8 things that actually happened after Donald Trump fired James Comey

President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey this week, in a move that has left more questions than answers.

Only four years into his 10-year term, Mr Comey was leading the criminal investigation into whether Trump campaign advisers colluded with Russian operatives to influence the 2016 presidential election. While presidents have the authority to fire their FBI directors for any reason, Mr Comey is only the second FBI Director ever to be dismissed.

Here are eight things that happened after Comey was fired.

The night Mr Trump fired Mr Comey, the White House said the president acted based on advice from Jeff Sessions and his deputy Rod Rosenstein. That night, Press Secretary Sean Spicer also told reporters: “It was all him,” meaning Mr Rosenstein. This was echoed by Mike Pence, who said Trump was acting on the Department of Justice recommendations.

But on Thursday, Mr Trump told NBC that “regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.’’

Right.

After the onslaught of criticism for the way the White House has changed details of its Comey firing narrative, Mr Trump tweeted on Friday that because of his busy schedule and with lots of things happening, it was not “possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy”.

“... Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future 'press briefings' and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???” he said in another tweet.

ABC News reported that Mr Rosenstein was on the verge of resigning, upset that the White House had pinned him as the reason for the Comey firing.

In perhaps another sign of mixed messaging from the Trump administration, Vice President Mike Pence said that when Mr Rosenstein “brought the recommendation to the president that the director of the FBI should be removed, President Trump provided the kind of strong and decisive leadership the American people have come to be accustomed from him”.

According to a report by the Washington Post, press staff at the White House told reporters that Mr Spicer wouldn’t do a briefing after dropping the bombshell that Mr Trump fired his FBI director. But as Democrats and Republicans began to increasingly question Mr Trump’s decision, Mr Spicer and two prominent spokeswomen hurried to defend the president on TV.

Mr Spicer reportedly avoided the press huddle awaiting him by spending “several minutes hidden in the bushes”. However, the original article was amended for the sake of accuracy: Spicer and his staff had been standing “among” the bushes, apparently.

Mr Trump said he and Mr Comey “had a very nice dinner, and at that time he told me, ‘You are not under investigation,’ which I knew anyway”.

“Then during a phone call he said it, and then during another phone call he said it,” Mr Trump elaborated. “In one case I called him, and in once case he called me.“

The White House refused to confirm or deny whether someone in the West Wing is in possession of a recording of the dinner between Mr Trump and Mr Comey.

Mr Trump tweeted on Friday: “James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”

Mr Comey reportedly said he hopes there are tapes of his various conversations with Mr Trump.

The White House barred reporters from witnessing the meeting between Mr Trump and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, but granted access to Russian state media. David Cohen, the former deputy director of the CIA, is among those alarmed by the decision to allow a Tass news agency photographer into the Oval Office, which some argued could present a security risk.

Time Magazine revealed that the president has two scoops of ice cream with his chocolate cream pie while everyone else at the table receives just one. He is also served “Thousand Island dressing” instead of the “creamy vinaigrette for his guests”.