NBC broke into regularly scheduled programming Thursday to air a special report featuring part of Lester Holt’s interview with President Donald Trump, which was completed earlier that day at the White House.
In the clip, which was quickly posted to NBC News’ website, Trump indicated that he had been planning to fire former FBI director James Comey for a while and would have done so regardless of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s recommendation.
“I was going to fire Comey. My decision,” said Trump. “There’s no good time to do it. … I was going to fire regardless of recommendations. [Rosenstein] made a recommendation. He’s highly respected. Very good guy. Very smart guy. The Democrats like him. The Republicans like him. He made a recommendation. But regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.”
The president added of Comey, “He’s a showboat. He’s a grandstander. You know that. I know that. Everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, less than a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil. It hasn’t recovered from that.”
