Donald Trump and his advisers are reportedly weighing whether they are going to keep FBI Director James Comey in his position when Trump takes over the White House. This is an interesting possible turn of events, as Comey recently earned plenty of Democratic criticism for his handling of the renewed Hillary Clinton email probe.
In July, Comey earned some flack for simply reprimanding Clinton over her private email server. Trump made several rally remarks on the matter to no avail. However, late October saw an ambiguous Comey letter to Congress that reopened the probe. That decision, which ultimately proved to yield no criminality, may have impacted the election, with Clinton blaming Comey for his letter contributing to her defeat.
Comey is currently in the third year of his 10-year term, but his handling of the investigation may have hurt his job security. NPR reports that three Trump advisers said the president-elect has not decided whether he is going to keep him. That was echoed in his 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, where he told Lesley Stahl that he’s on the fence:
“I haven’t made up my mind. I respect him a lot, I respect the FBI a lot … I would like to talk to him before I answer a question like that. I’m not sure. I’d want to see; he may have had very good reasons for doing what he did.”
Trump appears to be walking a fine line with the future of Comey. On one hand, keeping him may appear to be a subtle nod to Comey for impacting the election, but firing someone (with 7 years technically left on his term) may not be the best first step for an administration. It’s another addition to the ever-growing list of dilemmas that are facing the future Trump White House.