President Trump spoke out Wednesday about his controversial decision to remove FBI Director James Comey, telling reporters in the Oval Office that he had lost faith in Comey’s performance.
“Because he was not doing a good job,” Trump said in response to questions about why he abruptly fired Comey on Tuesday evening.
Democrats and even some Republicans have criticized the timing and vague explanation for Comey’s dismissal. But the Department of Justice pointed to Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as its primary reason for his termination.
Trump’s impromptu interaction with the media on Wednesday came shortly after a closed-door meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Trump said he and Lavrov had enjoyed a “very, very good meeting.”
The president noted both Russia and the U.S. agreed they want to stop “the killing, the horrible, horrible killing in Syria as soon as possible and everybody is working toward that end.”
But by the time reporters arrived in the Oval Office on Wednesday morning, the Russian officials had departed and the president was seated with Henry Kissinger. The former secretary of state, whom Trump described as “a friend of mine for a long time,” was not listed on Trump’s official schedule.
“We’re talking about Syria and I think that we’re going to do very well with respect to Syria, and things are happening that are really, really, really positive,” Trump said of his meeting with Kissinger.
Trump noted that he and Kissinger also discussed “Russia and various other matters.”
