Sohn: Comey firing is harbinger of crisis

The termination letter from President Donald Trump to FBI Director James Comey is photographed in Washington, on Tuesday. Trump abruptly fired Comey, ousting the nation's top law enforcement official in the midst of an investigation into whether Trump's campaign had ties to Russia's election meddling. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick
The termination letter from President Donald Trump to FBI Director James Comey is photographed in Washington, on Tuesday. Trump abruptly fired Comey, ousting the nation's top law enforcement official in the midst of an investigation into whether Trump's campaign had ties to Russia's election meddling. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick

With Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director Jim Comey - the man who stood at the helm of the growing and only truly viable Trump/Russia probe - the specter of Trump and Russia collusion moved from nagging background noise to thunderous clamor.

But don't count on many Republicans to help our nation out of its lurch toward constitutional crisis. Too many in the GOP still have their heads in the sand about those pesky Trump/Russia questions.

They just can't see it for all of the coincidences: Michael Flynn, the fired national security adviser who reportedly lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his post-election sanctions conversations with a Russian ambassador; Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman who worked as a political consultant for Russian interests in Ukraine; Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally and adviser who communicated with the hacker Guccifer 2.0; Carter Page, a Trump foreign policy adviser who had questionable interactions with Russia.

No, all the GOP can see is the illusion of control and tax breaks for their own six-figure incomes and those of their donors.

How many Republican Senate or House members came out Tuesday night and Wednesday demanding an independent prosecutor? How many are acknowledging that we are teetering on a greased tight rope?

A handful. North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, who is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska called the timing of Comey's firing troubling. Sen. John McCain of Arizona said it "confirms the need and the urgency" of a special congressional committee to investigate Russia's interference in our election. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan and a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, tweeted he would introduce legislation supporting the creation of an independent commission.

Tennessee's Sen. Bob Corker and Sen. Lamar Alexander took milquetoast perches on the fence.

Corker: "While the case for removal of Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey laid out by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein was thorough, his removal at this particular time will raise questions. It is essential that ongoing investigations are fulsome and free of political interference until their completion, and it is imperative that President Trump nominate a well-respected and qualified individual to lead the bureau at this critical time."

Alexander: "It would have been easier to explain if the president had fired the FBI Director earlier when Senator Schumer and other Democrats said they'd lost confidence in Mr. Comey. Given the timing, it's imperative that the Senate, through its confirmation process, makes certain that the new FBI Director is a person of unquestioned integrity who can lead the FBI and can continue investigating Russian involvement in our elections."

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee's 3rd District has made no statement. But remember: He was among 229 House Republicans who in February voted en masse to block a resolution that would have forced Trump to turn his tax returns over to Congress.

Georgia Sen. David Perdue said President Trump "acted decisively and within his authority, and I stand behind him."

Sadly, Trump is but the catalyst, not the complete cause of the nation's current crisis and alarm.

The cause is Republican opportunism. And the continuing enabler is Republican inaction.

If GOP lawmakers would stand up to their own responsibility, we'd already have a check on the catastrophe that is Trump. Instead, and despite their oaths, our leaders keep their heads down, trying to stay out of the way of their own power and the power of their friends.

We understand why Trump is nervous. Revelation after revelation shows he should be. On Tuesday night federal prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of Flynn. Also Tuesday, Senate investigators asked Treasury to look for any financial ties between Russia and Team Trump. And just last week - about the time Trump began asking for Comey's head, the FBI director asked the Justice Department (the very folks who who put his head on the chopping block) for significantly more money and resources for the Trump/Russia collusion probe. The real question is this: what makes other Republican leaders whom we should respect so afraid of the probe's findings? Answer: party politics.

Robert Post, a professor at Yale Law School and a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Law Institute, told Politico he fears "the rule of law will disintegrate.'

Faith in the integrity of government institutions is a precious social resource no society can run without, he said. That integrity depends upon trust, and trust is as much a matter of appearance as it is of reality. Trump consistently acts in ways that flout the creation of trust, and the firing of Comey, at this particular moment, is just the latest example.

If ever there was a time for politicians to put the interests of the nation above those of partisan self-interest, it is now.

When will enough ever be enough, Sen. Alexander and Sen. Corker? When will shame overcome you, Rep. Fleischmann?

Donald Trump is dangerous to our country. We beg you to stop trying to make an honest man of him and instead do what your party had the courage to do in 1973 when your predecessors had the integrity to stand up to Richard Nixon in the time of Watergate.

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