Wednesday's Headlines: Trump fires FBI director

Comey's removal sparks fears about future of Russia probe; Shocking firing raises questions and stakes for the White House; After Trump fired Comey, his staff scrambled to explain why; The Justice Department's case against Comey, annotated; Is Comey's firing 'Nixonian' or uniquely Trumpian?; Senate Republicans face their own divisions in push for health-care overhaul; Who will decide what the Senate's health-care bill looks like? Follow the Medicaid-state senators.;   Democracy Dies in Darkness     The morning's most important stories, selected by Post editors   Top Stories Trump fires FBI director FBI Director James B. Comey was dismissed after officials said he treated Hillary Clinton unfairly and in doing so damaged the credibility of the FBI and the Justice Department. Democrats have long argued that Comey's decisions in the investigation of Clinton's use of a private email server hurt the presidential candidate's standing with voters. But President Trump and his advisers had argued that Comey went too easy on Clinton and her aides. By Devlin Barrett, Adam Entous and Philip Rucker  •  Read more » Comey's removal sparks fears about future of Russia probe Legislators on both sides of the aisle are calling for an independent body to continue the investigation into possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. By Ellen Nakashima and Matt Zapotosky  •  Read more »   The Take | Analysis Shocking firing raises questions and stakes for the White House After the surprise move, the president will face renewed pressure for a special prosecutor to take over the Russia investigation. By Dan Balz  •  Read more »   After Trump fired Comey, his staff scrambled to explain why Sean Spicer had wanted to drop the bombshell news in an emailed statement but it was not transmitting quickly enough. By Jenna Johnson  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   The Fix | Analysis The Justice Department's case against Comey, annotated The letter from Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein about Comey is heavy on quotes from media reports and light on new information — leading some to suggest it was cobbled together quickly. By Aaron Blake  •  Read more »   Is Comey's firing 'Nixonian' or uniquely Trumpian? Democrats and Republicans immediately turned to the Saturday Night Massacre of 1973 amid the height of the Watergate scandal. But the yearning to find comfort in American history runs up against Donald Trump's lifelong desire to be provocative and unpredictable — and against unprecedented allegations in which a president's campaign stands accused of possible collusion with a foreign adversary. By Marc Fisher and Karen DeYoung  •  Read more »   Senate Republicans face their own divisions in push for health-care overhaul After the House's narrow approval of its health-care bill, the Senate faces its own challenges as key questions remain unresolved and senators splinter into different coalitions. The rifts suggest that the path to 51 votes in a chamber with only 52 Republicans will be daunting. By Robert Costa and Sean Sullivan  •  Read more »   @PKCapitol | Analysis Who will decide what the Senate's health-care bill looks like? Follow the Medicaid-state senators. The most powerful bloc in the Senate, based on the size and clout of its members, are the 20 Republicans who come from states that took advantage of the 2010 health law's federal expansion of Medicaid to provide insurance to millions of lower-income Americans. By Paul Kane  •  Read more »   Opinions   Comey's firing should make all of us 'mildly nauseous' By Ruth Marcus  •  Read more »   Comey's dismissal may turn the anti-Trump wave into a tsunami By Dana Milbank  •  Read more »   The Comey debacle only magnifies the Russia mystery By David Ignatius  •  Read more »   Sally Yates and Condoleezza Rice are do-right women in a do-wrong world By Kathleen Parker  •  Read more »   The one thing we know for sure about Comey's firing By Jennifer Rubin  •  Read more »   New Orleans needs help moving Confederate statues — and stopping extremists in the way By Editorial Board  •  Read more » ADVERTISEMENT   More News   White House dismisses questions over why it waited to fire Flynn The administration said the warnings about the former national security adviser came from a "political opponent." By Karen DeYoung and Jenna Johnson  •  Read more » U.S. Census director quits as funding crisis looms for 2020 count John H. Thompson's resignation, which surprised census experts, follows an April congressional budget allocation for the census that critics say is woefully inadequate. By Tara Bahrampour  •  Read more » Earth could break through a major climate threshold in the next 15 years, study says The scientists' warning comes as the Trump administration debates whether to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. By Chelsea Harvey  •  Read more » In blow to ties with Turkey, U.S. to directly arm Syrian Kurds against ISIS President Trump has approved a plan to directly arm Kurdish forces as part of a plan to capture Raqqa, the Pentagon said. Turkey views the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, as a threat and has rebuked the United States for partnering with them in its fight against extremists in Syria. By Missy Ryan, Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Karen DeYoung  •  Read more » Grassley, Chaffetz rebuke HHS secretary for muzzling agency employees The Republican leaders said Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price's new policy curtailing his employees' ability to communicate directly with Congress "is potentially illegal and unconstitutional." By Juliet Eilperin  •  Read more » The Fix | Analysis All of Trump’s campaign statements just vanished from his website. So let’s remember them. Whatever the reasons for their disappearance, the statements are all preserved in the Internet's unofficial archives. Here are some of the more memorable statements. By Avi Selk  •  Read more » Why women didn't love Dove's latest gender-empowering ad stunt Dove's six new shapely bottles — which include curvy, slender and pear-shaped varieties — have attracted ridicule from consumers and advertising specialists. By Abha Bhattarai  •  Read more »         Share Today's Headlines:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you are signed up for Headlines. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2017 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071