James Comey
By Ray O’Hanlon
James Comey, whose life started in an Irish Catholic family in Yonkers, and whose life’s path took him to the very top of the nation’s law enforcement hierarchy, is today at the center of a political maelstrom after being unceremoniously fired from his job as Director of the FBI by President Donald Trump Tuesday.
The FBI, for the time being, is headed by another Irish American, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, whose early years in the bureau were spent in the New York field office investigating organized crime.
And among the early names being floated as a possible successor to Mr. Comey is that of another Irish American, former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.
Kelly has received early support from Congressman Peter King who, in a statement, said it was essential that President Trump now nominate an FBI director with outstanding ability and unimpeachable integrity “someone of the caliber of Ray Kelly.”
King said that he had known, and had dealings, with Mr. Comey for a number of years, “primarily in my capacity as a member of the Homeland Security Committee and the Intelligence Committee.”
And he added: “Just last Thursday afternoon I was at a closed door hearing of the Intelligence Committee where Director Comey testified for almost three hours regarding the FBI investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign.
“In my dealings with Director Comey I found him to be direct and honorable.”
Rep. King said that President Trump had the statutory right and constitutional authority to remove the FBI director.
And he added - in reference to the ongoing FBI investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the pre-election Trump presidential campaign under then Director Comey – that “thus far there is no indication of any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.”
The Long Island Republican said that the FBI investigation into Russia and the 2016 election “must continue uninterrupted.”
Philadelphia Democratic congressman, Brendan Boyle, described the firing of Comey as “stunning.”
Boyle said that the firing showed “why we must have a Special Prosecutor like our nation did in Watergate”
