“I expect that (Comey) will be able to shed light on issues critical to the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.”

ex-FBI director.

“The president has always emphasized the importance of making deals with Russia as it relates to Syria, Ukraine, defeating ISIS and other key issues for the benefit and safety of the American people,” Spicer said.

“By grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia’s actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia.”

Spicer denied that Trump fired Comey to block the Russia investigation, saying, “the investigation would have always continued, and obviously, the termination of Comey would not have ended it. The real story is that our national security has been undermined by the leaking of private and highly classified conversations.”

Citing two unidentified sources, CNN reported that White House lawyers have begun researching impeachment procedures in an effort to prepare for what officials still believe is a distant possibility that Trump could have to fend off attempts to remove him from office.

White House officials believe the president has the backing of Republican allies in Congress and that impeachment is not in the cards, CNN reported. Even Democrats have tried to calm impeachment talk.

Meantime, despite Trump’s repeated assertions that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s scathing memo provided the foundation for last week’s abrupt dismissal of Comey, Rosenstein told Congress on Friday that the document was not actually offered to justify the firing — nor was it meant to be made public.

“My memorandum is not a statement of reasons to justify a for-cause termination,” Rosenstein told lawmakers, according to prepared remarks released by the Justice Department.