« I think he was in his way instinctively trying to rattle Comey, » Gingrich told The Associated Press. « He’s not a professional politician. He doesn’t come back and think about Nixon and Watergate. His instinct is: ‘I’ll outbluff you.' »
Six weeks after President Donald Trump suggested (on Twitter, where else?) that there could be audio recordings of his conversations with former FBI director James Comey, Trump confidant Newt Gingrich is saying that isn’t true.
« I think he was in his way instinctively trying to rattle Comey, » Gingrich told The Associated Press. « He’s not a professional politician. He doesn’t come back and think about Nixon and Watergate. His instinct is: ‘I’ll outbluff you.' »
Does that make it a lie?
The point of The Associated Press piece is that this is a familiar pattern for Trump.
« Whether the tapes exist or not, this is far from the first time that Trump, the former star of reality TV and tabloids, has manufactured a melodrama that begins with bluster but often ends with a whimper, » the story says.
Under the headline, « Gingrich just admitted Trump was being dishonest about White House tapes — because nothing matters, » a Washington Post analysis notes that Gingrich’s construction suggests that « not being a ‘professional politician’ is a license for dishonesty. »
Newsweek is more direct with a headline that says: « Newt Gingrich Admits Trump Probably Lied About Existence Of Comey Tapes. »
Esquire went with the more neutral, « Newt Gingrich Casually Reveals That Trump’s Comey Tapes Threat Was Just a Bluff. »
So was it a lie or a bluff? Is there a diference?
Trump first alluded to the possible existence of tapes of his conversations with Comey in a tweet days after he fired Comey, which set off questions of whether the president was obstructing justice by dismissing the man in charge of investigating Russia’s influence on the 2016 election.
Comey has said that Trump had, in private conversations at the White House, asked him to back away from an investigation of former National Security Advise Michael Flynn and to plege his loyalty to Trump.
« James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! » Trump tweeted.
In later testimony before a Senate committee, Comey said, « Lordy, I hope there are tapes. »
Trump has remained silent on the existence of the tapes until Thursday (June 22) when he issued another tweet suggesting that he doesn’t know if such recordings exist, but if they do he didn’t make them.
…whether there are « tapes » or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.
A sympathetic reading of Gingrich’s interpretation, suggests that Trump was warning Comey against making any false statements that could later be contradicted by the audio recordings. A less kind reading says Trump was threatening Comey against saying anything. In either scenario, Trump is not being truthful about having the tapes.
Bluffing is commonly defined as « an attempt to deceive someone into believing that one can or will do something. » That’s clearly within the rules of poker and other table games, but is it ethical for a president making public statements, not just to Comey but to the rest of the world through his Twitter feed.
A lied is defined as « a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood. »
If Trump was bluffing Comey, he was misleading a lot of people. His latest tweet is a clever way of trying to get around his deception. But I think Gingrich has it right: Trump lied about the tapes.
Tim Morris is an opinions columnist at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. He can be reached at tmorris@nola.com. Follow him on Twitter @tmorris504.
