President Trump said Thursday his decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey a year ago was not related to the then-weeks-old federal investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russia during the 2016 U.S. election.
“Not that it matters but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!” Trump tweeted Thursday morning.
Not that it matters but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2018
Trump and his administration have rejected claims from Democrats that Comey was fired to protect Trump from the Russia investigation. Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said in May that reports saying Trump terminated Comey because he refused to pledge loyalty to the new administration were lies cooked up by reporters.
[Alan Dershowitz: Comey firing was legal even if Trump was trying to end the Russia investigation]
The president added that his campaign was being spied on by former President Barack Obama’s FBI, but said the press seems uninterested in those allegations.
“The corrupt Mainstream Media is working overtime not to mention the infiltration of people, Spies (Informants), into my campaign! Surveillance much?” Trump wrote.
The corrupt Mainstream Media is working overtime not to mention the infiltration of people, Spies (Informants), into my campaign! Surveillance much?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2018
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden on Sunday said Trump has been spreading misinformation about alleged attacks on his campaign and administration in an effort to solicit empathy from the public amid special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia collusion investigation.
“He is simply trying to delegitimatize the Mueller investigation, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and he is willing to throw almost anything against the wall,” Hayden said on ABC.
[Also read: Trump cheers as Russia focus shifts to ‘major spy scandal’]
Recent reports have revealed that the FBI was in touch with an informant who knew members of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. In response, Trump has raised the alarm about a potential nefarious plot by the feds to plant a spy in his team for political purposes.
Hayden, who served during Bill Clinton and George W. Bush’s presidencies, said it would have been normal for intelligence agencies to carry out operations in the campaign if it was concerned about the actions of specific individuals employed by Trump.
The informant, identified by media reports as Stefan Halper, made contact with campaign advisers Carter Page, Sam Clovis, and George Papadopoulos, all three of whom had ties to Russia. Russian interference in the election and possible collusion is the subject of investigation by Mueller.
