'BradCast' 5/10/2017 (Guest: Constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser)
The fallout continues in D.C. and across the nation today, following Donald Trump's stunning and sudden firing of FBI Director James Comey late on Tuesday. The pretext for that firing was the alleged mishandling by Comey of the Bureau's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Sec. of State, according to a letter from new Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. A handful of Republican officials have expressed concern or 'disappointment' over 'the timing' of Trump's unprecedented firing of the FBI chief, which appears to have caught just about everybody by surprise, even as investigations continue at both the FBI and Congress into Trump and members of his campaign regarding allegations of undeclared ties to Russia and/or other foreign nations both during the campaign and after the election. Democrats, meanwhile, are outraged by Comey's firing, despite their furor about the way he oversaw the Clinton probe last year. They are calling for a special prosecutor at the DoJ and an independent bi-partisan special committee to be named to investigate all of this, while comparing Trump's dismissal of Comey to Nixon's 'Saturday Night Massacre' at the height of the Watergate investigation. Some Democrats are also describing this moment as 'a full-blown Constitutional crisis'. Joining us today to try and explain what is or isn't going on here, and whether it amounts to a Constitutional crisis, full-blown or otherwise, is author and Constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress Justice. He explains the legitimate complaints against Comey, while making the case that his firing is little more than an effort by Trump to disrupt the FBI's ongoing Russia probe. Finally, a bit of good news today -- thanks, in part, to the surprising vote of at least one Republican Senator -- regarding the GOP's continuing attempt to roll back fossil fuel-related regulations on public lands enacted by the Obama Administration...