Good Friday morning, I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, sponsored by Pharma.

We're kicking off the morning with a quote of the day from President Donald Trump talking to NBC's Lester Holt on firing FBI director James Comey.

Trump said, quote, in fact, when I decided just to do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is made as a made up story.

It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.

This is the president of the United States juxtaposing his firing Comey with his belief that Russia interference in the U.S. election is a made-up story.

To review, we've had quite the week. The White House first said Donald Trump fired Comey after the Justice

Department suggested it. Then Trump told NBC's Lester Holt, he would have fired him either way,

calling Comey a showboat. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration wants

a firing and Russian investigation to come to an end, and that removing Comey is a step toward

making that happen. Sanders also said countless FBI agents were happy with Trump's decision.

Other officials outside the White House have maintained that Comey was well respected at the Bureau.

The New York Times as Michael Schmidt has a must-read A-1 piece, with allies of Comey's providing a rebuttal to Trump's theory of the case.

Schmidt reports that in early dinner in Trump's presidency with Comey, he asked for his loyalty, which Comey would not give to the president.

The White House disputes that retelling of their conversation. It's important to note,

as much as the Trump team wants the Comey Flap to go away, it appears this controversy is going

to be here to stay for some time. While the media and lawmakers are often onto the next

drama and scandal or news of the day,

we bet Comey's firing and the impact it has on the Russian investigations is one we are talking about

for at least the next several weeks. There is one good sign for Trump. Republicans aren't biting

on Democrats' calls for a special prosecutor.

Politico has a great story on how Trump's attempt to fix the Comey crisis actually made it worse,

and that there were several White House aides who thought it was a bad idea to do the Lester Holt interview.

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