No punches will be pulled in Russia saga’ s latest dramatic twist
WASHINGTON — Former FBI Director James Comey’s longawaited first public appearance since he was ousted — where he’s expected to testify that President Trump pressured him to drop the Michael Flynn probe — promises to be the most dramatic event yet in the ever-widening Russia probe.
And while the White House is taking steps to insulate itself from the fallout, Trump’s counterpunch instincts and addiction to social media promise a battle between two unpredictable titans.
Trump’s White House team, seemingly understanding the political and legal peril that Comey’s testimony presents, have officially stopped talking. Trump has lawyered up, so they’re shutting up.
“Going forward, all questions on these matters will be referred to outside counsel Marc Kasowitz,” press secretary Sean Spicer said yesterday when asked about Comey’s upcoming testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which will happen as early as next week.
Trump hired Kasowitz last week in a move that wasn’t unusual — former President Bill Clinton hired outside counsel amid the investigation that led to his impeachment trial. The idea was to create a firewall between the presidency and the legal saga.
But this case is different in one major way: Trump can’t quit Twitter.
“So now it is reported that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, don’t want him to testify,” Trump tweeted yesterday morning. “He blows away their case against him & now wants to clear his name by showing ‘the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan...’ Witch Hunt!”
The odds that Trump will stop firing off tweets about the Russian probe are slim. After all, Trump’s tweet days after firing Comey — “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” — ended with, that’s right, a leak about Comey’s interactions with Trump. Excerpts of Comey’s memos stating that Trump pressured him to back off Flynn quickly hit the headlines.
Comey himself has a flair for the dramatic and unpredictable. Despite his averred personal convictions and desire to shield his FBI from political influence, he somehow always managed to insert himself squarely in the middle of some of the most politically explosive events of the last year, alternately drawing the ire of Democrats and Republicans.
Now Comey, no longer a government official, will be free to be candid about his interactions with Trump, limited only by rules against disclosing sensitive or classified information. Trump has also handed Comey an ax to grind. Chances are, few punches will be pulled on either side.