The Democratic Party doesn’t want the Senate to consider an FBI director nominee until an independent special prosecutor is set up to investigate President Trump’s alleged close ties to Russia.
“Until there is an independent special prosecutor investigating the Trump’s Russia ties, the Senate should NOT consider a new FBI Director,” tweeted Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, on Thursday.
Until there is an independent special prosecutor investigating the Trump’s Russia ties, the Senate should NOT consider a new FBI Director.
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) May 11, 2017
Earlier in the week Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. Before he was dismissed, Comey reportedly asked for more resources in his agency’s investigation on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Justice Department says this is “totally false.”
Comey revealed earlier this year during sworn testimony that the FBI is probing whether there are ties between Trump and the Kremlin. There have been renewed bipartisan calls for an independent investigation into the 2016 election following Comey’s ouster.
At least two Democratic senators, Mark Warner of Virginia and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, say they won’t vote on a new FBI director unless Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appoints a special prosecutor, according to a report from McClatchy.
There are currently 54 Republicans in the Senate, 44 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. If Republicans unite behind a Trump pick to head the FBI, Democrats will have no way to block consideration of the nominee because in 2013 the then-Democratic-led Senate went through with the “nuclear option” on executive branch nominees which altered the rules to require only a simple majority of 51 senators, instead of 60, to overcome a filibuster.
