TRUMP ESCALATES ATTACKS ON COMEY
President contradicts earlier assertions from White House
‘I WAS GOING TO FIRE REGARDLESS’ “I said, ‘If it’s possible, would you let me know am I under investigation?’ (Comey) said, `You are not under investigation.’ ” President Trump
The controversy over the firing of FBI Director James Comey continued Thursday when President Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt, “I was going to fire regardless of (their) recommendation.” That contradicts White House assertions, and lawmakers in both parties expressed confusion — and concern — about the conflicting accounts of Trump’s decision.
In a reversal that further roiled Washington politics, President Trump revealed on Thursday he planned to fire FBI Director James Comey even before meeting with top-ranking Justice Department officials and soliciting their recommendations on his performance.
Calling Comey a “showboat” and “grandstander” who led the agency into turmoil, Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, “I was going to fire regardless of (their) recommendation.”
That contradicts the White House’s assertions — and the termination letter Trump sent Comey — that the dismissal was based on recommendations of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
In documents released by the White House, the Justice Department’s leadership excoriated Co- mey’s handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. In particular, they lambasted his unusual decision to hold a press conference in July announcing he would not charge the Democratic candidate — only to later publicly announce he was reopening the probe, just 11 days before the November election.
While that was the stated reason the White House gave for Comey’s firing up until the NBC interview, Trump’s latest comments raised more questions about his decision to fire the FBI director who was running an investigation into possible collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russians seeking to influence the presidential election.
Democrats have already decried the timing of Comey’s firing as a way to short-circuit the ongoing counterintelligence probe.
If Trump had made the decision to fire Comey regardless of the Justice Department’s opinions, asked Sen. Chris Coons, DDel., who serves on the Judiciary Committee, then “why did he ask Rosenstein for a memo?”
The concern — and confusion — about the timing and reasons for why Trump fired Comey was shared by lawmakers from both parties. “He has that power, but that is inconsistent with what they said,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
In the NBC interview, Trump went on to attack Comey personally, using terms not usually directed at senior law enforcement officials.
“He’s a show boat, he’s a grand stander, the FBI has been in turmoil,” Trump said. “You know that, I know that. Everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil, less than a year ago, it hasn’t recovered from that.”
Acknowledging there are always ongoing investigations, Trump told NBC that “there’s no good time” to fire an FBI director.
He later expressed displeasure with the attention being paid to the Russia probe. “Russia must be laughing up their sleeves watching as the U.S. tears itself apart over a Democrat EXCUSE for losing the election,” he tweeted.
Trump repeated his claim that Comey told him — three times — he was not under investigation.
But Andrew McCabe, the acting FBI director, would not confirm those exchanges to a Senate hearing earlier on Thursday. McCabe said he was not in a position to comment on whether such communications occurred.