President Donald Trump had grown angry over the Russia investigation and that the FBI director wouldn't support his claims that President Barack Obama had tapped his phones in Trump Tower. (photo: Getty Images)
10 May 17
'He would sometimes scream at television clips about the probe, one adviser said.'
resident
Donald Trump weighed firing his FBI director for more than a week. When
he finally pulled the trigger Tuesday afternoon, he didn't call James
Comey. He sent his longtime private security guard to deliver the
termination letter in a manila folder to FBI headquarters.
He had grown enraged by the Russia investigation, two
advisers said, frustrated by his inability to control the mushrooming
narrative around Russia. He repeatedly asked aides why the Russia
investigation wouldn’t disappear and demanded they speak out for him. He
would sometimes scream at television clips about the probe, one adviser
said.
Trump's firing of the high-profile FBI director on the
110th day since the president took office marked another sudden turn
for an administration that has fired its acting attorney general,
national security adviser and now its FBI director, whom Trump had
praised until recent weeks and had even blew a kiss to during a January
appearance.
The news stunned Comey, who saw news of his dismissal
on TV while speaking inside the FBI office in Los Angeles. It startled
all but the uppermost ring of White House advisers, who said grumbling
about Comey hadn't dominated their own morning senior staff meetings.
Other top officials learned just before it happened and were unaware
Trump was considering firing Comey. "Nobody really knew," one senior
White House official said. "Our phones all buzzed and people said,
'What?'"
By ousting the FBI director investigating his campaign
and associates, Trump may have added more fuel to the fire he is
furiously trying to contain — and he was quickly criticized by a chorus
of Republicans and Democrats. "The timing of this firing was very
troubling," said Sen. Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican.
Trump had grown angry with the Russia investigation —
particularly Comey admitting in front of the Senate that the FBI was
investigating his campaign — and that the FBI director wouldn't support
his claims that President Barack Obama had tapped his phones in Trump
Tower.
Bipartisan criticism of Comey had mounted since last
summer after the director delivered lengthy statement outlining why no
charges would be brought against former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton for her use of a private email server.
But the fallout seemed to take the White House by
surprise. Trump made a round of calls around 5 p.m., asking for support
from senators. White House officials believed it would be a "win-win"
because Republicans and Democrats alike have problems with the FBI
director, one person briefed on their deliberations said.
Instead, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told him
he was making a big mistake — and Trump seemed "taken aback," according
to a person familiar with the call.
By Tuesday evening, the president was watching the
coverage of his decision and frustrated no one was on TV defending him, a
White House official said. He wanted surrogates out there beating the
drum.
Instead, advisers were attacking one another for not
realizing the gravity of the situation as events blew up. "How are you
not defending your position for three solid hours on TV?" the White
House aide asked.
Two White House officials said there was little
communications strategy in handling the firing, and that staffers were
given talking points late Tuesday for hastily arranged media
appearances. Aides soon circulated previous quotes from Schumer hitting
Comey. After Schumer called for a special prosecutor, the White House
huddled in press secretary Sean Spicer's office to devise a strategy and
sent "fresh faces" to TV, one White House official said.
By Tuesday night, aides were using TV appearances to
spin the firing as a simple bureaucratic matter and call for an end to
the investigation. "It's time to move on," Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the
deputy press secretary, said on Fox News.
In his letter dismissing Comey, Trump said the FBI
director had given him three private assurances that he wasn't under
investigation. The White House declined to say when those conversations
happened — or why Comey would volunteer such information. It is not the
first time Trump has publicly commented on an ongoing investigation —
typically a no-no for presidents. He said earlier this month that Comey
had done Clinton a favor by letting her off easy.
Trump received letters from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy
attorney general, and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, calling for
Comey's dismissal, on Tuesday, a spokesman said. The president then
decided to fire the FBI director based on the recommendations and moved
quickly. The spokesman said Trump did not ask for the letters in
advance, and that White House officials had no idea they were coming.
But several other people familiar with the events said
Trump had talked about the firing for more than a week, and the letters
were written to give him rationale to fire Comey.
The decision marked a turnabout for Trump. On the
campaign trail, the candidate led chants of "Lock her up!" and praised
Comey’s “guts” in October for reopening the probe into her email server.
He joked openly with Comey at the White House two days after the
inauguration.
Trump, as one White House official noted, believed
Comey was too soft on Clinton — not too unfair, as Rosenstein’s letter
Tuesday indicated.
At FBI headquarters, one senior official said the
bureau was essentially in lockdown, not answering calls flooding in and
referring all questions to the Justice Department. "I got nothing for
you. Sorry," said the official. "We were caught totally off guard. But
we are not commenting in any kind of way, and referring calls to DOJ."
Comey had flown on an FBI plane to Los Angeles for a
"diversity and recruiting" event. Trump’s director of Oval Office
operations, longtime security aide Keith Schiller, hand-delivered the
dismissal letter to FBI headquarters.
By Tuesday evening, the shock that had spread
throughout the ranks of current and former FBI officials was mixed with a
growing sense of anger among the many Comey loyalists, and demands for
answers as to why the director had been fired — and why now.
“We just have no idea why this happened. No idea,”
said one recently retired top FBI official who worked closely with Comey
on many high-profile investigations. “No one knew this was coming.
Everyone is just shocked that this happened.”
There was no immediate front-runner for the job, one
White House official said. "If there's a list, I haven't seen it," said
one senior White House official.
While shock dominated much of the FBI and the White
House, the mood was more elated at Roger Stone's house in Florida.
Several Stone allies and friends said Stone, who has been frequently
mentioned in the investigation, encouraged the president to fire Comey
in conversations in recent weeks.
On Twitter, Stone signaled praise for the move by posting an image of Trump from The Apprentice saying, "You're fired."
Stone declined to comment Tuesday night but said he was enjoying a fine cigar.
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