident Donald Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James B. Comey may be the impetuous act that will result in an outcry for the appointment of an independent counsel to probe whether there are ties between Russia and the Trump campaign and administration. The final decision will likely be up to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who was just weeks ago confirmed by a 94-6 vote.
Rosenstein is the decider because his boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has recused himself from the Trump-Russia investigation that is underway at the FBI, and now before a grand jury in Virginia.
While Rosenstein will be the official decision-maker on the special counsel question, the main driver will have to be a strong bipartisan demand from the Congress fueled by a national outcry to get to the bottom of the Trump-Russia connection.
Trump fired Comey, claiming he was not doing a good job.
While there are questions surrounding Comey’s three-year stewardship, there can be no question that he was summarily removed as he was homing in on whether the Trump team compromised U.S. national security.
The only way this cover-up will be stopped is for the public to show its outrage and for Congress do to its job in a bipartisan manner to get to the truth of why Comey was fired.
Just days before Comey’s firing, news reports say he was seeking more resources from the Justice Department for the FBI’s inquiry into Trump and Russian connections.
No matter how hard the White House tries to spin Comey’s firing, saying that it was linked to the Hillary Clinton investigation, the question remains: If that was so, then why didn’t Trump fire Comey on Day One?
The American people are not gullible fools.
Trump’s firing has all the earmarks of a massive attempt to shut down the Russia probe. Amazingly, in his letter to Comey on Tuesday, Trump even tried to exonerate himself from any investigation or collusion.
The only way this cover-up will be stopped is for the public to show its outrage and for Congress do to its job in a bipartisan manner to get to the truth of why Comey was fired.
The current FBI firing controversy has echoes from the Nixon Watergate days.
In October 1973, the Nixon White House launched what has become known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” when President Richard Nixon ordered the firing of the independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, a sometime summer resident of Windsor. Attorney General Elliot Richardson refused to fire Cox, and so did his deputy, William Ruckelshaus. The third in line, Solicitor General Robert Bork, became acting attorney general and carried out Nixon’s order.
While the facts of the current case are different, Trump’s action in his Tuesday night massacre has created the same kind of constitutional and presidential crisis that occurred 44 years ago.
So what should happen now?
Here are my recommendations:
The attorney general’s office is clearly tainted, and to ensure impartiality there must be an independent counsel. In this regard, we should be grateful that Sen. Patrick Leahy got Rosenstein to agree at his confirmation hearing that he would be ready to name a special counsel if conditions warranted it. The question is: If this situation does not warrant a special counsel, what would?
In order to pressure the Trump administration, the Senate should refuse to confirm a new FBI director until there is a commitment from it to approve an independent counsel.
The Congress and its relevant committees should request that James Comey come to Capitol Hill as soon as possible to present his perspective on his firing.
The media should doubledown with aggressive reporting on the subject, because without it we are left to the whims of Congress on whether it will do its duty to the American people.
This is a serious matter. The rule of law is at stake: Should the nation be governed by law or by the emotional reactions of one individual?
