Trump administration insiders said Wednesday that ousted FBI Director James Comey’s testimony about feeling “mildly nauseous” that he may have influenced the outcome of the 2016 likely irked the president and played a role in the surprise firing Tuesday.
“Trump is notoriously thin-skinned,” said a Trump insider. “He probably took it the wrong way and probably thought it was directed at him,” added the source.
At issue is Comey comment to a Senate panel last week the he felt ill that telling Congress about new Hillary Rodham Clinton emails found on her private server could have moved the election.
“This was terrible. It makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election,” Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“He watches this stuff very closely and he takes it very seriously and he probably thought Comey was ‘mildly nauseous’ about his election,” added the White House advisor.
The criticism of Trump’s move by some close to his White House also targeted how the firing was rolled out. One insider expressed surprise that Trump’s team didn’t first float the firing to gauge reaction.
And then when it was announced, added the insider, the White House should have followed the practice of previous administrations and immediately had a replacement to announce to push the story past Comey’s firing.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
