CNN host Jake Tapper on Wednesday said he was told by a source close with former FBI Director James Comey there were two reasons why President Trump fired Comey on Tuesday.
The White House has said Trump fired Comey because Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressed their concerns in written memos about Comey and for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, according to CNN.
"He did have a conversation with the attorney general and deputy attorney general on Monday, where they had come to him to express their concerns," White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday. "The president asked that they put their concerns and recommendations in writing, which is the letter that you all had received."
MORE: Attorney General Jeff Sessions: "I have concluded that a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the FBI." https://t.co/Gsk9YFSPLx pic.twitter.com/PiZStiPGcM
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 9, 2017
.@SenFeinstein MORE: Deputy Atty. General Rod Rosenstein's letter recommending removing FBI Dir Comey https://t.co/Gsk9YFSPLx pic.twitter.com/pQkEPOptm7
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 9, 2017
Tapper's source, however, says there are two other reasons that explain why Trump fired Comey, CNN reported.
Comey never provided the president with any assurance of personal loyalty.
The fact that the FBI's investigation into possible Trump team collusion with Russia in the 2016 election was accelerating.
Tapper points out that he is more likely to believe the source than the official White House position because Trump's public statements do not line up with Rosenstein's concerns about Comey being unfair to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, according to CNN.
In addition to that fact, Rosenstein's memo was dated May 9, Tuesday–but White House officials tell CNN the president had been considering firing Comey since he took office, but most intensely for at least a week before Tuesday's fateful decision. Comey testified May 3 to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Clinton email investigation and the Russia election investigation[...]
Moreover, the letter the president wrote to Comey firing him includes zero references to the Clinton investigation and one big one about the Russia investigation.
The White House does not seem to like any questions about this.