The ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that she wanted the deputy attorney general and the acting director of the FBI to testify on the situation surrounding the abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey.
Feinstein also reiterated her support for an independent special prosecutor to oversee the investigation into possible ties between President Donald Trump and his affiliates and Russia.
“At a minimum, the decision to fire Comey raises questions about the appropriateness and timing of firing the person in charge of an investigation that could — I won’t say would, but could — implicate the administration,” Feinstein said.
“To have this happen and happen now is beyond surprising,” she continued. “I believe it’s important to have Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Deputy Director McCabe come before the Judiciary Committee and brief members on the reasons and the timing of the firing, as well as what steps are being taken to ensure this action will have no impact on the work of the FBI on the ongoing investigation.”
Rod Rosenstein, now in his third week as deputy attorney general, wrote in a memo that Trump used to support Comey’s firing that the ousted FBI director had bungled the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Trump previously praised Comey at times for his actions in the same investigation.
On Wednesday, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that Comey would no longer testify before the committee on Thursday, as had been planned. McCabe will testify in his place.
