Sessions could provide a recommendation in writing that Comey should be 433 removed. The President agreed and told Rosenstein to draft a memorandum, 434 but said he wanted to receive it first thing the next morning. Hunt’s notes reflect that the President told Rosenstein to include in his recommendation the fact that Comey had refused to confirm that the President was not personally 435, under investigation. According to notes taken by a senior DOJ official of Rosenstein’s description of his meeting with the President, the President said, 436 “Put the Russia stuff in the memo.” Rosenstein responded that the Russia investigation was not the basis of his recommendation, so he did not think 437 Russia should be mentioned. The President told Rosenstein he would 438 appreciate it if Rosenstein put it in his letter anyway. When Rosenstein left the meeting, he knew that Comey would be terminated, and he told DOJ colleagues that his own reasons for replacing Comey were “not [the President’s] 439 reasons.” On May 9, Hunt delivered to the White House a letter from Sessions recommending Comey’s removal and a memorandum from Rosenstein, addressed to the Attorney General, titled “Restoring Public Confidence in the 440 FBI.“ McGahn recalled that the President liked the DOJ letters and agreed that they should provide the foundation for a new cover letter from the President 441 accepting the recommendation to terminate Comey. Notes taken by Donaldson on May 9 reflected the view of the White House Counsel’s Office that the President’s original termination letter should“[n]ot [see the] light of day” and that it would be better to offer “[n]o other rationales” for the firing than what 442 was in Rosenstein’s and Session’s memoranda. The President asked Miller to draft a new termination letter and directed Miller to say in the letter that Comey 443 had informed the President three times that he was not under investigation. McGahn, Priebus, and Dhillon objected to including that language, but the 444 President insisted that it be included. McGahn, Priebus, and others perceived 445 that language to be the most important part of the letter to the President. Dhillon made a final pitch to the President that Comey should be permitted to 446 resign, but the President refused. Around the time the President’s letter was finalized, Priebus summoned Spicer and the press team to the Oval Office, where they were told that Comey