Donald Trump Says He Would Not Have Survived If James Comey Kept FBI Job
Donald Trump has suggested that he wouldn't have been president for four years if he didn't fire former FBI Director James Comey amid Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
Speaking on Fox News' Life, Liberty & Levin to promote his new book, Our Journey Together, Trump suggested that he may not have survived his presidency if Comey was not relieved of his position in May 2017.
Trump also used the interview to describe the Muller investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 election as a "hoax" while condemning Hillary Clinton and late Republican Senator John McCain for helping to push the allegations.
"Don't forget, I fired Comey. Had I not fired Comey, you might not be talking to me right now about a beautiful book of four years at the White House," Trump told Mark Levin.
"And we'll see about the future. The future is going to be very interesting," Trump said. "But I fired Comey, that whole group. And now that group is coming back again. I mean, it's not believable. It shouldn't be allowed to happen."
Later on in the interview, Trump added: "If I didn't fire Comey, they were looking to take down the President of the United States.
"Some people said, 'you made a mistake when you fired Comey' and now those same people say it was one of the most incredible, instinctual moves that they've ever seen.
"I don't think I could've survived if I didn't fire him," Trump added.
At the time, Trump said Comey was fired so the FBI can be led by someone to restore "public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission."
In February 2017, Trump reportedly asked Comey to back away from investigating his national security adviser Michael Flynn over his alleged ties to Russia. Flynn later admitted to twice lying to the FBI about conversations he had with the then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.
The Muller investigation ruled that there was no substantial evidence that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Mueller did find several examples of obstruction of justice from Trump in an alleged attempt to stop the Mueller investigation, including the firing of Comey.
The report stated that firing Comey as head of the FBI would qualify as an obstructive act if it had the "natural and probable effect of interfering with or impeding" the investigation.
However, the report added that removing Comey "would not necessarily ... prevent or impede the FBI from continuing its investigation" and that "substantial evidence" suggests that Trump fired Comey because of his "unwillingness" to publicly state the then-president was not personally under investigation.
After the report was made public, former Attorney General Bill Barr concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation was "not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense."
Elsewhere in the interview, Trump reiterates that he had no indication regarding any apparent attempt from Russia to influence the 2016 election.
"I always knew it was a hoax," Trump said.
"During the campaign, people would come up to me, different people, young people, all people, people that were working on my campaign [saying] 'So what do you know about Russia?' I said nothing. 'What do you know about Russia?' Nothing. Two months later, 'what do you know? So do you know anything about Russia?'
"After about five times, I'd say what the hell is going on with Russia?"
