Trump fired FBI chief James Comey after losing confidence in him: White House

President Donald Trump lost confidence in FBI Director James Comey over the last several months and decided to fire him

President Donald Trump lost confidence in FBI Director James Comey over the last several months and decided to fire him after hearing similar concerns from the deputy attorney general, the White House said on Wednesday.

FBI Director James Comey is sworn in to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 3, 2017. (Reuters File Photo)

“The president over the last several months lost confidence in Director Comey, the DOJ (Department of Justice) lost confidence in Director Comey, bipartisan members of Congress made it clear that they had lost confidence in Director Comey and most importantly the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told a briefing.

Hours after sacking the man heading a probe into Moscow’s alleged meddling in last year’s US election, Trump hosted Russia’s top diplomat at the White House in his highest-level Kremlin encounter since taking office.

Seeking to contain the firestorm triggered by Comey’s dismissal, Trump and his aides repeated Wednesday that it was nothing to do with Russia, and motivated solely by concerns over his handling of the high-stakes probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

“He wasn’t doing a good job, it’s very simple, he was not doing a good job,” Trump told reporters.