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Posted: 2017-05-11T23:17:41Z | Updated: 2017-05-11T23:18:40Z

WASHINGTON When President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, it was the latest in a months-long string of actions that have undermined or compromised every major investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump campaign associates colluded with Moscow.

The breadth of the presidents interference in the investigations of his own campaign has shocked officials at law enforcement agencies and on Capitol Hill, both for the extent to which it disregards political norms and the potential it has to upend legitimate oversight. And its forced a major readjustment within those agencies to try and immunize themselves from White House influence. More than 100 lawmakers, including at least three Republicans , have now called for an independent probe of the Russia matter.

Since Trumps inauguration, the president and his team have asked the people probing his campaign about the status of those investigations, worked with allies involved in the probes to coordinate messaging, pressured investigators to limit the scope of their work and to wrap it up as quickly as possible, and repeatedly fired people involved in investigations of his administration.

Its highly suspicious that the President has now fired at least three people who were investigating his administration, especially in light of his pattern of undermining the ongoing Congressional investigations, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) told HuffPost in an email referring to Comey, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was reportedly investigating one of Trumps Cabinet secretaries . To get to the bottom of this, we need an independent investigation led by a special prosecutor who has the trust of the American people.