ABC News(WASHINGTON) — White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders defended the accuracy of the White House’s recounting of the firing of former FBI Director James Comey in an interview on ABC News’ Good Morning America Thursday morning, even though the White House’s story has changed since Comey’s firing was first reported.

While the White House initially said it had no role in directing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to write a memo laying out concerns about Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, ABC News has since learned that the president decided to fire Comey on Monday, and asked the Department of Justice to formally draft a memo outlining the reasons for his dismissal.

When presented with the contradiction by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Sanders said the ideas presented in Rosenstein’s memo were not directed by the president.

“The information in the letter was something that he came to on his own,” Sanders said. “It wasn’t directed or those — the words that were written weren’t at the direction necessarily of the president. Those were their own thoughts.”

“I think that you’re trying to beat up the process but the point here is that the findings in the letter, in the recommendation, were original thoughts by Mr. Rosenstein,” she added.

Late Tuesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told ABC News that the White House had no involvement in Rosenstein’s memo.

But the White House has since acknowledged that the memo followed a meeting between the president, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Rosenstein, at which the president decided to move forward on the firing.

Sanders said Wednesday that Rosenstein’s memo was the final impetus for pulling the trigger.

“That was the final piece that moved the president to make that quick and decisive action yesterday,” she said.

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