Trump asked Jeff Sessions to come up with an excuse to fire Comey

According to The New York Times, Donald Trump started talking about firing James Comey last week, and he asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to come up with an excuse to fire him.

Senior White House and Justice Department officials had been working on building a case against Mr. Comey since at least last week, according to administration officials. Mr. Sessions had been charged with coming up with reasons to fire him, the officials said.

Which is a very serious accusation, as Sessions was supposed to be recused from the Russia investigation because he was part of Trump's campaign, and he was not supposed to even touch Comey, who was conducting the Russia investigation.

Another NYT article points out that Trump was the one who spoke privately with this top advisers about firing Comey:

Mr. Trump, according to people close to the president, had been openly talking about firing Mr. Comey for at least a week. Despite the objections from some of his aides about the optics and the lack of an obvious successor, the grumbling evolved into a tentative plan as he angrily watched the Sunday news shows at his Bedminster, N.J., golf resort.

By Monday, capping off months of festering grievances, Mr. Trump told people around him that he wanted Mr. Comey gone, repeatedly questioning Mr. Comey’s fitness for the job and telling aides there was “something wrong” with him, several people familiar with the discussions said.

Is all of this is the case, then it suggests Trump didn't fire Comey because of a recommendation from the Deputy Attorney General, as he claimed in his letter to Comey informing him of his firing. Trump instead told Sessions to come up with an excuse to fire Comey and then, knowing Sessions was not supposed to get involved with the Russian investigation, blamed it on the Deputy Attorney general, who had received a request from Comey to expand the Russia investigation.

Trump must have kown this was going to raise suspicions about the Russia investigation. That may explain why Trump added this unsolicited item in his letter to Comey:

While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.

A very obvious attempt at trying to convince the public that the Russia investigation is the not the reason, when we now know Comey was fired after he asked for more resources for the Russia investigation.