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 Later that evening, the President told his communications team he was unhappy with the press coverage of Comey's termination and ordered them to go out and defend him. The President also called Chris Christie and, according to Christie, said he was getting "killed" in the press over Comey's termination. The President asked what he should do. Christie asked, "Did you fire [Comey] because of what Rod wrote in the memo?", and the President responded, "Yes." Christie said that the President should "get Rod out there" and have him defend the decision." The President told Christie that this was a "good idea" and said he was going to call Rosenstein right away.

That night, the White House Press Office called the Department of Justice and said the White House wanted to put out a statement saying that it was Rosenstein's idea to fire Comey. Rosenstein told other DOJ officials that he would not participate in putting out a "false story." The President then called Rosenstein directly and said he was watching Fox News, that the coverage had been great, and that he wanted Rosenstein to do a press conference. Rosenstein responded that this was not a good idea because if the press asked him, he would tell the truth that Comey's firing was not his idea. Sessions also informed the White House Counsel's Office that evening that Rosenstein was upset that his memorandum was being portrayed as the reason for Comey's termination.

In an unplanned press conference late in the evening of May 9, 2017, Spicer told reporters, "Tt was all [Rosenstein]. No one from the White House. It was a DOJ decision. That evening and the next morning, White House officials and spokespeople continued to maintain that the