White House counselor Kellyanne Conway insists “it’s inappropriate” to speculate about the timing of President Donald Trump’s stunning move to fire FBI director James Comey on Tuesday.
“You want to question the timing of when he hires, when he fires? It’s inappropriate,” Conway told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday morning. “He’ll do it when he wants to.”
Cuomo pointed out that such questions have to be asked. “The consequences matter,” he said.
“This is simple,” Conway responded. “We could just do a flow chart.”
The White House claimed Trump fired Comey because he was dissatisfied at the FBI director’s handling of former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s private emails. But the FBI had been conducting an investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election and the extent of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian officials, prompting many to wonder whether the president wants to undermine or squelch the investigation.
Several Republicans late Tuesday even questioned the timing of Comey’s sudden dismissal, saying that it left them stunned.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is leading its own investigation into Russia, said that Comey’s sudden ouster left him “troubled.”
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) tweeted that he spent “several hours trying to find an acceptable rationale for the timing of Comey’s firing.” “I just can’t do it,” he added.
Conway gave a similarly perplexing interview to CNN Tuesday night, in which she denied that the Trump administration was being investigated.
“I know that some are obsessed with the word Russia, Russia, Russia,” she said. “I’m around the president,” Conway said. “I’m not under investigation.”