President disputes Comey on Flynn
WASHINGTON — At a crucial juncture in special counsel Robert Mueller’s wideranging Russia investigation, President Donald Trump embarked on a risky gambit Sunday, going on record to directly dispute his former FBI chief’s sworn contention that the president had sought to derail an investigation into fired national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The imbroglio — set off by a presidential tweet — comes on the heels of Flynn’s guilty plea Friday to charges of lying to the FBI in connection with conversations with Russia’s then-ambassador to Washington during the presidential transition.
Friday’s development was met with initial silence from Trump, then with a deluge of weekend tweets in which he muddied the waters over his reasons for firing Flynn, excoriated the Justice Department and the FBI, renewed his attacks on Hillary Clinton and seemingly questioned the imparti-
ality of Mueller’s probe. He also explicitly contested statements by James Comey, who was fired seven months ago, regarding events prior to his dismissal.
Shortly after 6 a.m. EST Sunday, the president tweeted: “I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn,” adding: “Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!”
Sunday’s statement by Trump on Twitter was largely in line with his previous disparagement of Comey.
But the specificity and timing of the president’s public denial of Comey’s contention that Trump asked him to back off on investigating Flynn took on added significance with news that the former national security adviser is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.
Within hours of Trump’s tweet, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner of Virginia, flatly declared: “I believe FBI Director Comey.”
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Warner said Comey was “very credible in his testimony” when Comey went before the committee in June.
The response to developments in the Mueller investigation has often diverged along partisan lines. But Flynn’s guilty plea drew cautionary language from some GOP lawmakers.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., also interviewed on CNN, said he agreed with those who said Trump should not pardon Flynn. “We have to have a way to restore confidence of the American people in their elected officials and the leaders of this country,” he said. “One way you do that is by holding those folks who are … lying to the FBI, you hold those folks accountable.”
Against what would otherwise have been the triumphal backdrop of Trump’s first major legislative victory — Senate approval of a GOP tax overhaul plan — national security adviser H.R. McMaster was asked whether interactions with allies were being colored by uncertainty over the fate of Trump’s presidency due to the Mueller investigation. “I don’t think our allies need any reassurance,” McMaster said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Trump’s senior aides have acknowledged their inability to rein him in on Twitter, but the president’s penchant for off-the-cuff observations could have serious implications for his legal standing in the ongoing Mueller investigation.
On Saturday night, Trump tweeted that he had been forced to fire Flynn because he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, then Russia’s envoy to the U.S. But Trump also blamed the firing on Flynn having lied to the FBI, which the White House had not previously acknowledged knowing at that point.
A number of legal experts said such an admission by Trump could expose him to accusations of obstructing justice.
Seeking to defuse the controversy, the president’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, told ABC News that he drafted the tweet on Flynn’s dismissal, characterizing it as “sloppy.”
The apparent walking back of Trump’s statement did not satisfy some Democrats. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., interviewed Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said “what we’re beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice” in connection with the firing of Comey and other actions.
In tweets Sunday, Trump sought to cast doubt on the impartiality of Mueller’s probe, citing reports FBI agent Peter Strzok was removed from the special counsel’s team after an internal investigation of text messages he reportedly wrote that were interpreted as critical of Trump. Mueller’s office confirmed he had been reassigned
Trump declared that the FBI’s reputation was “in Tatters, worst in History!” in the wake of Comey’s tenure. “Fear not,” he wrote. “We will bring it back to greatness.”
In response Sunday, Comey offered a quote from his own Senate testimony earlier this year. “I want the American people to know this truth: The FBI is honest. The FBI is strong. And the FBI is, and always will be, independent.”