Trump fine with investigation, says Comey was a ‘showboat’
President Trump said he welcomes a thorough investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election and decried former FBI Director James B. Comey for creating “turmoil” at the agency — even as questions surfaced about the White House’s handling of the ouster and poll numbers show Americans are quickly losing patience.
“If Russia or anybody else is trying to interfere with our elections, I think it’s a horrible thing, and I want to get to the bottom of it,” Trump told NBC News last night.
Trump blasted Comey as “a showboat” and “a grandstander” who had plunged the FBI into “turmoil” during his sitdown with NBC’s Lester Holt.
The president also said he had intended to boot Comey “regardless of (the) recommendation” from the Department of Justice on Tuesday that the FBI chief had mishandled the Hillary Clinton private server investigation.
That appeared to contradict Vice President Mike Pence’s suggestions a day earlier that Trump was acting on Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recommendation to fire Comey.
Trump also elaborated on his claim that Comey had assured him three separate times — once at a “very nice dinner” and twice over the phone — that the FBI was not probing him.
“I actually asked him, yes,” Trump told NBC. “I said, ‘If it’s possible, will you let me know, am I under investigation?’ He said, ‘You are not under investigation.’ ”
The president also claimed the dinner was arranged because Comey wanted to stay on as FBI director, raising conflict of interest questions between the G-man’s job security and any investigation into his boss.
But White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied any such conflict when asked at the daily briefing.
Still, Trump downplayed the significance of the Russia investigation, even as it threatens to overshadow his top legislative priorities, including an Obamacare replacement bill and a tax overhaul.
“Russia must be laughing up their sleeves watching as the U.S. tears itself apart over a Democrat EXCUSE for losing the election,” the president tweeted.
New polls out this week show Trump’s popularity sliding into dangerous territory. Just 36 percent approve of the way he is handling his job, according to a Quinnipiac University survey, while some 58 percent disapprove.
Among critical independent voters, only 29 percent approve, versus 63 percent who don’t.
Asked the first word that comes to mind when thinking about Trump, respondents’ top three answers were “idiot,” “incompetent,” and “liar.”
Meanwhile, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe pushed back at the White House’s assertion that the agents had “lost confidence” in Comey.
“I can tell you that the majority — the vast majority of FBI employees — enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey,” McCabe told the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday.
McCabe also vowed to inform the committee if the White House tries to interfere with its Russia investigation.
And despite Huckabee Sanders’ assertion that the Russia investigation is “one of the smallest things” on the FBI’s plate, McCabe insisted the probe is actually “highly significant.”
Meanwhile Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey was one of 20 AGs who demanded a special prosecutor in a letter to Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, calling Comey’s firing a “violation of the public trust.”