White House counselor Kellyanne Conway insisted Tuesday that FBI Director James Comey's firing had nothing to do with the agency's Russia investigation and everything to do with President Donald Trump's confidence in him.
"This has nothing do with Russia," Conway insisted in a testy exchange with Anderson Cooper on CNN that at one point led the host to roll his eyes in disbelief. "This has everything to do with whether the current FBI director has the president's confidence and can faithfully and capably execute his duties.
"The deputy attorney general decided that was not the case," she added, referring to Rod Rosenstein. "He wrote a very long memorandum about it.
"He presented that to the attorney general [Jeff Sessions].
"The attorney general presented it to the president," Conway continued. "The president took the recommendations, as he says in his brief very powerful letter today.
"He took the recommendations – and he agreed that the only way to restore public trust and confidence in its vital law-enforcement mission, that of the FBI, was to have a new director."
Cooper pressed Conway on Sessions' role in the dismissal, given that he had recused himself from the FBI's Moscow investigation. The FBI falls under the Justice Department, which is overseen by the attorney general.
Conway responded by repeatedly referring the letters released by Trump and Rosenstein, saying that "this has been is the decision of the president of the United States.
"He acted decisively today. He acted at the direction of his deputy attorney general.
"It makes complete sense because he has lost confidence in the FBI director."
Cooper also questioned why Comey's actions in the Hillary Clinton email probe last July were cited in the firing – though he played various clips of Trump praising the former director's actions during the presidential campaign.
"You're comparing two things that don't belong together," Conway responded. "Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
"I was on your show often last fall saying that we were going to win," she added as Cooper rolled his eyes.
"But today, not in the campaign, the White House, the president of the United States took decisive action."