McCain: There will be ‘more shoes to drop’ in Trump-Russia scandal after Comey firing
May 11, 2017, 4:50 AM
US-Senator John McCain addresses journalists during press conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Tuesday, April 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)
(AP Photo/Amel Emric)
PHOENIX — An Arizona senator said Tuesday he believes there are “more shoes to drop” following President Donald Trump’s unexpected firing of FBI Director James Comey.
According to The Washington Post, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) told a group of foreign diplomats and experts that the scandal between Trump and Russia “is going to go on.”
“This is a centipede,” McCain told a group of Munich security officials. “I guarantee you there will be more shoes to drop, I can just guarantee it. There’s just too much information that we don’t have that will be coming out.”
McCain also told the officials that, while Trump had the legal authority to fire Comey, his “unprecedented” act is “not a good thing for America.”
“Probably the most respected individual in all of the American government is probably the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” McCain said. “I’m very sorry that this has happened.”
Trump’s unexpected firing of Comey raised concerns from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Comey had been heading an agency that is in charge of an investigation into ties between Russian officials and the president’s campaign.
While Republican lawmakers, like McCain and Sen. Jeff Flake, have shied away from speculating that the move was an attempt to throw off the investigation, some Democratic lawmakers called for a special investigation into the move.
“Comey’s sudden dismissal looks an awful lot like a cover-up,” U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said in a statement.
“Now that the FBI investigation has been tainted, it’s beyond time to appoint an independent special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this administration’s Russia ties,” the statement continued.
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) also called for an investigation, in separate statements.
“I think this makes the case for an independent special prosecutor to take over this whole area of the investigation into the Trump administration … and it proceed immediately,” Grijalva said in the statement.
It's painfully obvious: Congress must establish an independent investigation into Russian interference in US elections.
— Kyrsten Sinema (@RepSinema) May 9, 2017
But the public and private accounts of Trump’s decision to fire Comey have differed.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that Comey “wasn’t doing a good job” and that’s why he had to go.
On Wednesday, White House officials said Trump “lost confidence” in Comey over the past several months, namely over the former FBI director’s testimony on his decision to reopen an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
White House is now providing this accounting of the Comey firing timeline. Different from what officials provided on background last night pic.twitter.com/ZnaZ3wfY29
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) May 10, 2017
But a week earlier, Trump had tweeted out praise for Comey, saying he was the “best thing to ever happen to [Clinton].”
FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds! The phony…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2017
…Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election. Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2017
According to The Washington Post, aides said Trump was “infuriated” at Comey for several reasons: Not taking action against leaks from the White House, not supporting his claim that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped his campaign officers and revealing details behind the investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.
