President Trump was taken aback by the backlash from Democrats after he fired former FBI Director James Comey and the White House views their outrage as the “purest form of hypocrisy,” his spokesman said.
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday Trump thought Democrats would be on board with his decision since they had been calling for Comey’s head for months.
“How could he have, considering the fact that most of the people that are declaring war today were the very ones that were begging for Director Comey to be fired,” she said. “If Hillary Clinton had won, and thank God she didn’t, but if she had and she had been in the same position, she would have fired Comey immediately. And, if she had, the very Democrats who are being critical today would be dancing in the streets celebrating.”
“I think it’s just the purest form of hypocrisy,” she said.
Trump announced Comey’s firing Tuesday evening and was met with a tidal wave of backlash from both sides of the aisle. Initial reports indicated the White House was caught off-guard by the reaction and thought there would be praise from both sides of the aisle for the decision.
Instead, many compared Trump’s action to President Nixon’s decision to fire a special investigator looking into the Watergate scandal due to the fact that Comey’s FBI was investigating possible connections between Trump and the Russian government.
Sanders said it just shows that Washington is lined up against Trump.
“I’m surprised that it did create a divide since you had so many Republicans and Democrats repeatedly calling for Director Comey to be gone,” she said.
“Frankly, I don’t think it matters what this president says, you’re going to have Democrats come out and fight him every single step of the way,” she said. “I think that’s one of the things that’s wrong with Washington. I think that’s why we need to go back to some of these issues and drain the swamp a little bit further.”
