investigation and that he wanted him gone, or was it more narrow? was it that the president wanted him to address the issue of how he was not under investigation in the russia investigation, something that comey had told him three times and something that rosenstein did not put in his memo, but the president ultimately put in his letter that was sent to comey. so rosenstein tells mccabe, yeah, i wrote this letter about the president s reasons for firing comey. he wanted me to mention russia and i didn t. i refused? i left it out and hoped he didn t notice? we don t know the circumstances. it was not a he said, look, i didn t need to do that. he did not need to go that far. he did not believe, to provide a rationalization for why comey should go. there were a lot of reasons people thought comey should be fired, some of them legitimate about the way he handled the clinton e-mail investigation. but the president about the president and comey s firing has always been what did it mean
didn t notice. we don t know the circumstances. it was not he said, look, i didn t need to do that. he did not need to go that far he did not believe to provide a rationalization for why comey should go. there a lot of reasons why people thought comey should be fired, some of them legitimate about the way he handled the clinton e-mail investigation. but the question about the president and comey s firing has always been what did it mean about the russia investigation. what were the true motivations about the president. and that s what bob mueller wants to ask the president about. what was your intentions when you had comey fired. what was really behind that. and the president is probably the only person that can answer that question, although the president s lawyers will tell you there s white house memos and officials who can give you an idea what he was thinking. you also report that the president s the president had drafted his own letter explaining the justifications for fi