It was just after 9pm when, cloaked in darkness, the White House press secretary held one of his most peculiar briefings yet.

Sean Spicer had just finished an outdoor TV interview defending Donald Trump’s dismissal of the FBI director, James Comey, and was walking along a perimeter fence towards the West Wing. A group of journalists tracked him and lay in wait. Caught in the glare of camera lights, the Trump spokesman ordered they be switched off, then incongruously joked: “Relax, enjoy the night, have a glass of wine.”

Apparently taken aback by the scale of the political firestorm on Tuesday, the White House backed up its press secretary with his deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway sent out to defend its position.

That's @PressSec holding impromptu press briefing in the dark outside West Wing. He was besieged w/Qs after doing Fox pic.twitter.com/iJR43XLmHM — Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) May 10, 2017

In the deep gloom, Spicer faced a barrage of questions about why Comey had been fired – and why now. “The FBI director reports through the deputy attorney general,” he said. “So Rod Rosenstein was confirmed on April 25th, two weeks ago, by a vote of 94 to six in a very obviously bipartisan matter. He is a career prosecutor … He’s very familiar with the Department of Justice, the FBI, and he made a decision, clearly, based on the letter that he submitted, that the FBI director had lost his confidence.”

Spicer said it was his understanding that Rosenstein’s memo and Sessions’ letter had been presented to Trump on Tuesday. “He went with their recommendation and made the decision to move forward.”

The press secretary rejected Democrats’ demands for an independent prosecutor in the case of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. “I guess the first question I’d ask is: what’s the basis? I think we have a system that’s working right now. I’m not aware of any reason that would be necessitated.”

A reporter shot back: “The reason that the Democrats would say is that you’ve just fired the person who’s overseeing that.”

Spicer replied: “The president made the right decision based on what a 30-year career prosecutor that was just confirmed 94-6 recommended and the attorney general concurred on.

“I also find it interesting that the same individuals who are out there making these statements on the other side of the aisle are the same people – including the minority leader [Chuck Schumer] – who said very clearly just a few months ago, ‘I have lost confidence in the FBI director’ … It seems a bit ironic that they are now questioning the president’s decision to side with something that they clearly articulated a few months back.”

Spicer said he did not know when Trump and Comey had last spoken. The letter of dismissal was delivered by hand “to the FBI and sent electronically to him”. He did not explain why the deed had not been done in person or by phone.

Is Comey's dismissal a cover-up? Donald Trump, the first US president since Richard Nixon to fire the person leading an investigation that bears on him, is certainly acting like a man with something to hide. The White House claims Comey was fired for mishandling an inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s emails and that Trump had been losing confidence in him since the election. But few find this explanation credible, given that Trump previously praised Comey for showing “guts” in his scrutiny of Clinton.

Critics say the true motive was Comey’s refusal to drop the FBI's inquiry into possible links between Trump’s associates and Russia during last year’s election campaign. Matters had come to a head: the president’s growing anger and frustration at Comey’s focus on Russia and his failure to stop leaks from the FBI; the identification of Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn as a blackmail risk; and reports, denied by the justice department, that Comey was asking for more resources to accelerate his work. Numerous Democrats have accused Trump of a cover-up, drawn comparisons with Nixon and Watergate, and demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor. Republican leaders have resisted this call and stood by the president, although others have dissented.



Conway took the PR offensive to CNN. The host Anderson Cooper asked why Trump was suddenly concerned about the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

Conway, who coined the phrase “alternative facts”, replied: “I think you’re looking at the wrong set of facts here. In other words, you’re going back to the campaign. This man is the president of the United States. He acted decisively today. He took the recommendation of his deputy attorney general, who oversees the FBI director.”



Asked about Schumer’s allegation of a cover-up, Conway said: “Well, he’s wrong. It’s not a cover-up. In fact the president makes clear in the letter the fact Mr Comey assured the president that he is not under investigation.”

Conway dismissed calls for a special prosecutor and concerns over the involvement of the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who was forced to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

“This had nothing to do with Russia, as much as somebody must be getting $50 every time the word is said, I’m convinced, on TV,” she argued. “This has nothing to do with Russia. It’s got everything to do with whether the current FBI director has the president’s confidence and can faithfully and capably execute his duties.”



Separately, Spicer’s deputy, Sanders, told reporters: “Look, here’s the bottom line. Comey had lost the confidence across the board. From House members, from Senate members, from rank and file members of the FBI and the American public. When you have that happen, you can’t serve in that capacity.”

And appearing on Fox News, she insisted that the move would have no effect on the Russia inquiry. “When are they gonna let that go? It’s been going on for nearly a year. Frankly, it’s kind of getting absurd. There’s nothing there.

“We’ve heard it for the last 11 months. There is no there there. It’s time to move on and frankly, it’s time to focus on the things that the American people care about. They’re not worried about this false narrative that the media continues to want to drive.”