Sources claimed the sacked FBI director was “utterly dismayed” at the President’s tweets in March.
Trump explains why he fired FBI Chief Comey
James
Comey allegedly said Donald Trump was “crazy” and “outside the realm of
normal” when he accused Barack Obama of wiretapping his phones.
Sources claimed the sacked FBI director was “utterly dismayed” at the President’s tweets in March.
Mr
Comey publicly dismissed the billionaire’s bizarre allegations weeks
later. But it is claimed his cards were marked when he requested more
resources to investigate Mr Trump’s campaign team’s links to Russia.
The war of words escalated yesterday as Mr Trump’s explanation for the sacking began to unravel.
Aides had said Mr Comey was fired on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s advice.
However, more than 30 sources have claimed Mr Trump was demanding a reason to dismiss him.
Former FBI Director James Comey sends farewell letter to staff (Photo: James Comey via CNN)
(Photo: REUTERS) And it has emerged Mr Rosenstein threatened to resign after being made the fall guy.
Mr
Trump spoke out for the first time about the row yesterday. He claimed
Mr Comey had told him he was not the subject of the FBI probe into
Russian meddling in last year’s election.
But in a personal
attack on the axed bureau chief, he added: “He’s a showboat, he’s a
grandstander. The FBI has been in turmoil.”
James Comey confirms FBI is investigating Trump-Russia links
The blast came as acting FBI director Andrew McCabe rubbished
Mr Trump’s claim “the rest of the FBI” lost confidence in Mr Comey.
Mr McCabe said he “held broad support... and still does to this day".
Jeremy
Corbyn is revealing a new poster after voters got a sneak preview of
their policy documents. We'll all the latest as it happens
It's 28 days to the general election - and this is your ultimate rolling guide to the day's dramatic events.
This morning, the Mirror has revealed details of Labour's Manifesto - which includes plans to re-nationalise the railways, energy providers and Royal Mail.
Gordon Brown is making his first speech of the campaign, talking about the automotive industry.
Meanwhile, Corbyn is set to unveil the party's first poster of the 2017 campaign.
Theresa May is starting the morning by hosting a conference on Somalia, but she's likely to hit the trail later in the day.
Tim
Farron is going to Wales, Ukip are launching fishing policy and
Caroline Lucas is unveiling the Green Party's environment manifesto.
We'll have all the action as it happens, stay with us.
Jeremy Corbyn launches poster
Labour are launching their first new poster of the campaign today - and here it is.
Labour
will pledge to re-nationalise Britain’s energy industry, railways and
Royal Mail in its most left-wing election manifesto in a generation.
The
Mirror has obtained a leaked version of the party’s entire draft
manifesto, containing landmark promises of £6billion-a-year extra for
the NHS and £1.6billion-a-year for social care.
University tuition
fees will be abolished entirely, and town halls ordered to build
100,000 new council houses a year under a new Department for Housing.
Thousands of homes will be offered to rough sleepers, and private rent hikes capped at inflation.
Meanwhile
a new Ministry of Labour will oversee the biggest boost to workers’
rights in decades, while planned hikes to the pension age beyond 66 will
not go ahead.
Gordon Brown talks about his fears for manufacturing after Brexit
Gordon Brown (Photo: Getty)Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown is making his first speech of the 2017 election campaign - and you can read a preview of what he has to say right here.
Tomorrow
I visit two great, historic centres of British manufacturing which are
being forgotten and sidelined by the Conservatives’ hard-line position
on Brexit .
In Coventry I will meet some of the 8,000 workers who depend on our world-beating Jaguar Land Rover models.
Then
later, in Wirral I will meet Ellesmere Port workers whose future has
been thrown into question by the takeover of General Motors by Peugeot
Citroen despite their high levels of productivity.
The automotive
industry employs 52,000 in the West Midlands and 20,000 in the North
West. So, 46.5 per cent of vehicle manufacturing jobs are in these two
regions.
I fought while Prime Minister to save and expand Jaguar
and Vauxhall, I worked with Nissan, Honda and Ford and I am not going to
give up the fight for jobs now.
Theresa May is talking about Somalia
The
Prime Minister is starting her morning by hosting a conference on
Somalia, and meeting with Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo in
Number 10.
We imagine she’ll be returning to the campaign trail in the afternoon Meanwhile
Tim
Farron is off to sunny Wales, Ukip’s aptly named fisheries spokesman
Mike Hookem is launching their fisheries policy in Westminster (that
well known fishing town) and the Caroline Lucas will be talking about
their environment manifesto.
Donald Trump sparked a political storm on Tuesday after taking the extraordinary step of firing the Director of the FBI . James Comey was dismissed while in the middle of an investigation into the Trump administration's ties to Russia. The President claimed he fired Comey, the top US law enforcement official, over his handling of an election-year email scandal involving Hillary Clinton .
The
move stunned Washington and raised concerns among Democrats and others
that the White House was trying to blunt the FBI probe involving Russia.
Trump fired Comey on Tuesday (Photo: Getty)
James Comey was leading a probe into Trump's ties with Russia (Photo: Rex Features) Trump's move was likened to the 'Saturday Night Massacre'
of 1973, in which President Richard Nixon fired an independent special
prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal.
White House
officials denied allegations that there was any political motive in the
move by Trump, who took office on January 20.
But Senate
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he spoke to Trump and told him he
was "making a very big mistake" in firing Comey, adding the president
did not "really answer" in response.
Charles Schumer told Trump his decision was wrong (Photo: Rex Features) An independent investigation into Moscow's role in the
election "is now the only way to go to restore the American people’s
faith," Schumer said.
He added that Trump's decision to fire Comey in the midst of the Russia investigation "does not seem to be a coincidence".
Mark Warner, Democratic Senator for Virginia said Comey's firing "doesn't pass any smell test".
He added: "It's outrageous. I mean, I thought I could no longer be surprised by this administration.
"Cancel
that, I'm I'm shocked by what the president did. I'm shocked as well by
the idea that the deputy attorney general put his name to a letter that
doesn't pass any smell test, somehow blaming Comey for his actions
during the Clinton investigation as the reason for firing.
"That
doesn't pass any smell test. And it means more than ever that this
investigation which I'm the vice chairman of has to follow the facts.
"Because
short of a special prosecutor, I really question whether this Justice
Department will do what Director Comey was in the process of doing."
Hollywood was also skeptical of Trump's motives and quick to react to the news.
