Celebrity Apprentice: White House

The axe has fallen again during the latest episode of Celebrity Apprentice: White House. Presidential apprentice Donald Trump this week said, "You're fired" to FBI Director James Comey.

The reasoning behind Comey's dismissal reads like a poorly written multiple choice test (choose one):

- An unsolicited recommendation from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rothstein over handling of the Clinton email release (Sean Spicer).

- A DOJ recommendation solicited by the President (Sarah Huckabee Sanders).

- Because Comey's "a showboat, he's a grandstander, the F.B.I. has been in turmoil." (Donald Trump)

- "This has nothing to do with Russia." (Kellyanne Conway)

- "The rank and file of the F.B.I. had lost confidence." (Sarah Huckabee Sanders).

- Comey has "broad support" and "still does to this day." (Andrew McCabe)

The reasons may be in dispute but the optics of Comey's removal are terrible. It certainly looks as if the President fired the FBI Director to derail the Russia investigation. That may be true. However, Trump almost daily demonstrates autocratic tendencies and a simplistic understanding of points of law (and the Constitution) making nearly everything he does look clumsy.

Democrats have been mad at Comey since he reopened an investigation into Hillary Clinton's leaked email days before the presidential election. They have only recently warmed up to the former Director once it became clear he was going to pursue the investigation into Russian ties to the Trump campaign.  Republicans have the opposite love-hate relationship with the former Director. At this point, neither side has strong credibility when it comes to objective commentary over Comey's performance.

Using the word credibility in the same sentence with the name of either political party seems like an oxymoron but this matter now comes down to whether or not Congress actually believes in the rule of law. Evidence of Russia interfering with the election process has been confirmed. Trump's first Celebrity Apprentice: White House casualty Michael Flynn raised more flags over Russian influence or collusion within the campaign. Other Trump aids with connections to Russia from Jeff Sessions to Paul Manafort keep the questions mounting.

The important part here is not to get hung up on the fact Comey was fired but that the investigation into Russian ties and influence must continue to run its course. That investigative course must not turn into a partisan Ken Starr like sideshow. This matters; the implication goes beyond criminal business activities. It reeks of treason.

The ball is now in the court of congressional Republicans. Their actions around the investigation will demonstrate if they believe in the rule of law and the Constitution. If the investigation moves forward in a non-partisan manner and Trump is vindicated, good for all of us. If he is not, that will be tragic but not as dire an outcome as if Republicans go partisan or halt the investigation entirely.

A move in either of those directions is equivalent to Republicans toasting, "Na zdravie" in the Capitol building; a shot of Stolichnaya we'll all find hard to swallow.