Earlier this month, FBI Director James Comey, was fired by Donald Trump for no pre-existing reason. Normally, the Director serves at the FBI for a 10-year term after which the president appoints a new one. James Comey was nominated by President Obama in June of 2013. This cut Comey’s term short by nearly 7 years.

In the beginning, Comey opened a FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton and the handling of classified information in July 2015, early during both of their campaigns. However, in July of 2016, Comey recommended that no criminal charges should be filed against Clinton. This ordeal sparked the main controversy surrounding Trump’s election.

Later, Comey opened the investigation into possible Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election, however he did not make this public until after the election, when it was too late. After the public was told this, many more allegations against both Trump and Hillary started surfacing to public eyes and many believed this election was a sham.

In October of 2016, Comey reopened the investigation into Clinton’s emails, 11 days before Election Day. This was a major boost for Trump’s slander campaign as he targeted Clinton nonstop for her activity with classified information and personal email servers. Trump publicly praised Comey for doing this in a speech he gave directly before the election. Two days (November 6) before Election Day, Comey cleared Clinton again of criminal charges.

Early after Trump’s inauguration, in February 2017, Trump’s staff asked Comey to publicly deny that he was investigating Trump’s ties to Russia and their action during the 2016 election. However, Comey refused to admit or deny this, but in March Comey confirmed that the FBI was investigating Russian and Trump ties.

Since we’re all caught up now, on May 3 during a testimony on the senate floor, Comey said that the idea that reopening the Clinton investigation may have swayed the 2016 election makes him “mildly nauseous.” Comey then asked the Justice Department for more resources to investigate Trump’s ties with Russia.

On May 10, Trump fired Comey for no apparent reason. The notorious FOX News reported on this saying Comey had resigned, which was false. They then tried to correct themselves and made it worse by seeming thoroughly excited about the situation. FOX reporter Sean Hannity said that “Comey has failed you, the American people, on a spectacular level,” calling him a “national embarrassment.” Hannity also tweeted, “Comey Fired!!! Finally,” as if the news was a good thing, and a long time coming.

However, CNN reporters deemed it “a dark day in American history” and “comparing this to Watergate.” This grotesque abuse of power from the president is the exact reason many people are scared for their own lives; an attack on American democracy.

The White House had stated that Trump was not considering Comey’s termination until the Attorney General gave him the recommendation. Then, contradicting that statement, Trump told Lester Holt from NBC that he planned to fire Comey “regardless of the recommendation.”

Trump never explicitly stated why he fired Comey, but has since given multiple contradictory statements alluding to his termination as FBI Director. It is safe to assume Comey was fired after refusing to admit to his investigation. Then after publicly opening the file, Comey asked for more resources to investigate Trump and Russia. This is ironic as Trump’s main strategy against Clinton was her being investigated by the FBI for using an unsecure email server to share classified information between government officials.

After assuming his position, the acting FBI Director, Andrew McCabe, says he will continue working on the Trump investigation and will not be updating the White House on the information gathered.

“You cannot stop the men and women of the FBI from doing the right thing, protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution,” McCabe said in an interview with AJ+.

This is a gross abuse of power exhibited by Trump. Firing the very person leading the investigation on him shows the public that he is trying to cover something up. He is trying to intimidate his citizens, administration, and all those who oppose him. Now, he is trying to replace the FBI Director with a close friend of his. This is nepotism. By concealing the case, he’s covering up his crimes and giving another one of his friends power over the people.