Trump Told the Russians He Was Glad to Fire 'Nut Job' Comey

The day after President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI director James Comey, he met with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a meeting where Trump not only reportedly revealed highly classified intel on ISIS but badmouthed Comey, according to a report out Friday.

An unnamed US official read portions of a document describing that meeting to the New York Times, and according to the document, Trump said, "I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job… I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

One White House official told the Times Trump was just using a negotiation tactic by trying to argue that Russia's meddling was now causing him a lot of problems and therefore Russia should give him concessions.

Before he was fired, Comey was overseeing an investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. Trump initially said that he fired Comey for the way that he handled Hillary Clinton's email scandal, but he has also alluded to the Russia investigation when asked about the dismissal. In a statement responding to the Times story, the White House said, "By grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia's actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia," a line of reasoning that was not cited when Comey was fired.

That investigation has ramped up in recent weeks and was placed in the hands of a special counsel on Wednesday, run by former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III. On Friday, the Washington Post reported that there was a "senior White House adviser under scrutiny by investigators," though that doesn't mean that anyone will be charged with any wrongdoing.

The White House statement said that the problem was actually leaks from the White House and federal agencies—a long-standing administration complaint. "Once again, the real story is that our national security has been undermined by the leaking of private and highly classified conversations," the statement read.