President Donald Trump said Thursday that he didn’t fire former FBI Director James Comey because of Russia — contradicting his own previous statements.
“I never fired James Comey because of Russia,” the president said in a tweet.
Trump has offered a variety of reasons for firing the FBI director, which he did by letter on May 9, 2017. Two days after Trump fired the embattled law enforcement officer, Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt that the investigation was on his mind during the firing.
“And, in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said: ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won,'” Trump said at the time.
The president’s comments come a day after new reports that zero in on the time Comey was fired. Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired earlier this year, reportedly had written a memo saying that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told him that he was asked to include a reference to the Russia investigation in his own critical memo on Comey.
The final version, which Trump cited when he fired Comey, didn’t mention Russia and focused instead on the former FBI director’s handling of the Clinton email case.
Robert Mueller, the special counsel, is investigating whether the president obstructed justice by firing Comey, a position on which legal experts are divided. Trump has repeatedly denied that he committed obstruction.
Rosenstein appointed Mueller to the post days after Trump fired Comey.
Since his firing, Comey has published a book about his dealings with Trump, and has been an outspoken critic of the president.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
