Yahoo News Donald Trump described James Comey as a 'nut job' to reassure the Russians, his team say
President Donald Trump told the Russians that the former FBI director was a “nut job” as a way of reassuring them that the consternation about Moscow’s influence would die down, a senior White House official said on Sunday.
H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, said that Mr Trump’s May 10 comments to Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, and Sergey Kislyak, the ambassador, were intended as a sweetener.
"The gist of the conversation was that the president feels as if he is hamstrung in his ability to work with Russia to find areas of cooperation because this has been obviously so much in the news," said Mr McMaster.
The "nut job" conversation, reported on Friday night, set off yet another firestorm in Washington. The US president reportedly said: “I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” His comments increased fears that Mr Trump obstructed justice, firing James Comey in a bid to scotch the Russia investigation.
Timeline Donald Trump and James Comey
And, with Mr Trump out of the country for the first time as president, his team was attempting to calm the fires.
"The really purpose of the conversation was to confront Russia on areas like Ukraine and Syria, their support for Assad and their support for the Iranians," said Mr McMaster.
"We're trying to find areas of cooperation in the area of counterterrorism and the campaign against ISIS.
"And so that was the intent of that conversation was to say what I'd like to do is move beyond all of the Russia news so that we can find areas of cooperation."
Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, also set out to try and justify the president’s behaviour, echoing Mr McMaster’s explanation that the comments were intended to reassure Russia.
“I think the point he was making is, ‘I’m not going to be distracted by those things here at home or let them get in the way of important work of engaging Russia to see what can be done to improve this relationship,’” he said.
But politicians on all sides were keeping up the pressure on the White House.
John McCain, the elder statesman of Republican politics, said Mr Trump’s comments about Mr Comey left him “speechless,” and attacked the president for inviting Mr Lavrov in to the White House in the first place.
The senator said the Russian foreign minister is “nothing but a propagandist” and a henchman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Mr Lavrov is the stooge of a thug and a murderer, who used Russian precision weapons to strike hospitals in Aleppo, who has committed human rights issues all over the place.”
Dianne Feinstein, the most senior Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, also criticised Mr Trump’s words.
“Former Director Comey is no way, shape, or form a 'nut job,'” she said. “The fact is he has been terminated but the reason for the termination has really not been ferreted out.”
Mr Comey will testify in June before a senate committee in an open hearing, it was announced last week.
Marco Rubio, who sits on the senate intelligence committee, said he would ask Mr Comey about the memos which last week were leaked to the press, and which claimed Mr Trump asked Mr Comey to abandon his investigation.
"Did he keep these memos? What do those memos say? And why did he write it? And how did he feel? Did he ever feel like he was being put in a position where he couldn't do his job?"
It was also announced last week that Robert Mueller, Mr Comey’s predecessor as head of the FBI, will take over the Russia investigation as a special counsel.
His former deputy, Tim Murphy, praised the appointment , saying: “Batman is back to save America.”
"This is a great thing for America," he said, speaking on a New York radio show.
"I know we're in New York and a line in New York would be 'Batman is back to save Gotham.'
“But I think in this case Batman is back to save America.”
