Donald Trump told Russian diplomats last week his firing of
Donald Trump told Russian diplomats last week his firing of “nut job” James Comey had eased the pressure on him, while the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation has moved into the White House, according to reports that pursued the president as he began his maiden foreign trip.
White House hopes that Mr Trump could leave scandalous allegations at home were crushed in a one-two punch of revelations that landed shortly after his departure.
A Washington Post report, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, said a senior Trump adviser is now considered a “person of interest” in the law enforcement investigation into whether Mr Trump’s campaign associates coordinated with Russia in an effort to sway the 2016 election.
And The New York Times reported that the president had told Russian officials he felt the dismissal of his FBI director had relieved “great pressure” on him. The White House has said the firing was unrelated to the FBI’s Russia investigation.
Late on Friday, the Senate intelligence committee announced that Mr Comey had agreed to testify at an open hearing at an undetermined date after Memorial Day.
Mr Comey will certainly be asked about encounters that precipitated his firing, including a January dinner in which, Mr Comey has told associates, Mr Trump asked for his loyalty. In the Oval Office weeks later, Mr Comey told associates, the president asked him to shut down an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Mr Comey is known to produce memos documenting especially sensitive or unsettling encounters, such as after the February meeting.
The new headlines were a fresh indication that Mr Trump would not be able to change the subject from what appears to be an intensifying investigation reaching toward the president and his inner circle.
The White House repeated its assertion that a “thorough investigation will confirm that there was no collusion between the campaign and any foreign entity”.
It did not deny the Times report that Mr Trump was critical of Mr Comey to the Russians the day after he fired him.
The Times reported Mr Trump noted the Russia investigation as he told Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak of his decision to fire Mr Comey.
“I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job, ” the Times reported that Mr Trump said during the May 10 meeting. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer called the president’s rhetoric part of his deal-making.
“By grandstanding and politicising the investigation into Russia’s actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia, ” Mr Spicer said.
“The investigation would have always continued, and obviously the termination of Comey would not have ended it. Once again, the real story is that our national security has been undermined by the leaking of private and highly classified conversations.”
AP
