Trump told Russians: Comey a ‘nut job’
• Collusion probe nears White House • President leaves for Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON — During his meeting with Russian officials last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said that fired FBI Director James Comey was a “nut job” whose ouster relieved “great pressure” on him, according to a report Friday in the New York Times.
The Times cited notes from a May 10 Oval Office meeting, the day after Trump fired Comey.
Separately, the Washington Post reported Friday that the FBI investigation into possible co-ordination between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign was moving closer to the White House. Law enforcement officials now consider a senior Trump adviser a “person of interest” in the probe, the Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The report did not name the adviser.
The developments were a blow to White House efforts to tamp down interest in the Russia investigation as Trump and his staff boarded Air Force One for Saudi Arabia, first stop on his first foreign trip as president. The details of his comments to the Russians would seem to bolster theories that Trump fired Comey in an effort to choke off the Russia investigation.
This week, the U.S. Justice Department appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to take over the federal investigation in an effort to re-establish independence from the White House.
Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein told Congress on Friday he stands by a memo he wrote bluntly criticizing Comey. But he made clear it was not his intention for Trump or other White House officials to use the document to justify firing Comey, which is what they have done.
In closed-door meetings with lawmakers on Thursday and Friday, Rosenstein said he wrote the memo after Trump told him one day before the May 9 firing that he wanted to dismiss Comey. Rosenstein said that though he was personally fond of Comey, “I thought it was appropriate to seek a new leader.”
The Justice Department on Friday issued the text of Rosenstein’s opening remarks for the briefings on Capitol Hill. That was two days after Rosenstein named Mueller as a special counsel to investigate possible co-ordination between Russia and the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has said he plans to nominate a new FBI director soon, and that had been expected before his departure. However, the White House said there would be no announcement Friday.
The appointment of Mueller as special counsel has drawn generally favourable comments from Democrats and from some Republicans as well. But lawmakers at both congressional sessions expressed frustration that Rosenstein would say little in answer to their questions about his actions — or others’ — before Comey’s firing. “This renewed my confidence that we should not have confidence in this administration,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, a member of the Armed Services Committee.
The memo focuses on Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, particularly the FBI director’s decision to divulge details to the public at various junctures. Rosenstein denounced that as “profoundly wrong and unfair.”
Meanwhile, Trump said he will use his visit to the Middle East to call for unity in the fight against radicalism in the Muslim world. He cast the challenge as a “battle between good and evil” and will urge Arab leaders to “drive out the terrorists from your places of worship,” according to a draft of the speech obtained by the Associated Press.
Abandoning some of the harsh anti-Muslim rhetoric of his presidential campaign, the draft of the speech, slated to be delivered in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, envisions new partnerships with America’s traditional allies in the MidEast. It refrains from mentioning democracy and human rights in favour of the more limited goals of peace and stability. “We are not here to lecture,” the document said.