If it’s true that Trump fired Comey because he was angry about the Russia investigation and all the attention paid to the FBI director, as reporting today suggests, it’s 1) obviously the wrong reason to fire him; 2) a colossal misjudgment. The firing will draw more attention to Comey than ever before, at least in the short term; it won’t shut down the Russia investigation, which will continue as before, just with a new leader at the top; it will stoke even more suspicions about Russia and magnify any new revelations; it might well embroil the White House in a contentious confirmation battle that re-litigates the Comey firing and focuses on the Russia controversy; and if there isn’t a confirmation battle, it will only be because Trump picks someone with a sterling reputation who is pledged to follow Russia wherever it leads. So if this is an attempted cover-up, it will almost certainly back-fire. On the other hand, whatever Trump’s intentions, it is likelier than not to result in a widely respected new FBI director because it’s hard to see anyone else getting confirmed when even some Senate Republicans are suspicious of the Comey firing.