The position is now held by Andrew McCabe, top deputy to ex-FBI Director James Comey, whom President Donald Trump fired on Tuesday evening.
President Donald Trump said today he was thinking about the Russian Federation investigation when he made the decision to fire FBI director James Comey, despite the official administration line that Comey's removal had nothing to do with it.
The New York Times reports that after Trump had made the widely discredited allegation that President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower before Trump's inauguration, an astonished Comey told associates that Trump's behavior was "outside the realm of normal" and "crazy". It hasn't recovered from that. Ryan said President Donald Trump listened to the concerns and criticisms voiced by "lots of different people" in making his decision to fire Comey.
TRUMP: I - I was going to fire Comey.
Trump told NBC News it was his decision alone to sack Comey, who was leading an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the USA election and possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Moscow. "Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey, knowing there was no good time to do it." he said. Nearly everyone believes that Mr. Comey's handling of those emails was what got Mr. Trump elected.
McCabe told senators it is not standard FBI practice to tell people if they are under investigation.
Trump's sudden firing of Comey shocked Washington and plunged Trump deeper into a controversy over his campaign's alleged ties with Russian Federation that has dogged the early days of his presidency. "I actually asked him, yes".
Republican Senators Are Questioning Trump's Firing of James Comey
In his NBC interview , Trump said that had Russian Federation interfered in the 2016 election, it would have been "horrible". Days before he was sacked , Comey requested more resources to pursue his investigation, US officials have said.
Mr Comey is only the second FBI director in the agency's 109-year history to be fired by a sitting president, following Bill Clinton's decision to dismiss FBI chief William Sessions in 1993 over the misuse of FBI funds.
"I look forward to receiving the IG's findings", Chaffetz said.
"That is not accurate", McCabe told senators.
In a memo, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein found fault in the way Comey handled the conclusion of the investigation of Hillary Clinton's e-mails.
Mr Comey, he added, "enjoyed broad support within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and still does to this day". "You know that, I know that". "He said, 'You are not under investigation'".
Mr. Trump's closed-door Oval Office meeting with Lavrov hours after firing Comey added to the shockwaves already reverberating in Washington, D.C. The White House compounded that shock by denying US press access to the area surrounding the president's meeting with the Russian official, forcing American media to use images from Kremlin media. Personally. I'm not talking about campaigns.
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