JEFF ZELENY: Erin, the timeline is so important in this. And a top White House official explained to me just a short time ago and they are pointed to exactly April 26. That is when the Deputy Attorney General, who we've been talking about all evening here, he was a former prosecutor in the Obama administration. Was appointed as the Deputy Attorney General in the Trump administration. Confirmed widely by a vote l believe, of 94 to 6. When he took office, some 14 days ago, the White House says, he saw that there was a lack of confidence in the FBI. The FBI director reports to the Deputy Attorney General. So at that point, the Deputy Attorney General started looking into this and reported his findings back to the White House just today. That's what the White House is trying to frame this. That's how they're trying to frame this.

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JEFFREY TOOBIN: Jeff Zeleny, I think exactly characterizes the White House position on this, and that position is a lie. It is not possibly true. Rod Rosenstein did not decide to fire Jim Comey on his own.

ERIN BURNETT (HOST): Just to be clear, that is the Deputy Attorney General for those who do not know.

TOOBIN: He did not come into office and discover that Jim Comey had lost the confidence of the FBI. By the way, there is an Inspector General investigation of Jim Comey's behavior during 2016 underway now. It's not over. So why didn't they wait until the end of the Inspector General's investigation? They didn't wait because they wanted to fire him now, when he is investigating the White House. I mean, sometimes the most obvious explanation is the correct one.