Story highlights The President directly contradicted the reasoning his staff gave for the Comey firing

That assertion came fewer than 18 hours after Pence was on Capitol Hill telling a totally different story

Washington (CNN) That thud you heard was Donald Trump driving the bus over his White House staff.

In an interview with NBC's Lester Holt Thursday night , the President directly contradicted the reasoning his staff -- as well as Vice President Mike Pence -- had laid out for his decision to fire FBI Director James Comey.

"I was going to fire Comey -- my decision," Trump told Holt. "There is no good time to do it, by the way. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation."

That assertion came fewer than 18 hours after Pence was on Capitol Hill telling a totally different story. "The President took strong and decisive leadership here to put the safety and the security of the American people first by accepting the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove Director Comey as the head of the FBI," Pence said Wednesday.

And he was far from the only one singing from that songbook -- which Trump promptly ripped up in his interview with Holt.

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