CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin had a furious response to the firing of FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, calling the basis for the firing a "preposterous pretext" and suggesting that his replacement will be a "stooge" of the Trump administration.
Appearing on a CNN panel hosted by Wolf Blitzer, Toobin had blistering words for the president: "the emperor is not wearing any clothes."
"This memo from Rod Rosenstein says that James Comey was fired for being too mean to Hillary Clinton. Does anyone believe that?" asked an incredulous Toobin. "Could anyone believe that? Suddenly, here it is May of 2017, that he's being fired for a press conference that he held in July of 2016? This is just the most preposterous pretext."
Toobin referred to the letter from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, which has been cited as the basis for Trump firing Comey.
"This is an investigator who is investigating the White House," Toobin said. "And he was just fired by the White House."
"This doesn't happen in the United States except on October 20, 1973, when Richard Nixon fired Archibald Cox," Toobin said.
He was citing the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, when then-President Richard Nixon fired special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and accepted the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after both men refused to fire Cox on the president's behalf.
Toobin was certain that any hopes for an independent FBI director following the Comey firing were essentially a pipe dream.
"If anyone thinks that a new FBI director is going to come in, and the agency will just take over and continue their investigation as if this had never happened, that's not how it works," he said.
Instead, Toobin projected a "stooge" of the Trump administration.
"They will put in a stooge who will shut down this investigation," he said. "Now Donald Trump will put in maybe Chris Christie. Someone who will do his bidding."