It's been less than a week since Donald Trump fired James Comey from his job as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the White House is still scrambling to find a consensus for why the decision was made in the first place. After two days of lashing out on Twitter about the issue, Trump sat down to elaborate further during an interview on Fox News.
Trump on Fox News
James Comey has been one of the most controversial figures in Washington, D.C since the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Initially, Comey was viewed as one of top enemies to Democrats and liberals who blamed the former FBI director for Hillary Clinton losing the election after bringing up her private email server scandal just weeks before Election Day.
However, since the inauguration of Donald Trump, Comey has be a problem for Republicans as he's led the investigation into Russia's role in the election, including their reported link to the Trump campaign and administration. After the news broke that Comey was fired by Trump, Democrats were quick to fire back with criticism, accusing the president of dirty tactics for firing the person investigating him. Trump denied any wrongdoing in a series of tweets, but decided to go into further detail with a more calm tone during a May 14 interview on Fox News.
(Trump's comments on James Comey start at 00:45 seconds in the above video.)
Joining Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night was Donald Trump, and as expected, the issue regarding James Comey and his termination from the FBI was brought up.
"In spite of all the great things we can talk about, the Jim Comey story got, you know, in the middle of everything," Pirro said, before asking, "was this the wrong time to fire Jim Comey?"
"There's no right time. Let's say I did it on Jan 20, that would have been the big story as opposed to the inauguration." - @realDonaldTrump
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) May 14, 2017
"Well there's no right time," Donald Trump said.
"Lets say I did it on January 20, the opening, that would have been the big story as opposed to the inauguration," Trump continued. "I had the decision to make and I made the decision," he explained.
"All I want is for Comey to be honest and I hope he will be & I'm sure he will be @realDonaldTrump #JudgeJeanine
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) May 14, 2017
Trump on Dems
"I was a little bit surprised because all the Democrats hated Jim Comey, they didn't like him.
They wanted him fired or whatever," Donald Trump pointed out, before adding, "and all of a sudden they come out with these glowing reports." "The media is in a frenzy and given some of these Congress people thinking he should have been fired....doesn't it suggest to you that it isn't even about Comey?" Jeanine Pirro asked.
President @realDonaldTrump on Congressional Dems "What they want to do is obstruct and delay." #JudgeJeanine
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) May 14, 2017
"They're hypocrites," Donald Trump said of Democrats, while adding, "but it's beyond being a hypocrite. You have this tremendous level of hatred toward him, especially during that period of time with Hillary Clinton where he gave her a free ride." Not stopping there, the president continued his attack on the Democratic Party, claiming, "what they want to do is obstruct and delay." Following Trump's interview on Fox News, it was clear that the political divide between the left and right was as wide as ever.