Accuses Comey of Perjury, and Seems to Suggest Comey Should Be Investigated for Illegal Leaking
President Donald Trump, through his personal attorney, Thursday afternoon apparently accused former FBI Director Jim Comey of violating executive privilege, after the president’s press secretary publicly stated that the White House would not be invoking executive privilege.
He also accused Comey of perjury:
“Today, Mr. Corney admitted that he unilaterally and surreptitiously made unauthorized disclosures to the press of privileged communications with the President,” Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s personal attorney, told reporters while delivering a statement at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Calling Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee “leaks of … privileged information,” Kasowitz said the former FBI Director “admitted that he leaked to friends his purported memos of these privileged conversations, one of which he testified was classified.”
There’s no proof Comey disclosed classified information to anyone not authorized.
“He also testified that immediately after he was terminated he authorized his friends to leak the contents of these memos to the press in order to ‘prompt the appointment of a special counsel.’ Although Mr. Comey testified he only leaked the memos in response to a tweet, the public record reveals that the New York Times was quoting from these memos the day before the referenced tweet, which belies Mr. Comey’s excuse for this unauthorized disclosure of privileged information and appears to entirely retaliatory.”
Again, no proof offered, and according to this Weekly Standard reporter, Kasowitz is wrong:
He also seemed to imply Comey is an illegal leaker, stating that “from before this President took office to this day, it is overwhelmingly clear that there have been and continue to be those in government who are actively attempting to undermine this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified information and privileged communications. Mr. Comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers.
[Bolding ours]
“We will leave it the appropriate authorities to determine whether this leaks should be investigated along with all those others being investigated,” Kasowitz said.
He also denied Comey’s claim that President Trump asked Comey for loyalty and told reporters “Mr Comey’s testimony also makes clear that the President never sought to impede the investigation into attempted Russian interference in the 2016 election.”
UPDATE: 3:16 PM EDT –
RELATED STORIES:
WATCH: Comey Says Trump’s Claims His Leadership of the FBI Was Poor ‘Were Lies, Plain and Simple’
Twitter Having a Great Time Mocking White House Claim That ‘The President Is Not a Liar’
To comment on this article and other NCRM content, visit our Facebook page.
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.