Mueller has Trump’s draft firing Comey

The letter blasted FBI Director James Comey, pictured, over his investigation of Trump’s rival Hillary Clinton.

On the day before President Donald Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey, he summoned his vice president, chief of staff, top lawyer and other senior advisers to the Oval Office.

He was ready to get rid of Comey, Trump told them that Monday morning in May, and had prepared a termination letter that laid out in detail his many frustrations, which had boiled over the previous weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J.

The multipage letter blasted Comey over his investigation of Trump’s Democratic presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton. And, according to a person with direct knowledge of the contents of the letter, it conveyed Trump’s displeasure that Comey would not say publicly what he had told the president three times privately: that the FBI’s probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was not focused on him.

Trump ended up shelving that letter in favor of a far shorter one, but the draft has taken on new significance in the probe by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is examining it as he determines whether Trump’s firing of Comey was part of an effort to obstruct justice, according to people with knowledge of the investigation.

The draft, which was first reported by The New York Times, establishes Trump’s thinking prior to the firing and contradicts initial statements from White House officials about why he dismissed his FBI director.

In the letter Trump sent to Comey, the president described his decision as having been prompted by recommendations from Comey’s supervisors — Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — a rationale embraced at first in public statements by White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence.

But the draft letter, which was prepared with the help of senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and described by people familiar with it as a “rant,” makes clear what the White House eventually acknowledged: that Trump had decided to fire Comey before he solicited recommendations from Sessions and Rosenstein.

Though the letter is largely about other issues, it could shed light on Trump’s state of mind regarding Comey at the time the FBI chief was leading the Russia inquiry that was emerging as a threat to Trump’s presidency.

Furthermore, the Oval Office discussion suggests that Pence and other top aides who echoed the initial public explanation for Comey’s ouster did not provide a full accounting of Trump’s decision process.

Mueller is likely to look into whether Trump, in consulting the Justice Department’s top two officials, was seeking a pretense to fire Comey or, as some White House advisers said Friday, whether he was simply persuaded to consider their opinions before acting.

“I can’t comment on anything the special counsel might be interested in,” White House attorney Ty Cobb said. “But this White House is committed to being open and transparent with the special counsel’s investigation.”

A Mueller spokesman declined to comment.

According to several people familiar with the events, Trump described his draft termination letter to top aides who wandered in and out of a meeting May 8 in the Oval Office, including thenChief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House Counsel Donald McGahn and senior adviser Hope Hicks. Pence arrived late, after the meeting had begun. They were also joined by Miller and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Kushner supported the president’s decision.

The letter had been drawn up by Miller, acting as a stenographer to capture Trump’s thoughts, according to several people with knowledge of the process. While it did not dwell on Russia, the draft included language similar to what was included in the final version ultimately sent by Trump: “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.”

After hearing about Trump’s decision and the contents of the letter, some of the president’s aides were shocked and chagrined. They urged caution.

At one point, Trump was warned that firing Comey would not end the Russia investigation but would instead probably extend it. He acknowledged the likelihood but said he believed firing Comey was the right move and wanted to push ahead.

Mueller will weigh the narrative with other events that led up to Comey’s firing, including Comey’s account of Trump’s efforts to intercede by requesting that the FBI director drop an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

But the incidents leading up to Comey’s removal also raise questions about how the White House initially explained the firing.

In a hastily called media availability on the night of the firing, then-press secretary Sean Spicer said the Russia investigation had played no role in the dismissal, which he said had been led by the Justice Department. “No one from the White House,” Spicer said, when asked who drove the decision. “That was a DOJ decision.”

Spicer had not been at the Oval Office meeting, and the communications team had been told of the firing — along with the purported justification for it — only moments before it became public. Spicer declined to comment for this report.

Pence told reporters on May 10 that Trump had acted at Sessions’ and Rosenstein’s recommendation. “Let me be clear with you, that was not what this is about,” Pence said then when asked whether Trump fired Comey to impede the Russia investigation.

Pence’s lawyer Richard Cullen said the vice president “stands by his statement.”

“It was true then, and it is true today,” Cullen said.

The events leading to Comey’s firing also raise questions for Rosenstein, who now holds authority over the special counsel’s investigation because Sessions recused himself over his role as a Trump campaign adviser.