Dem lawmaker urges Justice Dept. watchdog to probe Comey firing

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) on Thursday demanded that a Department of Justice (DOJ) watchdog investigate President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey this week.

Cicilline asked DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz to examine Trump motivation for dismissing Comey while renewing his call for a probe into the firing of two other law enforcement officials: former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates.

“I respectfully ask you to begin investigations into whether U.S. Attorney Bharara, Acting Attorney General Yates, or Director Comey were fired due to political considerations or attempts to interfere in an ongoing investigation,” Cicilline wrote in a letter to Horowitz.

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“Additionally, I am gravely concerned that there now appears to be a well-established pattern of President Trump dismissing officials who are undertaking investigations related to him or his administration,” he added.

“To ensure the fair administration of law, [it] is imperative that the Justice Department operate free of political influence or interference from elected officials.”

The White House announced Tuesday that Trump had fired Comey on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein.

However, Trump told NBC News’s Lester Holt on Thursday that he would have fired Comey “regardless of the recommendation,” breaking with the White House’s official account of the firing.

Lawmakers have voiced concern over the timing of Comey’s firing, which comes amid the FBI’s probe of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Comey announced in March that the investigation included possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Trump fired Bharara, formerly a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, in March after he refused to resign.

Bharara was reportedly investigating Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s stock trades before his firing. Price made the trades, purportedly worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, during his tenure as a GOP congressman from Georgia.

Trump terminated Yates in late January after she refused to mount a legal defense of his executive order temporarily banning travelers and refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations.

In her role as acting attorney general, Yates was key to the investigation into ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia’s interference in the presidential election.