FBI/JAMES COMEY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said he was planning to fire former FBI Director James Comey regardless of any advice from the Justice Department, because Mr. Comey was a ‘showboat’ who he claimed had lost the faith of his employees.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday [5-11-17], Mr. Trump offered his first full account of the events that led up to the firing of Mr. Comey on Tuesday as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In doing so, the president contradicted the initial White House accounts that he acted after top Justice Department officials recommended Mr. Comey’s ouster.
Mr. Trump also confirmed he had directly asked Mr. Comey whether he was personally a target of a federal investigation involving his campaign’s possible ties to Russian hackers.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Comey told him he wasn’t a target. Close associates of Mr. Comey said on Wednesday that he didn’t provide such assurances to Mr. Trump about an investigation in which the president has a personal stake.”
-Michael C. Bender, Del Quentin Wilber and Rebecca Ballhaus, “Donald Trump Planned Firing of James Comey Before Aide’s Letter,” The Wall Street Journal online, May 11, 2017 10:50pm