Trump Denies He Ever Told NBC's Lester Holt He Fired Comey Over Russian Investigation

Donald Trump

On May 12, 2017, in front of a national TV audience, Donald J. Trump told NBC news anchor Lester Holt why he fired former FBI Director James Comey:

"In fact when I decided to just do it [fire Comey], I said to myself, I said 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.'"

Today, that same Donald Trump (we think - unless aliens have invaded his body) tweeted to the world, "Not that it matters but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!"

And yes, his followers will believe him.

Not that it matters but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2018

Meanwhile, the Twitterverse kept trying to default to the actual truth:

.@realDonaldTrump tweets he didn't fire Comey over the Russia investigation.
Let's go to the videotape: pic.twitter.com/VXIjcrBSwY

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 31, 2018

I have some bad news, Mr. President. That time you told Lester Holt that you were thinking about the Russia investigation when you fired Comey? That was on prime time television and the ratings were excellent. https://t.co/hemmQqmDGV

— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiffCA) May 31, 2018

This is deeply concerning because someone was on national TV,apparently pretending to be you, who said you DID! Who was that guy with Lester Holt? Alec Baldwin? https://t.co/g9b8YgXtoR https://t.co/uSxYCNorEi

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) May 31, 2018

We've gone full Orwellian now. We have *video* of Trump admitting that he fired James Comey because of "the Russia thing." Here's the quote: "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." https://t.co/1gfHMQWnar

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) May 31, 2018

Not only did Trump obviously admit he fired Comey over Russia to Lester Holt, but it was such a disastrous moment for him that he hasn't done a single interview with a non-friendly TV reporter in the more than a year since.

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) May 31, 2018

You said it on national tv. You said Trump fired him because of this Russiar thing.

— Suzanner 🐾 (@suser_rolfe) May 31, 2018

This is believable if and only if you ignore that video of someone that looks remarkably like Donald Trump telling Lester Holt that fired Comey because of Russia https://t.co/SZ6u8fzSek

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) May 31, 2018