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White House Says Trump Had Weighed Firing Comey Since January Sense of Crisis Deepens as Trump Defends F.B.I. Firing
(about 7 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Trump had been considering firing James B. Comey from his position as director of the F.B.I. since he became president, a White House spokeswoman said on Wednesday. WASHINGTON — President Trump’s abrupt dismissal of the F.B.I. director roiled Washington on Wednesday and deepened the sense of crisis swirling around the White House. Republican leaders came to the president’s defense, and Mr. Trump lashed out at Democrats and other critics, calling them hypocrites.
But even though Mr. Trump had lost confidence in Mr. Comey, the recommendation from the deputy attorney general to fire Mr. Comey was not made at the president’s direction, said the spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. On Capitol Hill, at least a half-dozen Republicans broke with their leadership to express concern or dismay about the firing of James B. Comey, who was four years into a decade-long appointment as the bureau’s director. Still, they stopped well short of joining Democrats’ call for a special prosecutor to lead the continuing investigation of Russian contacts with Mr. Trump’s aides.
Ms. Sanders said that Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, was acting on his own when he recommended to Mr. Trump during a meeting on Monday that Mr. Comey be terminated. At that meeting, the president directed Mr. Rosenstein to put the recommendation into writing, Ms. Sanders said. At the White House, Mr. Trump shrugged off accusations of presidential interference in a counterintelligence investigation. He hosted a surreal and awkwardly timed meeting in the Oval Office with Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States. Mr. Kislyak’s private meetings with Mr. Trump’s aides are a key part of the sprawling investigation.
“The president had lost confidence in Director Comey,” Ms. Sanders said. “He had been considering letting Director Comey go since” Mr. Trump entered the White House. The president made the final decision on Tuesday, she said. White House officials denied American reporters permission to witness the Oval Office meeting or take photographs, but Russian state news outlets published images taken by their official photographer of a beaming Mr. Trump shaking hands with the envoys. The pictures quickly spread on Twitter.
Mr. Trump will meet on Wednesday afternoon with Andrew G. McCabe, the acting director of the bureau, to discuss morale at the agency, Ms. Sanders said. She added that Mr. Trump would offer to make a visit to the F.B.I. if Mr. McCabe believed it would help morale there. Stunned by the sudden loss of their leader, agents at the F.B.I. struggled throughout the day to absorb the meaning of Mr. Comey’s dismissal, which the White House announced Tuesday evening. Veteran agents and other F.B.I. employees described a dark mood throughout the bureau, where morale was already low from months of being pummeled over dueling investigations surrounding the 2016 presidential election.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Trump defended his decision to fire Mr. Comey, telling reporters that Mr. Comey “wasn’t doing a good job” and accusing Democrats of hypocrisy for criticizing the dismissal of a law enforcement chief they, too, had assailed. Mr. Trump is weighing going to the F.B.I. headquarters in Washington on Friday as a show of his commitment to the bureau, an official said, though he is not expected to discuss the Russia investigation.
Speaking as photographs were being taken in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump responded to a question about the reason for Mr. Comey’s termination. “He wasn’t doing a good job,” he said. “Very simply. He was not doing a good job.” The president and his allies expressed no regrets over Mr. Comey’s removal, insisting that F.B.I. agents had been clamoring for it. Mr. Trump’s decision, they said, was unrelated to Mr. Comey’s oversight of the investigation into Russian meddling and possible connections to Trump advisers.
Asked whether the furor over the firing had affected his recently concluded meeting with Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, Mr. Trump said, “Not at all.” In an email to F.B.I. agents on Wednesday, Mr. Comey said he would not dwell on the reasons for his firing or how it was carried out.
Earlier on Wednesday, in a series of visceral posts on Twitter, the president said he was justified in dismissing Mr. Comey because Democrats and Republicans had lost faith in his leadership. He went on to highlight Mr. Comey’s “scandals” and suggested that a Democratic senator be investigated moments after that senator appeared on television condemning the president’s action. “I have long believed that a president can fire an F.B.I. director for any reason, or for no reason at all,” he wrote in the email, which a law enforcement official read to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity.
“Watching Senator Richard Blumenthal speak of Comey is a joke,” Mr. Trump wrote. “ ‘Richie’ devised one of the greatest military frauds in U.S. history.” “I have said to you before that, in times of turbulence, the American people should see the F.B.I. as a rock of competence, honesty and independence,” Mr. Comey wrote. He added, “It is very hard to leave a group of people who are committed only to doing the right thing.”
For years, “as a pol in Connecticut, Blumenthal would talk of his great bravery and conquests in Vietnam — except he was never there,” Mr. Trump added. Top Justice Department officials were hurrying to install an interim director to run the F.B.I. while a permanent replacement for Mr. Comey is chosen. Among those under consideration for the temporary role were several career law enforcement officials, including Andrew G. McCabe, who was named acting director upon Mr. Comey’s firing.
When “caught, he cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness … and now he is judge & jury,” Mr. Trump continued. “He should be the one who is investigated for his acts.” White House officials refused to comment on reports that, days before he was fired, Mr. Comey had asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in resources for the Russia investigation. Democrats cited the news of Mr. Comey’s request as added reason to be suspicious about the president’s motive for firing him.
The president was referring to an article in The New York Times in 2010, when Mr. Blumenthal first ran for Senate. The story said that Mr. Blumenthal had presented himself as a Vietnam veteran when in fact he served in the Marine Reserves at home and never went to war. The story did not say that Mr. Blumenthal boasted of bravery or conquests, but that he did tell an audience that “I served in Vietnam.” “Was this really about something else?” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, asked in remarks on the Senate floor.
Mr. Blumenthal went on CNN on Wednesday morning and criticized the president for firing Mr. Comey, who was leading an F.B.I. investigation into contacts between Russia and Mr. Trump’s campaign last year, when, according to American intelligence agencies, the Kremlin directed an effort to tilt the presidential election in Mr. Trump’s favor. “Nothing less is at stake than the American people’s faith in our criminal justice system and the integrity of the executive branch of our government,” he said.
Mr. Blumenthal scoffed at the assertion by the Trump administration that Mr. Comey was fired because of concerns about his handling of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server last year. Mr. Blumenthal said the president had pre-empted an inspector general investigation of Mr. Comey’s actions by firing him with “a pretense that is laughable.” The outrage over Mr. Comey’s firing was a political turnabout for many Democrats, who had previously expressed anger and frustration at his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. It was that investigation that Mr. Trump cited as the reason for dismissing Mr. Comey.
“I disagreed with James Comey in some of the decisions, but I never advocated he be fired, especially before” the inspector general report, Mr. Blumenthal said. “What we have now really is a looming constitutional crisis that is deadly serious because there is an investigation that is ongoing.” Days before last fall’s election, Mr. Comey announced that the F.B.I. was examining newly found emails potentially related to the investigation. “I do not have confidence in him any longer,” Mr. Schumer said at the time.
Other Democrats continued to attack the firing on Wednesday morning, saying Mr. Trump was clearly trying to upend the F.B.I. investigation into the Russian meddling. “It simply defies logic that President Trump, who made the F.B.I. investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails a centerpiece of his campaign, would all of the sudden convert to the view that Clinton was treated unfairly,” Senator Christopher S. Murphy, another Democrat from Connecticut, said in a statement. “I am asking that he step down,” Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, said.
Mr. Trump abruptly dismissed Mr. Comey late Tuesday, saying that the F.B.I. director was “not able to effectively lead the bureau.” While he attributed the decision to the Clinton case, Mr. Trump acted against Mr. Comey just a day after publicly asserting that the Russia investigation should be dropped, calling it a “taxpayer-funded charade.” Many Democrats, including Mrs. Clinton, have since placed much of the blame for her loss on Mr. Comey’s actions.
Vice President Mike Pence addressed the subject on Wednesday morning during a visit to Capitol Hill. On Wednesday, in a series of visceral posts on Twitter, Mr. Trump seized on those earlier comments to highlight Mr. Comey’s “scandals.” He also suggested that Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, be investigated, moments after Mr. Blumenthal appeared on television to condemn the president’s action.
“This administration is very confident that with the appointment of a new director of the F.B.I., because of the president’s strong leadership, we will be able to get this nation’s leading law enforcement agency a fresh start,” he told reporters. “Because of the president’s decisive action yesterday to restore the confidence and trust of the American people, we have an opportunity for a new beginning with the F.B.I.” “Watching Senator Richard Blumenthal speak of Comey is a joke,” Mr. Trump wrote. “‘Richie’ devised one of the greatest military frauds in U.S. history.”
The vice president did not respond directly to a question about whether the firing was related to the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election. For years, “as a pol in Connecticut, Blumenthal would talk of his great bravery and conquests in Vietnam — except he was never there,” Mr. Trump added. When “caught, he cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness … and now he is judge & jury. He should be the one who is investigated for his acts.”
“It was the right decision at the right time,” Mr. Pence said. The president was referring to a 2010 article in The Times that said Mr. Blumenthal had presented himself as a Vietnam veteran during his first Senate campaign, when he had actually served in the Marine Reserves at home and never gone to war. The story did not say that Mr. Blumenthal had boasted of bravery or conquests.
Democrats said that despite their concerns about Mr. Comey’s actions last year, the president’s dismissal evoked the days of President Richard M. Nixon, who ordered the firing of the special prosecutor looking into the Watergate case. They called for the appointment of a special counsel to lead the Russia inquiry. Republican leaders echoed Mr. Trump’s Twitter attacks on Democrats throughout the day. At one point, the president wrote that his adversaries were pretending to be aggrieved by Mr. Comey’s firing.
In his barrage of Twitter posts on Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump sought to turn attention to Democrats who had previously criticized Mr. Comey. “Phony hypocrites!” Mr. Trump wrote, signaling the growing frustration inside the White House about the backlash.
“The Democrats have said some of the worst things about James Comey, including the fact that he should be fired, but now they play so sad!” Mr. Trump wrote. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky — who, as majority leader, wields vast power over the focus of the Senate — defended the decision. Many other top Republicans agreed.
“Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike,” he added in another post. “When things calm down, they will be thanking me!” Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina and chairman of the Intelligence Committee, stopped short of directly criticizing the president. But his committee announced that it had issued its first subpoena to demand records from Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, in connection with his emails, phone calls, meetings and financial dealings with Russians. It was an aggressive new tack for what had been a slow-moving inquiry.
He also reposted a link to an article listing what it called “10 major F.B.I. scandals on Comey’s watch.” The maelstrom is sure to sap the Senate’s time and energy, detracting from a Republican agenda that includes a budget, health care, a tax overhaul and infrastructure.
The Twitter posts followed a similar one posted late Tuesday night targeting Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer stated recently, ‘I do not have confidence in him (James Comey) any longer,’” Mr. Trump wrote. “Then acts so indignant. #draintheswamp.” “Today, we’ll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation,” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor as most Democrats looked on. He predicted that such a move could “only serve to impede the current work being done.”
At a news conference Tuesday evening, Mr. Schumer said he had told Mr. Trump that it would be a mistake to dismiss Mr. Comey at the moment when he was leading the Russia investigation. Responding to a reporter’s question, Mr. Schumer made a distinction between his previous criticism of Mr. Comey and Mr. Trump’s decision to dismiss him now. In the House, the Republican chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to review Mr. Comey’s firing. The chairman, Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah, said the review would be included in an internal Justice Department inquiry into the F.B.I.’s disclosure of its investigation of Mrs. Clinton’s emails before the election.
“I never called on the president to fire Director Comey,” Mr. Schumer said. “I have a lot of questions about how he handled himself. But the overwhelming question is this: If the administration had the same questions, the event occurred months ago, and they should’ve fired Comey on the day they came into office. All of them occurred before he came into office. So that does not seem to me to be a very logical or persuasive explanation.” Despite their concerns about Mr. Comey’s actions last year, Democrats said his dismissal evoked the days of President Richard M. Nixon, who ordered the firing of the special prosecutor looking into the Watergate case. They called for the appointment of a special counsel to lead the Russia inquiry.
White House officials on Wednesday morning struggled to explain the decision. In a testy exchange on CNN, Kellyanne Conway, the White House counselor, denied suggestions that Mr. Trump was trying to interfere with the Russia investigation. “The idea that you think this is about Russia and not about an F.B.I. director who just yesterday forced his bureau to correct sworn testimony …” she said before being interrupted by the host Chris Cuomo. Democrats exerted as much pressure as they could on their Republican colleagues on Wednesday, using procedural moves available to the minority to block or delay hearings on Russia, cybersecurity, presidential nominees and several other matters.
Mr. Comey testified mistakenly before a Senate committee on May 3 that Huma Abedin, a top adviser to Mrs. Clinton, had “forwarded hundreds of thousands” of emails to her husband’s laptop. The F.B.I. clarified on Tuesday that the emails included those that were backed up manually, not just ones that were forwarded. Mr. Cuomo expressed skepticism that Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey out of concern for Ms. Abedin. When Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, asked for unanimous consent to permit a scheduled meeting of the Special Committee on Aging, Mr. Schumer objected. Ms. Collins, clearly angry, said: “This makes no sense whatsoever. This is an example of the dysfunction of the Senate.”
“This is a president who saw that the F.B.I. director had lost the public confidence of Republicans and Democrats,” Ms. Conway said. For months, Republican lawmakers have been left to defend, sometimes haltingly, presidential behavior they often strain to understand or support. But even some of Mr. Trump’s most vocal defenders questioned the timing of the firing.
Mr. Trump promised to appoint a credible successor to Mr. Comey, but he gave no indication of when he would do so or who it would be. Any nominee will require confirmation by the Senate. “It surely would have been simpler and cleaner to do so in January,” said Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who defended Mr. Comey’s removal nonetheless.
“James Comey will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and prestige of the FBI,” Mr. Trump wrote on Wednesday morning. White House officials said that Mr. Trump had been considering firing Mr. Comey since the day he was elected president.
“President Trump wants an F.B.I. director who is impartial, who’s not politicized and who has the confidence and trust” of the agency staff and Republicans and Democrats, Ms. Conway said. But though Mr. Trump had lost confidence in Mr. Comey, the Justice Department’s recommendation to fire him was not ordered by the president, a White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said.
Ms. Sanders said that Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, had acted on his own when he recommended to Mr. Trump during a meeting on Monday that Mr. Comey be dismissed. At that meeting, the president directed Mr. Rosenstein to put the recommendation into writing, Ms. Sanders said.
After meeting with the Russian officials, Mr. Trump said he had fired Mr. Comey because “he wasn’t doing a good job.”
“Very simply — he was not doing a good job,” he said.
Asked whether the furor over the firing had affected his meeting with Mr. Lavrov, Mr. Trump said, “Not at all.”