Swamp News: It just gets stranger.

  In an interview yesterday with NBC News President Trump denounced the FBI investigation into possible campaign collusion with Russia, while across town the acting FBI director was telling Congress the inquiry is “highly significant.” Andrew McCabe said the investigation will continue and “Simply put, you cannot stop the men and women of the FBI from doing the right thing.”

In his interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt, Trump said of fired FBI Director James Comey, “He’s a showboat, he’s a grandstander. The FBI has been in turmoil.” Now that is rich coming from Trump.

Both Trump and his spokespeople have said there was widespread discontent with Comey at the FBI. Probably ensuring that he will never be elevated to director, McCabe told the Senate Intelligence Committee, “Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day.”

Speaking to Holt, Trump also changed the official story about firing Comey. The original spin was that he did it on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his top deputy. He told Holt that, “Regardless of recommendation I was going to fire Comey.”

The changing reason and the timing have fed suspicion that Trump fired Comey to put a damper on the FBI and Congressional investigations. He told Holt, “This Russia story with Trump and Russia, it’s a made up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.”

To back it up he said, “I just sent a letter to Lindsey Graham from one of the most prestigious law firms in the country, a tremendous highly rated law firm that I had nothing to do with Russia.” Well then, if it’s from a prestigious law firm, that’s the end of it.

Getting to the Bottom of It: While denouncing the Russia investigation as a waste, President Trump yesterday appointed a commission to examine his claim of widespread voter fraud in the fall election. The vice chair is the Republican Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the author of his state’s restrictive voter identification law. “The commission is going to do something that’s never really been done before. It’s a federal government entity that will collect data on the issue of voter fraud and election integrity,” Kobach said.

Despite years of Republican claims, significant voter fraud has never been proven. A recent survey of more than 23 million votes cast last fall found only 30 potential cases of voter fraud.

Critic at Large: In an interview with Time magazine Trump delivered his opinions about some of the people he sees on television.

   He called CNN morning anchor Chris Cuomo “a chained lunatic.” Trump said, “He’s like a boiler ready to explode. The level of hatred. And the entire, you know, the entire CNN platform is that way.”

On one of CNN’s conservative panelists; “Poor Jeffrey Lord. I love Jeffrey Lord. But sometimes he’s sitting there with eight unknown killers that nobody ever heard of.”

Late Show host Stephen Colbert, “The guy was dying,” Trump said. “They were going to take him off television; then he started attacking me, and he started doing better.

Last night Colbert said, “Mr. Trump, there’s a lot you don’t understand, but I never thought one of those things would be show business. Don’t you know I’ve been trying for a year to get you to say my name? And you were very restrained — admirably restrained — but now you did it. I won.”

Nation: Reversing a decision by prosecutors, a federal judge ordered the arrest of Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment for a 2015 train accident in Philadelphia. — The Centers for Disease Control says a spike in cases of Hepatitis C is the result of a heroin addiction epidemic.

Note to Staff: Television host Steve Harvey, who seems to think he can’t get a moment to himself at the office, is being mocked for a memo he wrote to the staff telling them to leave him alone. It says, in part:

“There will be no meetings in my dressing room. No stopping by or popping in. NO ONE.

Do not come to my dressing room unless invited.

Do not open my dressing room door. IF YOU OPEN MY DOOR, EXPECT TO BE REMOVED.”

One internet wag tweeted, “When I die, please write ‘He approached Steve Harvey in the hallway’ on my tombstone.”