US president Donald Trump fired the head of the FBI last week. When he did that, he shocked many people.
(In this case, fired means Trump told him he couldn’t do that job anymore.)
The FBI is a special organization in the United States that gathers facts and evidence to solve and prevent crimes.
The FBI has been investigating an issue that Donald Trump cares a lot about. They have been trying to figure out if some of Trump’s circle of friends and co-workers may have worked with different people from Russia in order to influence the US election, and help get Trump elected. (No outside country is allowed to affect the results of a US election.)
Many people are upset that Trump fired FBI director James Comey. They say Trump fired Comey because he was investigating the President. Trump said he fired Comey because he wasn’t doing his job well and was responsible for “leaking” information to reporters. (“Leaking” in this sense refers to telling secrets.) However, many people are wondering if Trump just wanted to get rid of the person who was looking into the Russia issue.
There are rules about when a president is allowed to fire the FBI director. However, James Comey, himself is said to have “long believed that a president can fire an FBI director for any reason, or for no reason at all.”
This issue is not going to go away anytime soon, because many people want to know what the truth is about the firing.
This is a “breaking” story, meaning that new facts are coming to light every day.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Do you think Trump’s firing of James Comey makes him look guilty? If yes, why would Trump have gone through with firing Comey? If not, why not?
Reading Prompt: Demonstrating Understanding
The word “scandal” is defined as “an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage.” By this meaning, does the firing of James Comey by Donald Trump qualify as a scandal?
Junior
Demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Intermediate
Demonstrate understanding of increasingly complex texts by summarizing important ideas and citing a variety of details that support the main idea (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Language Feature: Acronyms
FBI is an acronym that stands for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. By taking the first letter of each word and creating a shortened version, acronyms make something easy to say and remember.
How many acronyms do you know?
Make a list of acronyms and what they stand for. Next, quiz a friend
