U.S. Department of Justice
Attorney Work Product // May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e)
the President.[1] Dhillon made a final pitch to the President that Comey should be permitted to resign, but the President refused.[2]
Around the time the President's letter was finalized, Priebus summoned Spicer and the press team to the Oval Office, where they were told that Comey had been terminated for the reasons stated in the letters by Rosenstein and Sessions.[3] To announce Comey's termination, the White House released a statement, which Pricbus thought had been dictated by the President.[4] In full, the statement read: "Today, President Donald J. Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office. President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions."[5]
That evening, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was summoned to meet with the President at the White House.[6] The President told McCabe that he had fired Comey because of the decisions Comey had made in the Clinton email investigation and for many other reasons.[7] The President asked McCabe if he was aware that Comey had told the President three times that he was not under investigation.[8] The President also asked McCabe whether many people in the FBI disliked Comey and whether McCabe was part of the "resistance" that had disagreed with Comey's decisions in the Clinton investigation.[9] McCabe told the President that he knew Comey had told the President he was not under investigation, that most people in the FBI felt positively about Comey, and that McCabe worked "very closely" with Comey and was part of all the decisions that had been made in the Clinton investigation.[10]
- ↑ Dhillon 11/21/17 302, at 10; Eisenberg 11/29/17 302, at 15 (providing the view that the President's desire to include the language about not being under investigation was the "driving animus of the whole thing"); Burnham 11/3/17 302, at 16 (Burnham knew the only line the President cared about was the line that said Comey advised the President on three separate occasions that the President was not under investigation). According to Hunt's notes, the reference to Comey's statement would indicate that "notwithstanding" Comey's having informed the President that he was not under investigation, the President was terminating Comey. Hunt-000032 (Hunt 5/9/17 Notes). McGahn said he believed the President wanted the language included so that people would not think that the President had terminated Comey because the President was under investigation. McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 15.
- ↑ McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 15: Donaldson 11/6/17 302, at 25; see SC_AD_00342 (Donaldson 5/9/17 Notes) ("Resign vs. Removal. —- POTUS/removal.").
- ↑ Spicer 10/16/17 302, at 9; McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 16.
- ↑ Priebus 10/13/17 302, at 28.
- ↑ Statement of the Press Secretary, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary (May 9, 2017).
- ↑ McCabe 9/26/17 302, at 4; SCRO25_000044 (President's Daily Diary, 5/9/17); McCabe 5/10/17 Memorandum, at 1.
- ↑ McCabe 9/26/17 302, at 5; McCabe 5/10/17 Memorandum, at 1.
- ↑ McCabe 9/26/17 302, at 5; McCabe 5/10/17 Memorandum, at 1-2.
- ↑ McCabe 9/26/17 302, at 5; McCabe 5/10/17 Memorandum, at 1-2.
- ↑ McCabe 9/26/17 302, at 5; McCabe 5/10/17 Memorandum, at 1-2,
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