The political crisis engulfing President Trump following his firing of FBI Director James Comey has intensified after the White House changed its version of Tuesday's dramatic events.
In a TV interview the President said he had decided to dismiss the FBI Director before he received a recommendation from Department of Justice officials to terminate him - that's contradicts the story previously told by White House officials.
And the White House also found itself being contradicted by the Acting Director of the FBI who dismissed that Mr. Comey had lost the confidence of the bureau's staff.
Andrew McCabe says the agency's probe into possible ties between the Trump campaign team and the Russians is continuing and is "highly significant".
With all the latest developments from Washington, our US Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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We cannot be sure whether Donald Trump is a big fan of the musical Showboat.
But we can be sure that one phrase used by the President in his interview with NBC News about his decision to fire FBI Director James Comey led to a massive increase in internet searches relating to the word "Showboat".
We know that from the folks at Miriam-Webster, publishers of America's best-known dictionary who reported heightened interest in the word after the President offered this description of his ousted FBI Chief.
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That interview with NBC's Lester Holt may, over time, become a major problem for the President.
Because as well as dragging James Comey's name through the mud….to the fury of many Republicans on Capitol Hill…..he also completely contradicted everything the White House had previously claimed about Mr. Comey's firing.
On numerous occasions, White House officials told reporters the President dismissed Mr. Comey because of a recommendation he received from the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein.
But in his interview with NBC, suddenly the story changed.
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That matters because Mr. Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, is known to be furious that the White House was trying to pin Mr. Comey's firing on him.
He was seen on Capitol Hill visiting members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, amid reports that he might be seeking to testify about the conversations he had with the President about Mr. Comey.
The President, meanwhile, was talking about some other conversations that he claims he had with Mr. Comey….conversations that - if they happened - would be highly unusual.
But the President says on 3 occasions the FBI director assured him he was not being targeted by the bureau's investigative probe.
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President Trump's increasing problem is that his White House now lacks credibility.
Earlier in the week, reporters were assured Mr. Comey was fired in part because he had lost the confidence of the agency's rank-and-file staff.
But, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe directly contradicted those White House claims.
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At the White House it once again fell to the beleaguered Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to try and explain things.
She couldn't….shredding any last vestiges of her own credibility by claiming, she conceded that she didn't really know what she was talking about in her briefing on Wednesday.
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Of the White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, there has been no sign.
He was glimpsed hiding in some White House bushes in an attempt to evade reporters' questions on Tuesday night….we're told he's off fulfilling his duty as a Navy Reserve.
But it's also being reported here that President Trump is furious with his spokespeople for - in his view - failing to communicate his message better.
Which takes us back to the claim - voiced by none other than the President - that James Comey enjoyed show-boating and grand-standing on the public stage.
Those words were utterly rejected by several senior members of the President's own party, including Republican Senator Richard Burr who co-chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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And other Republicans seem to be wavering….like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the man Donald Trump liked to call "Little Marco" during last year's campaign.
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There is a real sense here of political drama unfolding at a rate of knots that now exceeds the Trump administration's ability to manage it.
And with so many players either being forced to provide evidence to Congressional Committees or volunteering to do so….and with the Acting FBI Director calling the investigation into the Trump campaign "highly significant"… Republicans on Capitol Hill are increasingly nervous that President Trump may not be able…over time….to - in the words of Showboat - just keep rolling along.
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