White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders denied the firing of James Comey from the FBI had anything to do with the agency’s investigation into President Trump’s campaign.
Sanders said on MSNBC that Trump’s decision to fire Comey was “absolutely not” based on Comey’s public acknowledgment of the investigation into possible connections between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
“Partly because that’s not based on the recommendation [from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein],” Sanders said, referring to a report prepared by Rosenstein that cited Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server as the main reason he should be dismissed.
“But, the other part is there’s nothing to that. There’s no evidence of any collusion and that’s the biggest point and the biggest takeaway from that.”
Was Comey's firing about the Russia investigation? @SarahHuckabee tells @WillieGeist: "Absolutely not" #morningjoe https://t.co/9WEpb06Ft7— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) May 10, 2017
When pressed, Sanders emphasized that Trump was following Rosenstein’s recommendation. As deputy attorney general, Rosenstein has direct authority over the director of the FBI.
“It’s very simple,” she said. “He has a person that the FBI director reports to to give him a very strong, very compelling recommendation that Comey needs to go and he made the decision to follow the recommendation of that person and fire James Comey.”
