Watch Highlights: Sarah Sanders Defends President Trump's Firing Of James Comey

WASHINGTON, DC — Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders defended President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, arguing that the Democrats who have criticized the decision only recently called for Comey to step down. But as an investigation continues into Trump's potential ties to Russia, questions continue to hang over the White House about the appropriateness of the termination.

Sanders filled in for Press Secretary Sean Spicer while he attends to his Navy Reserve duty. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Ahead of the briefing, Vice President Pence said the president "made the right decision at the right time" about Comey. He insisted the firing had nothing to do with the Russia probe. He also said Trump himself is not under investigation by the FBI; though Comey has confirmed that the Trump campaign itself was under investigation, the former director had refused to confirm which individuals were and were not the subjects of the investigation.

Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and former secretary of State Henry Kissinger Wednesday. Both meetings came as a surprise to reporters when they were announced. Asked at the meeting about why he fired Comey, Trump said, "He was not doing a good job."

Pool reporter Jennifer Epstein noted that the briefing room was particularly crowded Wednesday:

Asked whether Trump directed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to write a memo providing a justification for firing Comey, Sanders said that Trump has been questioning Comey's competence for months but waited for Rosenstein's advice before making the final decision. She noted that Rosenstein and Sanders had a conversation with the president on Monday about Comey's termination, and Trump asked Rosenstein to submit his recommendations in writing.

Trump has previously said that he had "full confidence" in the president.

She also noted that Democrats have frequently criticized Comey. It's "startling" that Democrats aren't "celebrating" Comey's firing, Sanders said.

Trump was surprised by the blowback he received for his decisions to fire Comey, Sanders said. How could he have predicted that lawmakers would be shaken by the news, she asked, given their previous comments criticizing the FBI director?

"Any investigation that was happening Monday is happening today," she said, when asked about the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign. She repeated the claim that, as Trump said in his termination letter to Comey, that the former FBI director assured the president that he is not the subject of the FBI investigation.

However, she also said that the Russia investigation was "one of the smallest things" going on in the FBI.

She said Trump wanted to give Comey a chance, which is why the president didn't fire him in January.

Asked about Trump's praise for Comey's actions regarding the Hillary Clinton email investigation during the campaign, Sanders said those claims were made when he was the role of the candidate. Things look different, Sanders said, when you're leading the government.

Sanders also repeatedly said that the employees in the FBI had lost faith in Comey, which was part of the reason he had to be fired. But other reports suggest that many in the FBI strongly supported Comey and were disheartened with his dismissal.

Watch a full replay of the proceedings below.

Like the White House Patch Facebook Page.

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up to comment on the site

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik