Trump, Comey bonded over plugging leaks
WASHINGTON — James Comey and President Trump seem to disagree on most everything, but the exFBI director’s memos show consensus on at least one thing: the need to hunt down leakers.
The two men bonded over the idea of a proposed leak crackdown, even sharing a chuckle over a crude joke involving jailed journalists, according to memos written by Comey and obtained by The Associated Press.
The jocularity over leakers and journalists is striking given the otherwise tense nature of their conversations, which touched on loyalty pledges, Russian prostitutes and open FBI investigations.
The memos kept by Comey show his unease with Trump’s requests and his concern that the president was blurring the bright line between politics and law enforcement, including with a request that he end an investigation into former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Yet Trump and Comey were clearly on the same page about leaks, even if they weren’t quite in agreement on whom to hold accountable for them.
Comey recounts an Oval Office conversation from February 2017 in which Trump raises the prospect of jailing journalists who benefit from leaked information. According to the memos, Comey told Trump it would be tricky legally to jail reporters but said he saw value in going after leakers and “putting a head on a pike as a message” by bringing such a case.
Trump shot back that sending that message may involve jailing reporters.
“They spend a couple days in jail, make a new friend, and they are ready to talk,” Trump says in one memo. Comey laughed as he walked out of the room, according to the memo.
The Trump administration has loudly complained about leaks, and Trump himself has repeatedly accused Comey of being a leaker. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said there are several dozen leak investigations open, though that aggressiveness is similar to that of the Obama Justice Department, which was frequently criticized by media organizations and free press advocates.