Trump Responds To Comey Testimony

Earlier today we noted that CNN, and its anonymous sources, seemingly made a ‘mistake’ by reporting that Comey would offer testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee tomorrow refuting Trump’s prior claims that he had been told on three separate occasions by the former FBI Director that he was not personally under investigation.  Unfortunately, at least for CNN, Comey’s opening comments released earlier today confirmed that Trump’s original statements were, in fact, perfectly accurate (see “Looks Like CNN’s Anonymous Sources Got This One Wrong“). 

Marc Kasowitz, the lawyer representing President Trump in the Russia probe, has now released Trump’s thoughts on Comey’s opening statements saying he feels “completely and totally vindicated.”

“The president is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the President was not under investigation in any Russia probe. The President feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda.”

NEW: “The president feels completely and totally vindicated,” Trump’s private lawyer Marc Kasowitz tells @margarettalev on Comey testimony. pic.twitter.com/8wyPhAIVGh

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 7, 2017

Meanwhile, the RNC has also weighed in:

“President Trump was right.  Director Comey’s statement reconfirmed what the president has been saying all along – he was never under investigation.”

“Trump was right,” RNC’s Ronna McDaniel says. Comey’s statement reconfirms
“he was never under investigation.” pic.twitter.com/nJbP8HCm9N

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 7, 2017

Of course, while we now know that Trump was never under investigation for colluding with the Russians, we’re sure the MSM will turn their attention to whether or not he’s officially under investigation for “obstructing justice.”  If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

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And, for those who missed it, here are the three instances, directly from Comey’s testimony, in which he personally told President Trump he was not under investigation:

1.  January 6th Meeting at Trump Tower:

“In that context, prior to the January 6 meeting, I discussed with the FBI’s leadership team whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally. That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him. We agreed I should do so if circumstances warranted. 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.”

2.  January 27th Dinner at White House:

“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. 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. He said he would think about it and asked me to think about it.”

3.  March 30 Phone Call:

“I explained that we had briefed the leadership of Congress on exactly which individuals we were investigating and that we had told those Congressional leaders that we were not personally investigating President Trump. I reminded him I had previously told him that.”