In a complete contradiction of the White House's official account, President Trump on Thursday revealed that he was going to fire FBI Director James Comey "regardless of recommendation." The White House has said Trump made his decision based on memos written by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein urging Trump to axe Comey, but Trump told NBC's Lester Holt that he had made up his mind even before he met with Sessions and Rosenstein at the White House on Monday.
"I was going to fire Comey. My decision," Trump said, calling Comey a "showboat" and a "grandstander." He noted there was "no good time" to fire Comey.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Tied Supreme Court blocks church charter schoolspeed read The court upheld the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to bar overtly religious public charter schools
-
GOP megabill would limit judicial oversight of Trumpspeed read The domestic policy bill Republicans pushed through the House would protect the Trump administration from the consequences of violating court orders
-
Judge scolds DOJ over Newark mayor arrestspeed read Ras Baraka was arrested during a May 9 surprise visit to a migrant detention facility
-
Trump lectures South Africa president on 'white genocide'speed read Trump has cut off aid to South Africa over his demonstrably false genocide claims
-
Trump twists House GOP arms on megabillspeed read The bill will provide a $350 billion boost to military and anti-immigration spending and 'cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs'
-
Trump DOJ said to pay $5M to family of Jan. 6 rioterspeed read The US will pay a hefty sum to the family of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot on January 6
-
Trump DOJ charging House Democrat in ICE fracasspeed read Rep. LaMonica McIver is being charged with assault over a clash outside an immigration detention facility in Newark
-
Biden diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancerspeed read The diagnosis hits close to home, as the former president 'dedicated much of his later career to cancer research'
