Trump: 'I did a great service to this country by firing James Comey' 'We’re not undercutting. We’re cleaning everything up,' the president said.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he did a "great service to this country" by firing former FBI Director James Comey.

In comments on the South Lawn, a defiant Trump also defended moves by the White House to force the Justice Department to reveal to lawmakers details about an FBI informant who had contacts with multiple Trump campaign officials.


And he denied allegations by Democrats and other critics that his call for a probe into the matter is designed to undermine the ongoing investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia.

“We’re not undercutting. We’re cleaning everything up,” Trump said.

He added that he did the United States a favor by ousting Comey, glossing over the idea that his decision to fire the FBI director triggered the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is now investigating whether that ouster amounted to obstruction of justice.

“What I'm doing is a service to this country. And I did a great service to this country by firing James Comey.”



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Trump has challenged the FBI’s use of an informant who made contacts with his campaign aides, and was able to get the Justice Department's inspector general to initiative a review into whether the tactic was politically motivated.

Trump, who took to Twitter early Wednesday to dub the issue "SPYGATE," on Wednesday said the documents that Republican lawmakers are due to review on Thursday should be revealing.

“When they look at the documents, I think people are going to see a lot of bad things happened,” Trump said. “I hope it's not so, because if it is, there's never been anything like it in the history of our country.”

On the former FBI director, Trump said, "I think James Comey's got a lot of problems."

Comey — who led the agency during the 2016 presidential campaign — defended the use of an informant on Twitter on Wednesday morning. "The FBI’s use of Confidential Human Sources (the actual term) is tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country. Attacks on the FBI and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country," he wrote.