Trump Lashes Out At Comey After NYT Report On FBI Probe Of Russia Ties

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing on Marine One from the White House on January 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump is traveling to McAllen, Tx. Where he will visit the U.S.-Mexico border.. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing on Marine One from the White House on January 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump is traveling to McAllen, Texas ... WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing on Marine One from the White House on January 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump is traveling to McAllen, Texas where he will visit the U.S.-Mexico border. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump added new heat to his attacks on former FBI Director James Comey after a New York Times Friday night report on an investigation the FBI opened in the days following his firing of Comey.

Citing unnamed former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation, the NYT reported that Trump’s firing of Comey triggered an FBI inquiry into whether the President had been secretly working for Russia against U.S. interests.

The NYT reports that despite suspicion over Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, law enforcement officials did not launch an investigation then due to uncertainty over how to approach a probe with that level of sensitivity. It wasn’t until Comey’s May 2017 firing, when Trump appeared to connect Comey’s ousting to the Russia probe, that counterintelligence investigators looked into whether Trump posed a national security threat.

Trump’s first reaction to the report came in Saturday morning tweets where he said former FBI leaders opened an investigation on him “for no reason & with no proof” and that his firing of Comey was “a great day for America.”

Trump also tweeted Saturday that “getting along with Russia is a good thing” while arguing that he’s been “FAR tougher on Russia than Obama, Bush or Clinton.”

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