President Donald Trump regrets letting FBI director James Comey remain in his position, admitting in an interview he should have fired him sooner.
“If I did one mistake with Comey I should have fired him before I got here,” Trump said, suggesting it was one of his only mistakes as president.
The president discussed his decision to fire Comey an interview with the Hill.TV’s John Solomon and Buck Sexton.
“Funny thing about Comey is that everybody hated Comey,” Trump said. “The Democrats hated him far more than the Republicans until I announced that I was going to fire him.”
The president said he was surprised that his decision was not received with bipartisan support.
“I actually thought that firing James Comey, they hated him more than anybody,” he said. “And so did the Republicans, because the Republicans viewed him as letting [Clinton] get away with murder.”
Trump theorized that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rallied Democrats behind the scenes to support Comey.
“The hatred for Comey was probably as great or greater than almost anybody by the Democrats, and now they act like he’s a saint,” he said.