How did Trump firing Comey obstruct the Mueller investigation?
D. Events Leading Up To and Surrounding the Termination of FBI Director
Corney
Overview
Corney was scheduled to testify before Congress on May 3, 2017. Leading up to that
testimony, the President continued to tell advisors that he wanted Corney to make public that the
President was not under investigation. At the hearing, Corney declined to answer questions about
the scope or subjects of the Russia investigation and did not state publicly that the President was
not under investigation. Two days later, on May 5, 2017, the President told close aides he was
going to fire Corney, and on May 9, he did so, using his official termination letter to make public
that Corney had on three occasions informed the President that he was not under investigation.
The President decided to fire Corney before receiving advice or a recommendation from the
Department of Justice,. but he approved an initial public account of the termination that attributed
it to a recommendation from the Department of Justice based on Corney's handling of the Clinton
email investigation. After Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein resisted attributing the firing
to his recommendation, the President acknowledged that he intended to fire Corney regardless of
the DOJ recommendation and was thinking of the Russia investigation when he made the decision.
The President also told the Russian Foreign Minister, "I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was
crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off ..... I'm not
under investigation."
Just one part of it. And remember, it doesn't have to be successful to be obstructing. Trump was just too ignorant to realize this would not end the investigation