WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito said Thursday that President Trump may have mishandled the firing of James Comey, even if a new FBI director was necessary.
“I think it’s very clumsy,” Capito said. “If you’re removing an FBI director, that’s a pretty bold move. It’s not unprecedented but it’s very rare. Not to say he couldn’t do it, but I think it could have been handled much better, and it would have put to ease some of the questions that are arriving now.”
In an interview with NBC News, Trump called Comey a “showboat” and said the dismissal was imminent no matter the recommendation he got from top Department of Justice officials. Trump claimed Comey told him he wasn’t under investigation for ties to Russia during last year’s campaign.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and other Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee are calling for a special independent prosecutor to take over that investigation.
Capito, a first-term Republican senator, said she’s not yet convinced one is needed.
“(The Senate Intelligence Committee) has my confidence that they are moving forward in the right direction. At this point I don’t see the need for a special investigator, but I’m not saying, ‘No, never,'” Capito said. “I’m not closing the door on the eventuality that we may end up there.”
Capito called the Trump-Comey situation an “unfolding story” with regard to the probe into Russia’s possible election interference.
“We have to keep the feet to the fire of the Intelligence Committee to make sure they are getting the right answers, getting the information and solving the problem,” she said.
During a Wednesday conference call with reporters, Manchin questioned the timing of the firing and said Trump would have been wiser to remove Comey after the January inauguration.
“He should have fired him then,” Manchin said. “It makes it much more difficult for the administration by waiting until they’re in the throes of knowing now there is an FBI investigation into Russian activity.”