WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House’s explanation of President Donald Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey has been a moving target.
Since the explosive decision was announced Tuesday, the president’s advisers have struggled to come up with a consistent timeline and rationale. They said Trump was prompted by a scathing memo written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, only to acknowledge Trump had been planning to fire Comey regardless of the recommendation. They’ve distanced the decision from the FBI probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 campaign, only to later suggest Comey’s firing would aid the investigation.
“I think we were absolutely given the information that we could have at that time,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders of the evolving statements. “It was a quick-moving process. We took the information we had as best we have it and got it out to the American people as quickly as we could.”
“Our story is consistent,” she said.
Here’s a look at some of the contradictions uttered over the last several days: