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The New York Times editorial board does not have much faith in President Trump choosing a new FBI director who will continue the bureau's investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

In a harsh op-ed, the Times editorialists rejected the White House's claim that James Comey was fired over his mishandling of the probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, calling it "impossible to take at face value." While Comey "deserves all the criticism heaped upon him for his repeated missteps in that case," Trump was very vocal about his excitement when Comey, just days before the election, notified Congress that he was reopening an investigation into her emails. "He brought back his reputation," Trump said at the time. "It took a lot of guts." Beyond that, the editorial board noted, Trump could have fired Comey right after he was inaugurated.

Instead, the Times aruges, Comey was "fired because he was leading an active investigation that could bring down a president." Where congressional Republicans are stalling investigations, "Mr. Comey's inquiry was the only aggressive effort to get to the bottom of Russia's ties to the Trump campaign," and it snared such close Trump allies as former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, longtime friend Roger Stone, onetime foreign policy adviser Carter Page, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had to recuse himself from the case after it came to light that he did not disclose two meetings with Russia's U.S. ambassador during the campaign. Given all that, plus the dismissals of Comey, acting Attorney General Sally Yates, and almost every U.S. attorney, the editorial board said, "the need for a special prosecutor is plainer than ever," as the American people "require a thorough, impartial investigation" into Russian election meddling. Read the entire op-ed at The New York Times.