Within two days, though, the president slipped off that original rationale like he was falling off a slippery rock, when he told Nbcs Lester Holt that actually, when he made the decision to fire . J7z comey, hed the russia issue on his mind. And then, he said the same thing to highranking russian officials, who he invited into c toe the oval office. He said, quote, i just fired the head of the fbi. I faced great pressu4az puaq of russia. Thats taken off. James comey himself saidsia seemed to him that he was getting fired because of the russia investigation. Do you believe the russia investigation played a role . In why i was fired . Yes. Yes, because ive seen the president say so. I take the president at his word that i was fired because of the russia investigation. Something about the way i was conducting it, the president felt created pressure on him that he wanted to relieve. Just like all the rest of us, james comey saw the president admit to lester holt, saw the president brag to