The Trump administration is said to have approached a number of House Republicans about appearing on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN on Thursday night following James Comey’s testimony.
The White House reportedly demanded House Republicans to appear on cable news networks to defend President Donald Trump on Thursday following former FBI Director James Comey’s explosive testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Trump administration is said to have approached a number of conservative congressmen and congresswomen about appearing on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN on Thursday night.
Staffers told the officials that Trump was ‘obsessing and watching every channel’.
The administration reportedly felt that House Republicans ‘were not doing enough to push back against’ the Democrats’ allegations that Trump obstructed justice by asking Comey to back off the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, according to The Daily Caller .
During his testimony on Thursday, Comey accused the Trump administration of spreading ‘lies’ and bluntly asserted that Trump had fired him to interfere with an investigation of Russia’s ties to the Trump campaign.
His gripping account of interactions with Trump underscored the discord that soured their relationship.
Facing a Senate committee Thursday, Comey portrayed Trump as dismissive of the FBI’s independence. He also made clear that he interpreted Trump’s request to end an investigation into Flynn as an order coming from the president.
Comey also revealed that he’d orchestrated the public release of information about his private conversations with the president. He said it was an effort to further the investigation.
Following Comey’s testimony, Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz sharply criticized Comey for leaking what he called ‘privileged communications’ between the president and the then-FBI director.
‘As the Committee pointed out today, these important facts for the country to know are virtually the only facts that have not leaked during the long course of these events, ‘ he said in a statement. ‘As he said yesterday, the President feels completely vindicated and is eager to continue moving forward with his agenda with this public cloud removed. Thank you.’
Kasowitz tried to link Comey with others in the government who he said had selectively and illegally leaked classified information to undermine the administration and suggested that Comey might have broken the law.
It would be up to the appropriate authorities to determine whether the leak should be investigated, Kasowitz said.
