In a series of tweets, President Trump lashed out at former FBI director James Comey, attempting to distort details from Comey’s new book to suit his narrative. The tweets contradict themselves in regards to whether Comey is believable and misinterpret what has been released so far.
The first tweet Sunday morning suggested that Comey’s announcement days before the election that the probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails was being reopened was a veiled attempt to get a job with Clinton.
Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe. In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
But Comey’s announcement most likely helped Clinton lose the election, as even Clinton herself believes. Comey does say in his book and his upcoming interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he believed she would win and that impacted his decision to release his letter about the investigation.
He was concerned, however, that the revelation would make her an “illegitimate president” if it was withheld, so he thought it needed to come to light before the election. Trump’s belief that Comey must be politically biased in Clinton’s favor led to his own bizarre conclusion that this action would somehow endear Comey to her administration.
Trump also insisted that Comey committed numerous crimes and is deserving of jail.
The big questions in Comey’s badly reviewed book aren’t answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didn’t they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe’s $700,000 & more?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
These hollow accusations are ironic, since Trump seemingly admitted just this week to obstruction of justice and then pardoned Scooter Libby, who had been convicted of obstruction of justice. More importantly, he candidly explained nearly a year ago that he fired Comey because of his role in the Russia investigation into the Trump campaign, which many experts agreed constituted obstruction of justice.
In another tweet, Trump suddenly argued that Comey did have some degree of credibility when he threw former attorney general Loretta Lynch “under the bus” — seemingly parroting the New York Post headline about the detail from the book.
Comey throws AG Lynch “under the bus!” Why can’t we all find out what happened on the tarmac in the back of the plane with Wild Bill and Lynch? Was she promised a Supreme Court seat, or AG, in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and grandkids talk (give us all a break)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
It’s true that Comey does suggest in the book that Lynch played some role in his decision to make statements about the Clinton email investigation, including a cryptic “development still unknown to the American public to this day.” But Comey explicitly says he didn’t think Lynch interfered with the investigation and he downplayed the significance of her tarmac conversation with President Bill Clinton. It seems Trump read the headline and drew his own conclusion, ignoring the details of the reporting.
In the following tweet, Trump reverted back to calling Comey a liar, once again rejecting all his claims that Trump asked him for loyalty, as Comey first testified last summer.
I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies. His “memos” are self serving and FAKE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
This seems to echo efforts by the administration and its surrogates to make the most of the Comey book. This was particularly evident in an interview the Republican National Committee’s Kayleigh McEnany gave on Friday, in which she claimed Comey was a liar but also argued that his book exonerates Trump.
After a tangentially related tweet about attorney-client privilege, referencing the FBI’s raid on his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump continued his rant against Comey by calling him “slippery,” “not smart!”, and “the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!”
Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
Sunday morning’s tweets follow a White House press briefing Friday in which Sarah Huckabee Sanders lambasted Comey as a “liar and a leaker.” She even said, “One of the president’s great achievements will go down as firing James Comey.” If, as Trump admitted a year ago, he fired Comey to protect himself from the Russia investigation and that’s found to be obstruction of justice, it will certainly be one of most memorable actions he took as president.