President Trump's Story On James Comey Unravels; Acting FBI Director Contradicts White House Line

WASHINGTON, DC — Contradicting the White House line that the FBI investigation into Russian hacking and potential collusion with the Trump campaign is "one of the smallest things" the FBI is handling, the bureau's acting director, Andrew McCabe, said Thursday that the probe is a "highly significant investigation."

Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee two days after his boss was fired, acting director Andrew McCabe also said the White House contention that fired bureau Director James Comey had lost the faith of rank-and-file agents was wrong.

And, perhaps most significantly, McCabe contradicted President Trump's characterization of the Russia investigation as a "hoax" and a "taxpayer funded charade." The new head of the FBI, at least for now, promised that the investigation would continue unimpeded by Comey's firing.

McCabe wasn't the only one contradicting various White House accounts surrounding Comey's firing.

By Thursday's end, President Trump had contradicted his own communications team and his vice president, Comey supporters had contradicted the president, and Trump had contradicted his own letter firing Comey.

The White House had said Tuesday evening that Trump acted on the recommendations of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, who cited Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email. Trump said in his letter firing Comey that he had “accepted their recommendation.” Vice President Mike Pence backed up that version.

Rosenstein wanted none of the blame, according to an account from The New York Times, and insisted the next morning that the White House walk back his influence in the decision to fire Comey. So, the White House revised its timeline a few hours later, telling reporters that Trump had been “strongly inclined to remove” Comey for weeks, but made his final decision based on the recommendations.

By Thursday, that story, too, was deemed no longer operable.

In an interview with NBC's Lester Holt, Trump himself reversed the new narrative offered by his aides.

The president had decided to fire Comey well before he received the advice from the Justice Department officials, he told Holt. “I was going to fire Comey — my decision,” Trump said. “I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.”

Senior intelligence officials were supposed to testify Thursday morning about "global threats." Before being fired by President Trump on Tuesday, Comey had been scheduled to brief Congress along with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director Robert Cardillo and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Vincent Steward.

McCabe testified in Comey's place. As expected, lawmakers raised questions about his former boss's dismissal and the ongoing investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian hackers who tried to influence the 2016 election. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

In the NBC interview, Hold asked Trump about his claim that Comey had assured him three times that he was not under investigation, and Trump explained that the director had told him once over dinner and then during two separate phone calls. Associates of Comey told the Times that Trump's account was highly unlikely, that it would have been inappropriate for the president to ask and even more so for Comey to answer.

Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican asked the acting director: "Did you ever hear Director Comey tell the President he was not the subject of an investigation?"

McCabe replied that he could not describe any conversations between the president and Comey and would not comment on Trump’s claim that he was not under investigation.

When asked whether it would be wrong to tell the president he was not being investigated, McCabe said, “We typically do not answer that question.”

Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, asked if McCabe would commit to telling the Senate Intelligence Committee if he should feel under pressure to drop the investigation into Trump-Russia ties. McCabe said he would.

When asked if it was true that the FBI rank and file no longer held Comey in high regard, a claim the White House made to justify his firing, McCabe had a different view.

"Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI, and still does today," he said.

Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, asked if Comey's firing had in anyway affected the Russian investigation. McCabe denied that it had impeded the investigation.

"You cannot stop the men and women of the FBI from doing the right thing," he said. He also said he was not aware, as has been reported, that Comey had requested additional funds for the Russia investigation before his dismissal.

Watch a live stream of the proceedings below.

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