Just a few moments ago Jeff Zeleny reported on CNN (rush transcript) that the President started discussing firing Comey a week ago and then asked DOJ to come up with a “rationale” for the firing. Transcript after the jump …

This was a very closely kept credit at the White House. I’m told only a handful of top advisories knew this was coming. I am told just moments ago that the President himself has been considering this, been thinking about this for at least a week. Did not necessarily have the rationale when they first started talking about this but then asked the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General to look for that rationale and that explanation. And that is what we got this afternoon. The timing of this, of course, so interesting, Erin because the Russian investigation front and center, it is one of the things that aggravates this president more than anything at all.