President Trump is stirring things up with his comments about James Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who was dismissed in May 2017, shortly after Trump took office.
In an interview with Mark Levin, host of “Life, Liberty and Levin” on Fox News, Trump shared his thoughts about the situation surrounding the controversial decision to dismiss Comey from his position as director.
“If I didn’t fire Comey, they were looking to take down the President of the United States,” Trump said. “I don’t think I could’ve survived if I didn’t fire him.”
Comey, who drew criticism for his seemingly dismal handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s leaked emails, and later, the now-debunked Russian interference theories from the 2016 presidential election, was fired by Trump in the thick of the Russia investigation.
“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump said in a tweet in May 2017, shortly after the decision to dismiss Comey was announced. According to a 2017 report from Breitbart, the communications staff overseeing announcing Comey’s dismissal to the public had only an hour’s notice beforehand due to the number of staffers and aides within the White House who were leaking information to the press without President Trump’s approval, so the decision was reportedly kept secret until the last possible moment.
Additionally, President Trump’s dismissal of James Comey as FBI director gave way to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, who stepped in to finish the investigation of Russian “collusion” that Comey started.
However, claims of Russian collusion between President Trump and supposed Russian entities have been largely debunked, especially in light of the now-discredited Steele dossier, Igor Danchenko, who was recently charged with falsifying information and details relating to Trump and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
President Trump also slammed Comey in 2018, when Comey announced the publication of his new book, “Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies And Leadership.” Trump called Comey “slippery” and a “proven LEAKER & LIAR” on Twitter, referring to his frustration at allegations that Comey was also leaking information from the White House preceding his dismissal, according to a report from ABC News.
There is certainly no love lost between President Trump and James Comey, but Trump has made it clear that he believes that if Comey had not been dismissed as FBI director, his political opponents within Washington and the FBI may have attempted to remove him from office.