WASHINGTON – "Comey wasn't doing a good job, very simply, he just wasn't doing a good job …" President Trump said Wednesday after reporters asked him why he fired the former FBI Director James Comey Tuesday afternoon.
But how did the president come to his decision to fire Comey? In a letter dated May 9, newly-confirmed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein with the heading "SUBJECT: RESTORING CONFIDENCE IN THE FBI," Rosenstein said the director was out of line when he declared the investigation concerning Hillary Clinton's email should be closed without prosecution.
The Director was wrong to usurp the Attorney General's authority on July 5, 2016, and announce his conclusion that the case should be closed without prosecution. It is not the function of the Director to make such an announcement," Rosenstein wrote.
Rosenstein said in the letter he had reached out for the opinions of several previous Attorneys General, and they agreed with his assessment. One of those mentioned and quoted in the letter included the Obama Administration's Attorney General Eric Holder – a comment that was especially strong.
"Eric Holder, who served as Deputy Attorney General under President Clinton and Attorney General under President Obama, said that the Director's decision 'was incorrect. It violated long-standing Justice Department policies and traditions. And it ran counter that I put in place four years ago laying out the proper way to conduct investigations during an election season,'" the letter said.
Rosenstein went on to quote Holder, saying "Holder concluded that the Director 'broke with these fundamental principles' and 'negatively affected public trust in both the Justice Department and the FBI.'"
Rosenstein said he agreed with those from which he sought counsel, writing that as long as the director remained at the agency that the FBI "would be unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges to never repeat them."
The deputy attorney general, who oversees the FBI director, sent that letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who wrote to the president that he had "concluded that a fresh start is needed at leadership of the FBI."
Trump took their recommendations and implemented termination of Comey immediately.
The three letters are available on PBS HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
