Swalwell Decries President Trump's Firing of FBI Director James Comey

Press Release

Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-15), the Ranking Member of the CIA Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement Tuesday:

"President Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey -- who less than two months ago told the House Intelligence Committee that the President and his Administration were the subject of criminal and counterintelligence investigations regarding their close personal, political and financial ties to Russia and Russia's active interference in our 2016 presidential election on Trump's behalf -- should send a chill down the spine of every American, no matter who they voted for. This is not what an innocent person would do; this is an abuse of power, and shows a consciousness of guilt.

"The administration of justice must remain free of political influence, and President Trump has just leaped over that line. If he thinks this will halt or even slow investigations into his and his associates' conduct, he is sadly mistaken. The American people deserve to know what happened, and Trump's "Tuesday Afternoon Massacre' won't interfere. Nobody recommended by this administration can be trusted to oversee this investigation, and so the need for an independent bipartisan commission is now more urgent than ever."

Swalwell and Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD-07), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, are the authors of H.R. 356, the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which would establish a 12-member, bipartisan, independent commission to investigate Russia's attempts to interfere in and influence the 2016 elections, and to find a solution for how to prevent this from happening in the future.

Source