President Donald Trump feels ‘vindicated’ by testimony released in advance of James Comey’s appearance before a Senate panel, his personal attorney said Wednesday.
President Donald Trump feels ‘vindicated’ by testimony released in advance of James Comey’s appearance before a Senate panel, his personal attorney said Wednesday after the release of Comey’s claim that Trump asked him for his loyalty.
‘The president feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda, ‘ Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz said in a statement released hours after the fired FBI director’s testimony was made public.
‘The President is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the President was not under investigation in any Russian probe, ‘ he said.
Kasowitz was pointing to one of the few bright spots for Trump contained in the letter. In it, Comey states that he told Trump in a Jan. 6 meeting in Trump Tower that he wasn’t under investigation – unprompted.
But he specified that he was referring to a counter-intelligence investigation, as opposed to a criminal one.
‘That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him. We agreed I should do so if circumstances warranted, ” Comey wrote.
“During our one-on-one meeting at Trump Tower, based on President-Elect Trump’s reaction to the briefing and without him directly asking the question, I offered that assurance, ‘ he said.
The comment backed up a claim Trump made in the letter officially firing Comey where he mentioned three occasions where he said Comey had assured him he wasn’t under investigation.
‘While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau, ‘ Trump wrote in the letter.
Comey also references other times when the matter came up, as when he told Trump in a Feb. 14 meeting he had briefed congressional leaders about the FBI’s Russia probe. He told them ‘exactly which individuals we were investigating’, and stated they were not ‘personally investigating’ Trump.
‘We need to get that fact out, ‘ Trump told him, in Comey’s account. Comey told him the FBI and the Justice Department were reluctant to make public statements for a number of reasons, including the ‘duty to correct’ should the situation change.
The White House referred questions about the Comey matter to the outside lawyer on Wednesday.
‘I can’ t imagine the president not standing by his own statement, but for questions specific to Director Comey I would have to refer you to the president’s outside counsel, ” Deputy Press Secretary the Sarah Huckabee Sanders told traveling reporters.
The statement didn’t address other damaging claims, like Trump’s request for loyalty at a one-on-one meeting. ”That concerned me greatly, given the FBI’s traditionally independent status in the executive branch, ‘ Comey says in advance testimony, ‘ Comey writes in his testimony.
It also doesn’t address Comey’s claim Trump asked him to back off an investigation of fired National Security Advisor Mike Flynn – a claim that has raised issues of potential obstruction of justice.
‘He then said, ‘I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go, ‘ according to Comey.
It also doesn’t address Comey’s claim that Trump brought up the dirty dossier, including it’s discredited salacious claims.
‘During the dinner, the President returned to the salacious material I had briefed him about on January 6, and, as he had done previously, expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them, ‘ Comey writes in his prepared testimony.
‘He said he was considering ordering me to investigate the alleged incident to prove it didn’t happen. I replied that he should give that careful thought because it might create a narrative that we were investigating him personally, which we weren’t, and because it was very difficult to prove a negative, ‘ Comey wrote.
‘He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia. He asked what we could do to ‘lift the cloud, ‘ Comey wrote.
