The defeatists here at DU are out in full force today.

[Ptah]

24. Any day now - Obstruction Trump has now admitted he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation

Many Republicans — from White House staffers to members of Congress to conservative pundits — have been insisting for two days now, despite widespread reports, that President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey had nothing to do with Comey’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election.

Now, in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, Trump has admitted it did.

Asked by Holt about the White House’s initial story that he fired Comey because of a recommendation by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Trump said, “I was gonna fire him regardless of the recommendation.”

In explaining how he made up his mind, the president directly brought up the Russia case, calling it a “made-up story” (emphasis added):

He [Rosenstein] made a recommendation, he’s highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy. The Democrats like him, the Republicans like him. He made a recommendation. But regardless of [the] recommendation, I was going to fire Comey. Knowing there was no good time to do it!

And in fact when I decided to just do it I said to myself, I said, “You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.”

And the reason they should’ve won it is, the Electoral College is almost impossible for a Republican to win, it’s very hard, because you start off at such a disadvantage. So everybody was thinking they should have won the election. This was an excuse for having lost an election.

https://www.vox.com/2017/5/11/15628276/trump-comey-fired-russia