Top DOJ Official Directly Contradicts Trump Claim That President Fired Prosecutor for Refusing to Indict Comey

A top DOJ official directly contradicted President Donald Trump’s claim that he fired a federal prosecutor for refusing to pursue an indictment against James Comey.

In an interview on Meet the Press Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche denied that former federal prosecutor Eric Siebert was fired by Trump — claiming that Siebert actually resigned from his post.  The exchange began with NBC’s Kristen Welker pressing Blanche on whether he communicates directly with Trump on criminal investigations.

“Let me ask you, President Trump in September urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute former FBI director James Comey, New York Attorney General Leticia James, and Senator Adam Schiff saying in a social media post that was supposed to be private, quote, ‘They’re all guilty as hell,'” Welker said. “Comey was indicted five days later. Does President Trump speak to you or to the attorney general directly about individual criminal cases and investigations, Mr. Blanche?”

Blanche refused to comment on his direct communications with Trump, instead emphasizing that the DOJ had already been investigating Comey when Trump’s comments were leaked.

“And so with the case of James Comey, and he was indicted, the case was then dismissed by a judge because of an appointment’s issue, we were already investigating, which was very much available to the public at the time that President Trump sent that note,” Blanche said. “And so the fact that we continued to investigate and ultimately he was indicted is not a reflection of what President Trump put in that Truth. It’s a reflection of the work that we’re doing and have been doing long before September.”

Welker pressed the issue of Trump’s involvement further.

“Just very quickly, career prosecutor Erik Siebert was fired after refusing to prosecute these cases against James Comey,” Welker said. “He was replaced by Lindsey Halligan, of course the president’s former personal lawyer who doesn’t have prosecutorial experience, who was found to be unconstitutionally appointed. And the cases were thrown out, as you say. To be clear is the Justice Department taking directions about who to prosecute from President Trump?”

Blanche snapped back, arguing that the DOJ could not have taken orders from Trump on Siebert as Siebert was not fired but resigned.

“No, of course we’re not,” Blanche said. “And also Mr. Siebert wasn’t fired because he refused to bring cases. He resigned, okay? And so this narrative out there that somehow it was because of James Comey, it was because of Letitia James. No, that’s not true at all. And Ms. Halligan went in there and did a great job. She’s still doing a great job as our U.S. attorney in the EDPA. And you had a local judge rule that she was not validly appointed. We filed an appeal in that case. I expect that eventually when an appellate court looks at this issue, we’ll win that issue.”

Blanche’s denial of Trump’s involvement in the prosecutions directly contradicts a September post on Truth Social from the President in which he proudly touted that he personally fired Siebert because of his concern about the strength of the case against Comey.

“Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past,” he said in the post. “A Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job. That’s why two of the worst Dem Senators PUSHED him so hard. He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE.”

Watch above via NBC.