Today, U.S. Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s firing of F.B.I. Director James Comey:

“Firing law enforcement officers who may be investigating you or your associates and then appointing their replacements is something that happens in dictatorships – not in the United States of America. This move from the President is breathtaking in its brazen disregard for the independence of our justice system.  Republican members of Congress who fail to stand up against this are complicit in this assault on our democracy.

“The founding fathers made Congress a check on the power of the Presidency. That check only functions when it is used without regard for political party. Congress – Democrats and Republicans – must stand up in a bipartisan defense of our institutions and insist that a special prosecutor be appointed before confirming a new director.

“Never before has it been clearer that the integrity of our democracy depends on an independent commission to investigate Russian interference in our election and a special prosecutor at the Department of Justice to follow an investigation to wherever – and whomever – it leads.  Anyone who stands in the way of an independent investigation denies the American people the answers they deserve.”