Mr. Trump and his aides have given a number of conflicting reasons — sometimes within hours of each other or even in same interview — for why he fired Mr. Comey from his position as F.B.I. director on May 9, 2017. At the time, Mr. Comey was leading the investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign had coordinated with Russian election meddling.
Initially, the White House cited a recommendation from Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who criticized Mr. Comey’s handling of the conclusion of a separate investigation into whether Hillary Clinton mishandled classified emails.
