National security adviser H.R. McMaster on Sunday said President Trump brought up the firing of former FBI Director James Comey during his recent meeting with Russian officials to explain how he has become “hamstrung” by the media storm surrounding the agency’s investigation into Russia and his campaign.
“I didn’t know in advance that the president was gonna raise it, but as I mentioned he raised it in the context of explaining that that he has been — he feels as if he’s been unable to find areas of cooperation with Russia, even as he confronts them in key areas where they’re being disruptive, like Syria for example,” McMaster told ABC “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos.
Trump reportedly told the Russian foreign minister and ambassador that Comey was a “real nut job,” adding he now feels less pressure from the agency’s investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Moscow.
McMaster said the context of the shot at Comey is critical, but refused to share other details of the discussion despite there having been multiple separate leaks that have prompted questions about it.
“The initial leak that came out was a leak about concerns about revealing intelligence sources and methods. Information that’s not even part of the president’s briefing,” McMaster said. “And so in a — in a concern about divulging intelligence they leaked actually not just the information from the meeting, but also indicated the sources and methods to a to a newspaper.”
McMaster added that Comey’s “grandstanding,” as press secretary Sean Spicer has called it, did not hurt America’s ability to deal with Russia as much as Russia’s behavior has impacted foreign relations.
