Shock firing of FBI chief James Comey is yet another episode in Trump’s White House soap opera

Kevin Rafferty says the un-American lack of due process and dignity in the sacking of the FBI director, especially as he led investigations into claims of the Donald Trump campaign team’s ties with Russia, is inappropriate meddling worthy of a B-grade reality show

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President Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey marks only the second time in the FBI’s 108-year history that a director has been sacked. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:03pm, 10 May 2017Updated: 5:03pm, 10 May 2017

What happened in the US on Tuesday was surely a rejected pilot reel for a B-grade TV reality show about an apprentice president playing at running the White House.

Donald Trump abruptly fired James Comey, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with a four paragraph letter hand-delivered to his office.

Either the president was badly informed about the whereabouts of the director or he wanted to deliver a petty humiliation in front of FBI staff, because Comey was not in his office in Washington – he was giving a pep talk to FBI field agents in Los Angeles. As he spoke, he looked up to the TV screens to see the flash headline proclaiming that Trump had fired him.

Watch: FBI director fired

Comey laughed and said he thought it was a fairly funny prank, only to find the joke was on him. Any film director would have rejected such a scenario as too melodramatic to be believed.

It is only the second time in the FBI’s 108-year history that a director has been sacked. The previous case was in 1993 over ethics concerns, but that was a protracted process.

Analysis: Firing of FBI chief Comey casts Trump-Russia investigations adrift

Comey was three years into a supposedly 10-year fixed-term appointment. Trump cited letters from US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy Rod Rosenstein recommending Comey’s dismissal, and claimed: “It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission.”

But, oddly, Trump also told Comey: “I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation.” This was a reference to FBI investigations into Russian interference in the US presidential election, and claims that members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.