Spicer: Trump fired Comey despite knowing it could be 'detrimental to himself'

President Donald Trump knew firing FBI Director James Comey last week “could be detrimental to himself” but did it for the good of the nation, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday.

“Just to clear something up: I think that there was clearly bipartisan support that Jim Comey wasn’t up to the job,” Spicer told reporters at Monday afternoon’s press briefing. “The president has every right to fire a person because he believed Director Comey lacked the judgment and decision-making skills and wasn’t up to the job. The president’s reaction to this, to what his position has been, [has been] completely misrepresented.”


Spicer recalled the president’s comments to NBC News’ Lester Holt last week. Trump told Holt on Thursday that he wants the Russia investigations looking into potential collusion between Trump associates and Russian officials “to be absolutely done properly,” which the president noted may confuse people.

In Spicer’s telling, Trump also said “he didn’t care that this action would make matters worse for him, that it, quote, might even lengthen out the investigation because he would take action against Jim Comey in firing him.”

“The actions that he took, he knew could be detrimental to himself, but none of those things mattered because the president had to do the right thing for the American people because he believes that Jim Comey was the wrong man for that position,” Spicer added, suggesting Comey lacked the necessary leadership skills to lead the FBI.

“I think that we’ve gotta be very clear as to the reason that the president took the actions that he did,” Spicer said. “He knew that what he did could be detrimental to himself, it could lengthen the investigation, but he knew it was the right thing for the country, the right thing for the FBI and the right thing to get to the bottom of this.”