WHO faces possible charges of ‘obstruction of justice’?
Democrat senator says president lost credibility, had become dangerous
WASHINGTON— The secondhighest-ranking Democrat in the US Senate warned that President Donald Trump had become “dangerous” because the billionaire businessman could be on the way to “obstructing justice” in the investigation of Russia’s involvement in the US elections and collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian undercover agents.
Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, said Trump’s “credibility has been destroyed.”
“When you’re the leader of the free world, you need to be credible,” said Durbin, addressing himself to Trump.
The Illinois senator said Trump lost credibility given his firing of FBI Director James Comey and a constantly shifting explanation for why it happened.
James Clapper, former national intelligence chief, said Comey had been uneasy about having dinner with Trump on Jan. 27.
Clapper said he spoke briefly with Comey about the dinner before they attended a retirement celebration for Clapper.
Uneasy
He said Comey mentioned that he had been invited to have dinner with Trump and was “uneasy with it.”
Clapper said Comey was concerned about the “optics” of that because it might appear that he or the FBI was not working independently of the White House.
Clapper also denied claims made by Trump that the former top spy had concluded that there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence.
Clapper, who retired in January, said he didn’t know about the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Clapper said he does not know if there’s evidence of collusion or not because he was not privy to the FBI probe.
An associate of Comey had confirmed that Trump asked for Comey’s loyalty during the Jan. 27 dinner.
The associate with knowledge of the conversation said an account of the conversation in the New York Times is accurate.
Honesty, not loyalty
During the dinner, Comey refused to pledge his loyalty and instead offered the president his honesty.
The White House had disputed this account.
Comey hasn’t commented publicly since he was dismissed. The associate spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose details of a private conversation.
But Trump had warned that Comey “better hope” that there were no “tapes” of their conversations.
Trump tweeted on Friday, “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
Trump fired Comey on Tuesday, later saying that “he wasn’t doing a good job.”
In the termination letter to Comey, Trump thanked him for telling the president “three times” that he personally is not under investigation for collusion with Russia during his 2016 campaign.
Trump reiterated his view that reports about collusion with the Russian government by members of his 2016 campaign are “fabricated.”
The president tweeted early on Friday that “Again, the story that there was collusion between the Russians & Trump campaign was fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election.”
He added, “The Fake Media is working overtime today!”—