5 moments Donald Trump and James Comey were at odds

— -- Contrary to the White House's original explanations, it’s now clear that President Trump himself initiated the process to fire James Comey.

Trump told Lester Holt today that he had planned to fire Comey for some time.

"I was going to fire Comey," he said, "There's no good time to do it, by the way ... I was gonna fire him regardless of the recommendation."

So why did Trump sour on Comey? And what led him to decide over the weekend to pull the trigger without a replacement nominee ready to announce?

Here are some moments in the past year when Comey and Trump did not align, which likely contributed to Trump's reasons for firing Comey.

1. Clinton email press conference

Trump disapproved of Comey's July 5, 2016 press conference that recommended no criminal charges be brought against election rival Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information while Secretary of State.

"Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information," Comey said during the conference.

While Comey acknowledged Clinton’s missteps, he said "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case" against her, something Trump did not want to hear.

2. Declining to state lack of Trump-Russia evidence

The White House expressed annoyance on February 15 that Comey refused a request for Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe to go public with information that he is said to have told Trump aides privately -- that there was no evidence of collusion between Russia and the campaign.

Such a statement would have refuted a New York Times story from the previous day alleging that campaign advisers "had repeated contacts with Russian intelligence."

3. Hacking investigation and wiretap denial

On March 20, Comey went before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and made two comments that stuck with Trump.

First, he confirmed that the FBI was investigating Russian hacking into the U.S. election and any possible collusion between the Russian government and the Trump team. In the dismissal letter on Tuesday, Trump noted that Comey had told him on three occasions that he personally wasn’t under investigation.

Second, Comey would not support Trump’s claims that he was wiretapped by Obama. When asked whether Trump’s claims, made via Twitter, were true, Comey said: "I have no information that supports those tweets, and we have looked carefully inside the FBI ... We have no information that supports them."

4. Election interference

On May 3, Comey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and defended his decision to tell Congress in late October that he would be revisiting the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s email servers.

While he said he wouldn’t change the decision if he could, Comey told the committee it made him "mildy nauseous" to think he had a hand in swaying the election, which could have been interpreted as disappointment that Trump was elected.

5. Ramping up on Russia

Just days before his firing, Comey requested additional money and manpower from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in order to continue the Russia investigation, according to Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation.

Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Flores denied Wednesday morning that such a request was made to the department, saying that it is "100 percent false" and "it didn't happen."

It is also possible that Trump didn’t like that Comey was planning to ramp up the Russia investigation, instead of focusing on the leaks.