Trump could ruin his reputation by firing FBI director

American experts say the firing of the FBI director poses risks to President Trump's reputation.

US President Donald Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, far left, shortly after announcing the firing of the FBI director. Photo: AP

"The dismissal of Mr. Comey clearly has the potential to destroy President Trump's reputation as well as the concept of the rule of law in the United States," Professor Jim Riddlesperger, Texas Christian University, USA, said after James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was dismissed by the president on May 10.

US President Trump caused a stir when he fired Mr. Comey on the grounds that the FBI had given inaccurate information about Hillary Clinton's email to Congress. In a letter to Mr. Comey, Mr. Trump said that he was "not capable of effectively leading the bureau."

Professor Riddlesperger said the reasons given for firing the president ignored the fact that the FBI was investigating Mr Trump's campaign's ties to Russia.

"It's clear that the president is trying to block the investigation from moving forward and that he has no respect for the common American standards of rule of law," Riddlesperger said.

Agreeing with this opinion, Professor Smith, San Francisco State University, assessed that the US president fired the FBI director not based on valid grounds but mainly to hinder the investigation into Moscow. Mr. Smith hopes that whoever is elected to replace Mr. Comey, this case will still need to be promoted.

"The team that Mr. Comey assigned to conduct the investigation still has authority and his successor may not stop it," Mr. Smith expressed hope.

In another development, when asked whether Mr. Comey said President Donald Trump was under investigation for alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election campaign, acting FBI director Andrew McCabe refused to answer.

The Texas Christian University professor said the US government needs to be very careful at this time. The government needs to ensure that the new FBI director is strong and independent, not influenced by Mr. Trump. The US also needs to consider the need for an independent voice, such as an independent lawyer, to complete the investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia to sabotage former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's efforts last year.

“These are certainly difficult tasks,” Mr. Riddlesperger said.

According to VNE