President Donald Trump said Saturday that "I was a little-bit surprised" by the backlash of his firing of FBI Director James Comey and that the Democrats were only slamming it to score "political points" with voters.
"There is no right time" to dismiss Comey, Trump told Jeanine Pirro on Fox News in a White House interview. "But if I did on Jan. 20, that would've been the big story as opposed to the inauguration.
"There is really no right time to do it, but I'm OK with that.
"I have the right to make the decision," Trump said. Comey "agrees that I have the right to do it. Everyone agrees.
"I was a little-bit surprised, because all of the Democrats hated Jim Comey," Trump told Pirro. "They wanted him fired.
"Then, all of a sudden they come out these glowing reports."
Trump has drawn heavy Democratic ire for dismissing Comey on Tuesday, particularly from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, though Trump has retorted that Democrats wanted Comey gone last year after speaking publicly about the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
"I thought this would be a very popular thing that I did when I terminated Comey," Trump told Pirro. "Because, all of the Democrats cannot stand him.
"But because I terminated him they said, 'We'll get political points and go against Trump.'
"I assumed it would be fairly popular.
"It's funny, when you listen to Schumer and other people talking about Comey, then go back a few months and get their statements from a few months ago, they could not stand him.
"It is very interesting."
On a new FBI director, Trump said that he wanted "to pick somebody that can be confirmed" and that he hoped to have a nominee "fairly quickly.
"We owe it to the public to do it fairly quickly."
In light of the fallout in the White House press operation in the Comey firing, Trump reiterated his support of his staff and said that he would decide "over the next couple of weeks" on whether to end the daily briefings with reporters
"They will be very unhappy," he told Pirro. "The ratings are so high.
"I don't know what the networks are going to do.
"They're going to start to cry. They get ratings because of me."
Turning to this month's passage of the American Health Care Act by the House, President Trump praised Republicans and said that he was "speaking to 30, 40, 50 per day" to get the bill through the chamber.
"I got to know a lot of them really well – and they are great people," he said. "We have wonderful people representing this country, I can tell you.
"I think the Senate will come up with some really, really great additions and changes," Trump continued. "We are going to have a plan that will be really great.
"Obamacare is dead. It's time."
Trump also reiterated that he would build the wall on the U.S. border with Mexico to stop illegal immigration, said that members of the notorious MS-13 street gang were "going very, very fast" and emphasized that American voters are "seeing through" the negative news reports about him and his administration.
"I think they know what's going on," he told Pirro. "I think the people see. I think they see our successes.
"I honestly believe people see it."
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