On May 11, 2017, two days after Donald Trump fired F.B.I. director James Comey, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders held a little briefing with reporters. Addressing the matter of Comey’s unceremonious axing—he reportedly learned of his termination from the breaking news chyrons flashing on TV screens in the room as he delivered a speech at the F.B.I.’s Los Angeles field office—Sanders claimed that Comey was fired not because the president was trying to stop the Russia investigation, but because “he was not fit to do the job. It’s that simple . . . the president knew that Director Comey was not up to the task. He decided he wasn’t the right person for the job. He wanted somebody that could bring credibility back to the F.B.I. that had been lost over the last several months.” Sensing that this excuse for dismissing the man probing possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia was, as they say in the business, total horse shit, several reporters pressed Sanders further.

“What led you in the White House to believe James Comey had lost the confidence of the rank and file members of the F.B.I when the acting director says it‘s exactly the opposite?” the first asked. “I can speak to my own personal experience, I’ve heard from countless members of the F.B.I. that are grateful and thankful for the president’s decision,” Sanders replied. Clearly not buying it, another reporter asked, incredulously, “You personally have talked to ‘countless’ F.B.I. officials, employees, since this happened?” “Correct,” Sanders said, her voice breaking.

“I mean, really?” the reporter asked. Apparently incensed that someone would dare question her, Sanders doubled down: “Between like e-mails, text messages, absolutely.” Saying she wasn’t going to “get into a numbers game” when asked to quantify just how many of these e-mails and text messages she’d received (“50, 60, 70?”), Sanders reiterated that she’d “heard from a large number of individuals who work at the F.B.I. who said that they are very happy with the president’s actions.” And yet, according to the redacted special counsel’s report from Robert Mueller released today, that actually wasn’t the case!

Here’s Mueller (emphasis ours):

The president’s draft termination letter also stated that morale in the F.B.I. was at an all-time low and Sanders told the press after Comey’s termination that the White House had heard from “countless” F.B.I. agents who had lost confidence in Comey. But the evidence does not support those claims. The President told Comey at their January 27 dinner that “the people of the F.B.I. really like [him],” no evidence suggests that the President heard otherwise before deciding to terminate Comey, and Sanders acknowledged to investigators that her comments were not founded on anything.

In other words, Sanders invented the “countless” F.B.I. employees who’d supposedly e-mailed and texted her to say they’d lost confidence in Comey, i.e. she told a giant lie. This, of course, is not the first time the White House press secretary has stood at the podium and lied to reporters’ faces, but it is the first time it’s been memorialized in a special counsel report. So . . . congrats?

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