Trump Defends Firing of ‘Showboat’ Comey, FBI in ‘Virtual Turmoil’

President Donald Trump reaffirmed he alone made the call to oust FBI Director James Comey and again smacked down questions about whether he has ties to Russia, during an interview released Thursday with Lester Holt of NBC News.

Holt did not ask a single question about policy, but the rest of the interview will air on Friday.

“I do not have property in Russia. I am not involved with Russia. This was an excuse for having lost an election.”

Trump also defended the character of the first senior official his administration fired: Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser.

Holt asked why it took so long for Trump to dismiss Flynn. Trump learned in late January that Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence about a phone conversation with the Russian ambassador during the transition. Flynn told Pence that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador, but he had.

Then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates, using intelligence gleaned from spying on the Russian ambassador, alerted White House counsel Don McGahn and warned Flynn could be blackmailed by the Russians if he stayed in his current role. Trump waited almost three weeks and finally let Flynn go on February 15.

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“McGahn came back to me, and it did not sound like an emergency,” Trump said. “And [Yates] actually did not make it sound that way, either, in the [May 8 congressional] hearings.”

Ultimately, “we fired him because he said something to the vice president that was not so,” Trump said.

Holt asked if Trump knew at the time that Flynn had received payments from the Russian and Turkish governments.

“No, but [President] Obama perhaps knew,” said Trump. “He had clearance from the Obama administration, the highest clearance you can have. And I think it’s very unfair that the media doesn’t talk about that.”

Holt asked about Trump’s connections to Russian investors. Trump said he just sent a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) confirming he has no financial ties to Russia.

“I do not have property in Russia … I am not involved with Russia,” said Trump.

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Trump said Democrats have manufactured the issue of possible collusion between his campaign and Russian-backed hackers and play up the impact of the hacks for political gain.

“This was an excuse for having lost an election,” Trump said of the theories that Russian leaks of damaging emails sunk the campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump said he decided to fire Comey because he perceived the director to be a “showboat.” Comey has angered people in both parties with his impact during the campaign, and seemed that he enjoyed the spotlight.

“He’s a showboat, he’s a grandstander, the FBI has been in turmoil,” Trump said. “You know that, I know that. Everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil, less than a year ago. It hasn’t recovered from that.”

Holt pressed Trump on the initial claim that Rod Rosenstein, the new deputy attorney general in charge of the FBI, was the impetus of the Comey termination. Rosenstein, a strong and respected attorney, wrote a memo detailing problems with how Comey conducted himself during the investigation into Clinton’s email scandal.

In the hours that followed Comey’s termination on Tuesday night, some White House officials suggested the memo, requested on Monday and produced on Tuesday, was what led Trump to fire Comey. Then a report followed in The Washington Post that Rosenstein was so angry at being tagged as the instigator that he threatened to resign only two weeks after being confirmed by the Senate. (Rosenstein denied the report on Thursday.)

“I was going to fire regardless of recommendation,” Trump told Holt. “[Rosenstein] made a recommendation. He’s highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy, the Democrats like him, the Republicans like him. He made a recommendation. But regardless of the recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.”

Holt asked what Trump wanted in a replacement for Comey. Trump said he wanted a leader who had bipartisan support, could command the admiration of the FBI, and who would lead the agency fairly.

“I just want somebody who is competent,” said Trump.

Trump also noted the next FBI director should complete the investigation into Russian hacking and the possible involvement of Trump associates.

“As far as I’m concerned, I want that thing to be absolutely done properly,” Trump said, “I have to do the right thing for the American people.”

Yet Trump stressed he thinks the FBI investigation into Russian hacking should be over by now. It’s no secret Trump is frustrated that the issue is being used to undermine his presidency.

“It should have been over a long time ago,” said Trump. “Because all it is, is an excuse.”

The interview ended on a personal note, with Holt asking about Trump’s remarks in the Rose Garden on May 4, celebrating the Republican-led House of Representatives’ passage of a partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Trump said he asked the Republican lawmakers present if they could believe he was the president.

“I said, ‘Sorry, folks, can you believe — it’s me,'” said Trump, joking a bit. “And the truth is that anybody that becomes president of the United States has to every once in a while say, ‘That’s really amazing.'”