Comey firing roils probes into Russia’s influence

WASHINGTON - The FBI-led probe into whether Russian influence helped put Donald Trump in the White House is on a knife's edge and could easily veer into either of two distinct directions.

One possibility is that investigators feel galvanized by Trump's abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey and burrow deeper into a probe that has the bureau's reputation at stake.

Or, with the FBI temporarily rudderless, Trump loyalists in the Justice Department could put the brakes on further investigation.

'They could just say, ‘We've got 60 days to tie this up. I'm not spending more person power inside the bureau. ... Let's just say wrap it up unless we've got a smoking gun,'” said Christopher H. Schroeder, a former assistant attorney general who headed the Office of Legal Policy.

New indications arose Wednesday the FBI's 7-month-old Russia investigation was about to pick up steam when Trump dismissed Comey late Tuesday afternoon, ostensibly for the way he handled the probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State.

Comey reportedly was seeking resources to expand the investigation into Trump's inner circle and its ties to Russia.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said he had been told that Comey recently asked newly installed Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein for more money for the inquiry.

'All I know is that I'm told that as soon as Rosenstein arrived, there was a request for additional resources for the investigation and a few days afterwards he (Comey) was sacked,” Durbin said. 'I have a general conclusion: I think that the Comey operation was breathing down the neck of the Trump campaign and their operatives and this was an effort to slow down the investigation.”

Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores denied that was the reason, and also strongly denied the Comey was seeking more resources for the inquiry.

'This was a personnel decision about serious concerns about Director Comey's leadership. Not about an ongoing or future investigation,” Flores said.

In the Oval Office, where Trump met Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, the president was more blunt: 'He wasn't doing a good job. Very simply.”

An FBI spokesman declined to comment.

But a former government official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of remaining anonymous, said the FBI recently 'had reason to expand the investigation internationally,” including looking at 'other business activities and holdings of Paul Manafort” - Trump's former campaign chairman - 'beyond his work in Ukraine.”

Manafort served as a consultant in Ukraine for almost a decade to some pro-Russia businessmen and a pro-Kremlin president who was ousted in early 2014.

In addition to the FBI. the GOP-controlled Congress has launched its own inquiries - although whether it should now call on an independent commission or special prosecutor in light of the firing became a heated issue Wednesday.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York called for an all-senators briefing with the attorney general and deputy attorney general.

'The question is, why did it happen last night?” Schumer asked. 'Were those investigations getting too close to home for the president?”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, however, declined to criticize Trump and rejected calls for an independent probe.

'Our Democratic colleagues (are) complaining about the removal of the FBI director that they themselves repeatedly criticized,” he said.

An independent commission 'would only impede” the Senate Intelligence Committee's inquiry, McConnell said.

That committee on Wednesday issued a subpoena to Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, demanding he deliver documents 'relevant to the committee's investigation.”

He had refused to surrender the documents, which the committee did not describe, voluntarily.

According to news reports, a federal grand jury in Virginia also has issued subpoenas for documents from Flynn business associates.

Flynn has become a focus of the investigations, with former acting Attorney General Sally Yates testifying this week that she had met twice with the White House in late January to warn the Trump administration that Flynn was lying about his contacts with Kislyak, the Russian ambassador. Flynn was fired 18 days later.

Comey had been scheduled to appear Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, but his spot will be taken by FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe.

But Comey still is expected to appear before the panel, perhaps as soon as Tuesday.

The Tribune Washington Bureau contributed to this report.