It was revealed Thursday evening that President Donald Trump had dinner with former FBI director James Comey in which he demanded “loyalty” but Comey refused.

On the day before that dinner, former acting attorney general Sally Yates met with White House Counsel Don McGahn about retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. She warned him that the FBI had interviewed Flynn and she believed that he was compromised and could be easily be blackmailed for lying about his interactions with the Russian ambassador.

ADVERTISEMENT

The next day, Trump reportedly had dinner with Comey and demanded the FBI director’s loyalty.

Just two days later, Jan. 28, Flynn took part in the call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite the warning from Yates that he’d been compromised and the interview by the FBI.

Trump then signed his executive order banning people from coming into the United States from predominantly Muslim countries and Yates refused to uphold the ban. In less than 24 hours, on Jan. 30, Yates was fired by Trump. It was a mere four days after she warned the White House about Flynn and three days after Comey refused his loyalty to Trump.

Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt Thursday that he was going to fire Comey well before deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein wrote a memo against him.

“And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election they could have won,'” Trump told Holt. He is essentially admitted the firing of Comey had to do with Russia after all.

ADVERTISEMENT

Many have speculated that the claim Comey’s firing was about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her emails was a false excuse. His letter to Comey never mentioned the emails but it did reference the conversations Trump had with Comey over the Russia investigation.