Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that Democrats are being hypocritical in complaining about FBI Director James Comey’s firing a day earlier, saying they lodged many of the same complaints about him that the Justice Department cited as reasons for the ouster.
Mr. McConnell said Democrats should trust the judgment of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was just confirmed to his post in a large bipartisan vote, and who wrote the Justice Department memo justifying the firing.
“Mr. Rosenstein recommended Mr. Comey’s removal for many of the very reasons they consistently complained about,” the Kentucky Republican said.
Mr. McConnell also said Democrats’ new calls for yet another investigation into the firing would only delay the ongoing work into Russian interference in the election, and could even delay the countermeasures needed to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
In addition to new questions over the firing, Democrats have said Mr. Comey’s ouster should be the final piece of evidence pushing the Justice Department to name a special prosecutor to lead the official probe of Russia and the Trump campaign.
With Attorney General Jeff Sessions having recused himself from the matter, that decision falls to Mr. Rosenstein.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer demanded Mr. McConnell have a closed briefing to grill Mr. Sessions and Mr. Rosenstein over the entire matter, including Mr. Comey’s firing and the status of the Russia investigation.
“We need to hear from this administration about what happened and why, and what is going to happen next,” the New York Democrat said.
President Trump said he fired Mr. Comey because the longtime lawman had lost the faith of the American public.
And he blasted Mr. Schumer in a Twitter post Tuesday night, calling him “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer” and pointing to the senator’s own comments that he had lost confidence in Mr. Comey.
On Wednesday Mr. Trump lashed out at Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, calling his criticism “a joke” and pointing to Mr. Blumenthal’s inflated portrayal of his service during the Vietnam war. While he was in the military at the time, he never served in Vietnam, as he had led constituents to believe.
“He should be the one who is investigated for his acts,” Mr. Trump tweeted.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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