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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's warning to Comey deepens doubts about his respect for the rule of law
By James Hohmann May 12 at 11:11 AM
THE BIG IDEA: The biggest news out of Donald Trumps Thursday interview with NBC was his confession that the Russia investigation was on his mind when he fired FBI director James Comey. Undercutting 48 hours of denials by his aides, the president said: In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, its an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.
But what may ultimately get Trump into bigger trouble is his story about Comey assuring him he was not under investigation during a one-on-one dinner at the White House. Lester Holt asked the president to elaborate on his claim, made in the letter firing Comey, that hed been told three times he was not under federal investigation. He wanted to stay at the FBI, and I said Ill, you know, consider and see what happens, Trump said. But we had a very nice dinner, and at that time he told me, You are not under investigation. (Watch a 13-minute video of Holts sit-down here.)
It would be a big dang deal if the FBI director was discussing an ongoing investigation with the president generally prohibited by Justice Department policy at the same time he was also asking to keep his job.
But on the front page of todays New York Times, Michael Schmidt paints a very different picture of the Jan. 27 dinner: The conversation that night, Mr. Comey now believes, was a harbinger of his downfall
according to two people who have heard his account of the dinner.
As they ate, the president and Mr. Comey made small talk about the election and the crowd sizes at Mr. Trumps rallies. The president then turned the conversation to whether Mr. Comey would pledge his loyalty to him. Mr. Comey declined to make that pledge. Instead, Mr. Comey has recounted to others, he told Mr. Trump that he would always be honest with him, but that he was not reliable in the conventional political sense.
By Mr. Comeys account, his answer to Mr. Trumps initial question apparently did not satisfy the president
Later in the dinner, Mr. Trump again said to Mr. Comey that he needed his loyalty. Mr. Comey again replied that he would give him honesty and did not pledge his loyalty
But Mr. Trump pressed him on whether it would be honest loyalty. You will have that, Mr. Comey told his associates he responded.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/05/12/daily-202-trump-s-warning-to-comey-deepens-doubts-about-his-respect-for-the-rule-of-law/5915063ee9b69b209cf2b814/?utm_term=.57fe79983bc9&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1
Wounded Bear
(58,627 posts)When has Trump shown any respect for the law? I haven't seen it.