President Donald Trump reacted sharply to a New York Times report published Friday that said after he fired FBI Director James Comey, the bureau began…
President Donald Trump reacted sharply to a New York Times report published Friday that said after he fired FBI Director James Comey, the bureau began to investigate whether Trump was « knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence. »
« Are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President? » Fox News host – and vocal Trump supporter – Jeanine Pirro asked Trump during a phone interview Saturday night.
« I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked, » Trump replied. « I think it’s the most insulting article I’ve ever had written. And if you read the article, you’d see that they found absolutely nothing. »
The article said, « No evidence has emerged publicly that Mr. Trump was secretly in contact with or took direction from Russian government officials. » But Trump felt the Times’ headline was unfair and attacked the « disaster of a newspaper, » a frequent target of his criticisms.
« It was a great insult, » Trump said of the Times article. »It’s a very horrible thing they said, and they’ve gone so far that people that weren’t necessarily believers are now big believers because they said that was a step too far. »
The Times reported that FBI officials first became suspicious of Trump’s relationship with Russia during the 2016 campaign but did not initially act, « in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude. »
« But the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s firing in May 2017, particularly two instances in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry, » the Times said, citing unnamed law enforcement officials.
