He’s allowed to fire Comey for ANY reason under his powers as commander & chief. This “remark” was immaterial to that firing. The FBI had no basis to start an investigation, period.
I agree. In that case, the Lester Holt interview was just a matter of doubling down on stupid. He could have just said exactly what you did, and he would have been 100% right. And at any rate -- why have Rosenstein draft the memo in the first place?
What exactly did Trump have to gain by doing that interview with a mainstream media outlet that every one of his supporters knows is just an enemy tool?