Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump contradicts self on Comey
He says he fired FBI director regardless of Justice Department’s recommendation.
WASHINGTON — Adding yet another twist to a shifting White House narrative, President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had decided to fire FBI Director James Comey regardless of whether the Justice Department recommended it, calling the ousted director “a showboat” and “a grandstander.”
Trump’s comments further fueled the political and legal furor in Washington over his unceremonious sacking of Comey, who was leading an expanding FBI investigation seeking to determine if Trump’s advisers cooperated with Russian intelligence agents during the presidential campaign last year.
In a bipartisan move that highlighted the mounting concern on Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer invited Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to brief all senators early next week on Comey’s dismissal.
Similarly, the top Republican and Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Tex., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., warned in a statement that their committee “will be conducting rigorous oversight to ensure that the FBI’s own investigation is not impeded or interfered with in any way.”
The tumult overshadowed the White House and Congress for a third day in what appeared the most serious crisis of Trump’s presidency. His aides scrambled to keep up with the president’s changing accounts, even as the acting FBI director separately rejected Trump’s claim that Comey’s tenure had left the FBI “in turmoil.”
Comey “enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does,” Andrew McCabe, a career FBI agent who became acting director of the bureau after Comey’s abrupt ouster Tuesday, told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
McCabe stood in for Comey at an annual Senate hearing that reviews security threats around the globe. It instead featured extensive questioning about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the FBI probe into possible coordination between Trump’s campaign and Moscow, and Comey’s dismissal.
McCabe said the FBI would continue to vigorously pursue the Russia investigation and would inform the committee if agents faced political interference from the White House.
“You cannot stop the men and women of the FBI from doing the right thing,” he said.
In an interview with Lester Holt of NBC News, Trump contradicted a statement released by the White House on Tuesday that said he had fired Comey “based on the clear recommendations” of Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“I was going to fire regardless of their recommendation,” Trump said Thursday, repeating his intention a moment later.
Over the last two days, White House officials repeatedly had said Trump did not decide to sack Comey until after he met with Sessions and Rosenstein in the Oval Office on Monday.
On Tuesday, the White House pointed in particular to Rosenstein’s response, a three-page memo that harshly criticized Comey’s public statements about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email practices.
But Rosenstein pushed to correct that narrative, resulting in a revised White House statement late Wednesday that made clear Trump already had been considering firing Comey. The Justice Department denied reports that Rosenstein threatened to resign over the dispute.
In his NBC interview, Trump seemed far more outraged by Comey’s recent testimony to Congress than his criticism last year of Clinton’s email practices, which Trump had lauded at the time. The president said Comey’s penchant for publicity had damaged the bureau.
“Look, he’s a showboat, he’s a grandstander, the FBI has been in turmoil,” Trump said. “You know that. I know that. Everybody knows that.”
Trump also described how he repeatedly pressed Comey for assurances he was not a target of the FBI investigation. While not illegal, it’s highly unusual for a sitting president to seek details on an ongoing criminal probe because of policies prohibiting political interference in FBI cases.
Trump said Comey told him during a dinner at the White House after the inauguration that he was not under investigation.
Trump said Comey confirmed it in two separate phone calls, once when Trump called him.
“I actually asked him, yes,” Trump said. “I said, ‘If it’s possible would you let me know, am I under investigation?’ He said, ‘You are not under investigation.’ ”
Trump distanced himself from those who worked for his presidential campaign, however.
McCabe, who was Comey’s deputy, declined to confirm those conversations at the Senate hearing. But he said it is not standard FBI practice to inform subjects if they are under investigation. He also said it was unusual for someone not involved in a crime to ask the question.