On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he considers “getting rid” of the FBI officials who conducted the Trump-Russia investigation to be one of his “greatest achievements.”
‘These were evil people…I’m going to consider it…one of my greatest achievements, getting rid of them’
“These were dirty people. These were bad people. These were evil people, and I hope that someday I’m going to consider it my greatest, or one of my greatest achievements, getting rid of them,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago, where he is staying for his family’s Christmas vacation.
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The President began his remarks by responding to a question about whether he might consider pardoning Roger Stone, the longtime GOP operative and Trump ally who was indicted during the special counsel’s investigation for allegedly making false statements to Congress. Trump said he hasn’t considered a pardon for Stone yet, but does believe he was treated “very unfair” in the special counsel’s case.
“I haven’t thought of it. I think it’s very tough what they did to Roger Stone, compared to what they do to other people on their side,” Trump said.
‘Now they’re finding out it was a big hoax’
“Now they’re finding out it was a big hoax. They’re finding out it was a horrible thing. We were spied on, my campaign was spied on,” Trump said.
Trump did not say specifically which FBI officials he was glad to be rid of. Former FBI Director James Comey was fired by Trtump on May 9, 2017. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired on March 16, 2018, after the bureau’s Office of Professional Responsibility and the Justice Department’s inspector general discovered he lacked candor during his interviews about the authorization of media leaks in October 2016.
Peter Strzok, the former deputy chief of counterintelligence, was fired on Aug. 10, 2018 when it was discovered he had exchanged anti-Trump text messages with FBI lawyer Lisa Page. Page resigned from her FBI post on May 4, 2018.
Trump could pardon "good person" Roger Stone, calls FBI investigators "evil people" https://t.co/FPKvZFKd4s
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) December 24, 2019
President Trump could have been referring to any of these people. He could have been referring to all of them.
But it’s understandable why a President of the United States whose own federal employees often seem to be working against him might want them gone.