OF COURSE HE MADE IT WORSE; HE SPOKE:

Speaking to NBC's Lester Holt, Trump said he'd planned to fire James Comey "regardless" of whether the Department of Justice recommended it, undermining the claims made by his spokesman, vice president and every other senior aide to the contrary. [...]

Inside the White House, the mood was dour. Several White House officials said aides who didn't need to see the president stayed away from the Oval Office -- and kept their doors closed. [...]

"They're hostages," said longtime political consultant Mark Corallo, who served as Attorney General John Ashcroft's spokesman under President George W. Bush.

In the span of a dizzying few hours, the president contradicted the vice president and his press secretary, who had maintained for two days that Trump fired Comey because Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested it. Trump instead said the department was in "turmoil" even though he'd previously offered praise for Comey, even blowing him a kiss.

The president, whose campaign and transition officials remain under the scrutiny of a congressional probe into potential collusion in Russian government's interference in the 2016 election, also added that he had determined that the controversy over Russian election interference was simply a "made-up story."

Earlier in the day, the acting FBI director contradicted the president and his spokespeople, testifying in the Senate that the investigation into Russian contacts with Trump's campaign is "highly significant" -- though Trump has called for the probe to end immediately and labeled it a taxpayer-funded "charade."

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