Trump and the White House Can't Get Their Comey Stories Straight

NewsPolitics

Enough with the Nixon references!

Here’s all the shit we couldn’t cover today:

  • Everything the White House has said about the President’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey has been wrong. In an interview with NBC, Donald Trump said that he decided to fire Comey before his meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “I was going to fire Comey,” Trump told NBC. “Regardless of the recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.” Trump’s timeline contradicts the one offered by the Justice Department, the Vice President, and White House aides in the last few days. In addition to contradicting the official White House timeline, Trump also called Comey a “showboat” and a “grandstander.” Trump confirmed that asked Comey on three separate occasions whether or not he was under investigation. In other news, I keep misspelling “Comey” as “Comedy” because while irony is mortally wounded, it’s not quite dead. [Roll Call/NBC]
  • Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Comey had “enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day.” His testimony contradicted the White House’s claims that the “rank and file” FBI no longer trusted Comey. McCabe added that the “vast majority of employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey,” and that it was “not accurate” to claim otherwise. [The Hill]
  • McCabe also promised to inform the Senate Intelligence Committee if the White House attempts to interfere with the FBI’s Russian investigation. He added that “to date” there had “been no effort to impede our investigation.” [Washington Post]
  • Former New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte is reportedly on Trump’s list to replace Comey. [Politico]
  • Sarah Huckabee Sanders is back for round two and Sean Spicer is probably very happy to be away. [Talking Points Memo]
  • Here’s a talking point: “We want this to come to its conclusion, we want it to come to its conclusion with integrity,” Sanders said about the FBI investigation into the Russian hack during the election. “And we think that we’ve actually, by removing Director Comey, taken steps to make that happen.” [CNN]
  • Representative Tom MacArthur, a New Jersey Republican who played a major role in the revitalization of the House’s health care bill, had a very difficult town hall. [The Guardian]
  • Woe the reporter that had to write this story about Trump’s claims that he coined the phrase “priming the pump.” [New York Times]
  • Here’s a rabbit owned by Mike and Karen Pence. [Instagram]

Here are some tweets the president was allowed to publish:

This has been Barf Bag.

 
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