Those remarks came soon after he posted comments on his social media site disparaging Comey and gloating about the federal false statement and obstruction of justice charges against him that he himself had publicly insisted upon.

“No one from the White House should be saying anything about Comey or the indictment,” said Ty Cobb, a lawyer in the White House Counsel’s office during Trump’s first term and once a federal prosecutor. “But there are no guardrails there in this administration, no adults.”