The firing of FBI Director James Comey may not have a major political impact on President Trump, Washington Free Beacon editor Matthew Continetti said Sunday on "Meet The Press."
An NBC News /Wall Street Journal poll found just 29 percent approved of Trump's firing of Comey while 38 percent disapproved, but 32 percent also did not have enough information to comment on the matter.
"Some of the numbers in your poll suggest that actually the Comey firing may not have the political impact that a lot of people think," Continetti said to host Chuck Todd.
Continetti pointed to one amusing anecdote showing the mixed opinion on Comey: Stephen Colbert's left-leaning audience broke into loud cheers when Colbert announced the firing, presumably because they were angry at Comey's role in the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Colbert and guest Jon Stewart were forced to correct the crowd.
"The truth is many people have conflicting views of James Comey, including this president," Continetti said. "So it might not have the political valence, say, of the heath care fight."
Trump's surprising dismissal of Comey on Tuesday triggered a firestorm that overshadowed the entire week in Washington. Trump contradicted reports from his own White House about why and how he fired Comey when he said he was going to terminate Comey "regardless" of any recommendation from the Department of Justice.
Angry Democrats believe Trump's firing of Comey was meant to interfere with the ongoing federal investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election. Trump said the Russia probe was on his mind, but he also said this week he wanted the investigation to continue.
Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said this week that there has been "no effort to impede our investigation to date."