The White House has been scrambling to explain why President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, a shocking move that left the bureau reeling and drew bipartisan criticism from members of Congress.
The administration’s rationale for dismissing Comey has gradually shifted. But the final straw appears to have been Trump’s “white hot” anger with Comey after his testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“After watching Director Comey’s testimony last Wednesday, the president was strongly inclined to remove him,” the White House said as part of a “timeline” of the president’s decision-making process.
In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Thursday, Trump acknowledged that he was going to fire Comey “regardless” of the recommendations given to him on Tuesday by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He called Comey “a showboat” and “a grandstander” and said he fired the director because the FBI was in “turmoil.” (Acting Director Andrew McCabe denied on Thursday that the bureau had lost faith in Comey before he was fired.)
Two letters addressed to Trump from Sessions and his deputy, Rosenstein, outlining Comey’s mishandling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server were initially presented as the impetus for Trump’s firing of Comey. White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on Tuesday that the Department of Justice — specifically Rosenstein — had determined Comey needed to go because of how he handled that probe.
Trump as a candidate had expressed support for at least one event that in Rosenstein’s letter was presented as evidence of misconduct: Comey’s decision to revisit the investigation 11 days before the election.
But White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a press briefing on Wednesday that the letters Trump received on Tuesday outlining “the basic atrocities” Comey committed “in circumventing the chain of command of the Department of Justice” persuaded Trump to fire the director.
Over the next day, Rosenstein reportedly threatened to resign — after only two weeks on the job — because he was made out to be the administration’s fall guy. The Justice Department on Thursday denied that Rosenstein had made the threat.
Meanwhile, multiple reports emerged that said Trump was incensed at Comey for implying in an open Senate hearing last week that Clinton may have won if he hadn’t reopened the probe on October 28.
(FBI Director James Comey testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on May 3.Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
“It makes me mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election,” Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee as he was explaining his decision to notify Congress that the FBI was reopening the Clinton investigation.
That comment angered Trump, who “complained, with expletives,” about it, CNN reported.
Trump made his displeasure with Comey clear even before the director testified, saying in two tweets the night before the hearing that Comey “was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds. The phony … Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election. Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?”
The next day, Comey confirmed in the open — and televised — hearing that the FBI was still investigating whether there was “any coordination” between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. Comey had not allowed the White House to preview his testimony, which Trump and his aides considered “an act of insubordination,” according to Reuters. The New York Times echoed that report, saying Trump was broadly irked by his inability to gain assurances of loyalty from Comey.
Trump insisted in his interview with Holt on Thursday that Comey told him three times, before he was fired, that he was “not under investigation” by the FBI: once during a dinner, and again in two separate phone calls. Comey’s associates told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday night that Trump’s claims were “literally farcical.”
(Trump and Comey.Getty Images)
Amid the flood of reports about what prompted Trump to fire Comey, the administration acknowledged Wednesday that Comey’s testimony was part of Trump’s decision.
“The president, over the last few months, lost confidence in Director Comey,” the White House said in a statement to reporters on Wednesday night.
“After watching Director Comey’s testimony last Wednesday, the president was strongly inclined to remove him. On Monday, the president met with the attorney general and the deputy attorney general, and they discussed reasons for removing the director. The next day, Tuesday, May 9, the deputy attorney general sent his written recommendation to the attorney general, and the attorney general sent his written recommendation to the president.”
Rosenstein’s letter outlined his concerns about Comey, but it did not explicitly recommend he be fired.
