In a new interview with NBC News, President Donald Trump has backtracked on statements made repeatedly by White House officials in regards to his firing of FBI director James Comey.
Since that shock decision on Tuesday, White House officials have been repeating the line over and over again that the idea originated with newly confirmed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, not Trump.
TUESDAY (following the decision): Press Secretary Sean Spicer says the decision “was all [Rosenstein]”, and that “No one from the White House [was involved]. That was a DoJ decision.” [Source.]
WEDNESDAY MORNING: Vice President Mike Pence says “the president took strong and decisive leadership here to put the safety and security of the American people first by accepting the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove Director Comey as the head of the FBI.” [Source.]
ALSO WEDNESDAY: Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, when asked by a reporter if it was “the White House’s assertion that Rod Rosenstein decided on his own, after being confirmed, to review Comey’s performance?” answers, “Absolutely.” [Source.]
ALSO WEDNESDAY: Sanders tells Morning Joe that “the deputy general … made a very strong recommendation. The president followed it, and he made a quick and decisive action to fire James Comey.” [Source.]
And then we get to Thursday.
THURSDAY (a.k.a. now): Trump tells NBC anchor Lester Holt that he’d already decided to fire Comey, regardless of Rosenstein’s recommendation.
TRUMP: “What I did was I was going to fire Comey, my decision … I was going to fire Comey. There’s no good time to do it, by the way.”
HOLT: “So you had already made the decision?”
TRUMP: “Oh I was going to fire him regardless of recommendation. [Rosenstein] had made a recommendation, he’s highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy, the Democrats like him, the Republicans like him, he made a recommendation, but regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire him.”
He also struggled to answer basic questions about the “three separate occasions” Comey apparently told him he wasn’t under investigation by the FBI, eventually stumbling to the answer that the first was over dinner, and the second two were via phone call.
HOLT: “But he’s given sworn testimony that there is an ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign and possible collusion with the Russian government. You were the centrepiece of the Trump campaign, so was he being truthful?”
TRUMP: “I know that I’m not under investigation – me, personally. I’m not talking about campaigns, I’m not talking about anything else. I’m not under investigation.”
Have a watch of the interview below:
Quick shout-out to this tweet:
BREAKING: Reality TV star with a golden toilet bowl calls James Comey a “showboat” and a “grandstander.” #TrumpRussia
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) May 11, 2017
Photo: NBC News.
