国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Washington ponders why Trump sacks Comey_时事

国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Washington ponders why Trump sacks Comey

In both cases Comey crossed the line, Rosenstein said.

"The director was wrong to usurp the attorney general's authority on July 5, 2016, and announce his conclusion that the case should be closed without prosecution," Rosenstein said.

Rosenstein said Comey's decision to announce investigation against Clinton was equally misguided, as Comey was not as he claimed "obligated to speak out."

"The director cast his decision as a choice between whether he would 'speak'... or 'conceal' it. 'Conceal' is a loaded term that misstates the issue," Rosenstein said.

But the reason was immediately dismissed by Democrats, who pointed out that Trump has repeatedly hailed Comey's actions against Clinton during the presidential campaign, saying it was the right thing to do.

"Comey was not fired because of Hillary. Comey was fired because of the Russians," Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren said in an interview with MSNBC.

"The timing makes this, I think, entirely clear," Warren said, adding that "there's nobody left in America who believes that Donald Trump fired James Comey because James Comey was mean to Hillary Clinton."

Warren was referring to the ongoing FBI probe into possible links between some of the White House staff and Moscow.

Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn resigned earlier this year due to improper connections with Russia.

Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, who is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump's move "raises a whole host of conflicts of interest and questions about whether this is simply brazen interference with a criminal investigation."