White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said it’s “inappropriate” to question when President Trump hires or fires someone, and said his judgment should be trusted.
Conway gave that heated response to CNN when questioned about why Trump waited to fire former FBI Director James Comey Tuesday instead of in January when he assumed office, or why Trump waited 18 days to remove former national security adviser Mike Flynn after receiving a warning from Acting Attorney General Sally Yates about his connections with Russia.
“You want to question when he hires, when he fires. That’s inappropriate,” she said. “He’ll do it when he wants to.”
Conway said Trump made the decision after receiving the recommendation from Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tuesday. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the FBI, handed down that recommendation to Sessions.
Conway: “You want to question the timing of when [Trump] fires, when he hires… He’ll do it when he wants to.” https://t.co/5SliOOTse8— CNN (@CNN) May 10, 2017
Conway denied the firing had anything to do with the investigation into possible connections between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.
“The idea that you think this was about Russia and not about an FBI director who just forced his bureau to correct sworn testimony that Huma Abedin forwarded hundreds of thousands of emails,” Conway said, trailing off.
“President Trump wants an FBI director who is impartial, who is not politicized, who has the trust of the FBI and Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill,” she added. “There are any number of issues and evens that brought the president to this decision.”
Conway declined to comment on whether Rosenstein was ordered to do a report on Comey’s status at the FBI or if he took up the decision on his own.
