A few hours ago, President Donald Trump fired James Comey, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), becoming only the second ever President to fire the effective permanent head of Federal law enforcement in the history of the United States. Director Comey has been at the center of a storm of controversy since he announced an effective re-opening of a criminal probe into candidate Hilary Clinton during last year’s bitterly divisive U.S. Presidential election campaign, and then subsequently announced its closure just days before polling. These actions prompted speculation of an unprecedented political struggle within the “deep state”, suggesting factional battles within the FBI worthier of a banana republic than the world’s oldest democratic republic. The President’s action will now be labelled a cover-up, and his enemies will try to use it as traction to initiate an impeachment process. The President would surely be aware it’s a high-risk move, and must have had very compelling reasons of his own to dismiss Comey. It arrives at a moment where it was looking as if the President was gradually becoming less controversial, and is likely to initiate political turmoil within the United States which will eventually hit the stock and Forex markets.
