Donald Trump firing James Comey firing 'sends a chill throughout federal bureaucracy', says former CIA director

Michael Hayden agrees that the move gave the 'optic' that Donald Trump is involved in cover-up

Harriet Agerholm
Wednesday 10 May 2017 13:01 BST
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Comey firing 'sends a chill throughout federal bureacracy', former CIA boss says

Donald Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey "sends a chill throughout the federal bureaucracy", according to a former director of the CIA.

Michael Hayden said the move gave the "optic" that the US president's administration was involved in some form of cover-up.

"In the last 110 days, this President has fired a National Security adviser, an acting Attorney General and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," he told the BBC's Today programme.

The retired US Air Force general who also served as a director on the National Security Agency (NSA), added: "The last two were fired after they said something that disagreed with the President — that sends a chill throughout the federal bureaucracy and we may now be requiring that bureaucracy to have uncommon courage in its dialogue with the President."

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Mr Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates from the Department of Justice in January, after she ordered federal attorneys not to defend his controversial immigration order.

Ms Yates said earlier this week that she warned the White House on 26 January that then national security adviser Michael Flynn was “compromised” and open to blackmail by the Russian government.

Mr Comey was leading an investigation into allegations that Mr Trump's presidential campaign team colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, when he was dismissed.

The White House said he was fired because the US President had lost confidence in him over his handling of an email scandal involving former Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.

But the former CIA head said he did not believe this explanation.

"If that was a problem, that should have been handled by the President during the transition, when Presidents are expected to make personnel changes," he said, "I suspect that public explanation wasn’t the heart of the issue."

He added: "The reasons so far articulated just don’t seem to pass a test of logic."

Mr Hayden described Mr Comey as "a principled guy and his own man", saying he could have been fired for his independent mind-set.

He agreed with presenter John Humphries that the move had the “optic” of a cover up.

“I always expected this investigation to end up in a cloud," he said, adding: "But the more these kinds of things happen, the more seriously I take the possibility that there might be something here."

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