President Donald Trump recalled on Saturday the day he fired former FBI Director James Comey after news broke in the New York Times that the FBI reacted that day by opening an investigation of the president.
Trump said on Twitter that “Lyin'” James Comey was a “total sleaze” and a “crooked cop” who lead the FBI into “complete turmoil.”
“Everybody wanted him fired, Republican and Democrat alike,” Trump wrote.
The Times reported that senior FBI officials opened the investigation to see if the president was actually working for Russia against American interests. The unverified dossier, drafted by former British spy Christopher Steele, was part of the Bureau’s decision to start the investigation.
But Trump celebrated the decision that alarmed senior FBI officials.
“My firing of James Comey was a great day for America,” he wrote.
Trump said the former FBI director failed to properly investigate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for government business.
The president added that Comey was being “protected” by special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigative team, calling them “leaking machines who have NO interest in going after the Real Collusion (and much more) by Crooked Hillary Clinton, her Campaign, and the Democratic National Committee.”
The Mueller investigation was launched in May 2017 after the president fired Comey in dramatic fashion. The investigation has cost taxpayers more than $25 million as it continues in its second year: