According to Comey’s account, which is set to appear in his highly-anticipated forthcoming memoir, Kelly was “emotional” over the manner in which Comey was let go. The then-FBI Director had reportedly been in California at the time, speaking to FBI agents in Los Angeles, and only found out that he was out of a job when he saw the news break on TV.

Kelly, Comey recalls, said he was “sick” about the situation and “intended to quit” in protest. Kelly “said he didn’t want to work for dishonorable people,” referring specifically to President Donald Trump, who appeared to be upset at the FBI’s persistent investigation into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russian officials…

A senior White House official disputed Comey’s characterization of the phone call with Kelly, saying that Kelly has maintained that the call was brief—roughly a minute long—and that the gist was, “I don’t know why you got fired, [and] best of luck to you,” according to the official. The version of this story that Kelly has told other senior staffers clashes markedly with Comey’s, the official noted, and does not include Kelly calling President Trump “dishonorable.”