In an interview with Lester Holt, Donald Trump was asked about the self-exoneration he carefully tucked into the midst of former FBI director James Comey’s pink slip.
President Donald Trump, in an exclusive interview Thursday with NBC News' Lester Holt, called ousted FBI chief James Comey a "showboat" and revealed he asked Comey whether he was under investigation for alleged ties to Russia.
"I actually asked him" if I was under investigation, Trump said, noting that he spoke with Comey once over dinner and twice by phone.
That asking if he’s under review constitutes interference in the investigation and placed the FBI director into an impossible position doesn’t seem to occur to Trump. In listing out the three occasions when Comey supposedly told Trump that he was not under investigation, Trump names a dinner and two phone calls. None of these events, conveniently enough, are confirmed.
That Trump would press the director to provide this information in private, at a time when Comey was very careful to not make any such statement in public, risks invalidating the investigation. If Comey actually gave Trump the information, without warning him about the effect such a statement would have on the investigation, that was very out of character for Comey.
It would be highly unusual for someone who might be the focus of an FBI probe to ask whether he was under investigation and to be directly told by the FBI director that he was not.
In the same interview, Donald Trump completely contradicted the statements his press secretary has been putting out since Tuesday. Rather than firing Comey because of Rod Rosenstein’s report, Trump admit that he was going to fire Comey no matter what.
Donald Trump was determined to fire Comey, whether there was justification or not. Rosenstein didn’t originate the idea of firing Comey. That was all Trump.
Trump also reiterated his claim that he had been planning to fire Comey even before he received Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's recommendation.
"He's a showboat, he's grandstander, the FBI has been in turmoil," Trump said of Comey in his wide-ranging interview with Holt. "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."
All of this makes the statements issued by the White House on Tuesday a lie. Not unclear. Not incomplete. A lie. A pernicious lie intended to create a false narrative.
Trump also insisted there was no "collusion between me and my campaign and the Russians."
"Also, the Russians did not affect the vote," he said.
Says the man who was just caught trying to pass off a whopper to the nation.