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Furious About Leaks Trump Suggested Prison Rape as Means of Getting Reporters to Reveal Sources
The Dept. of Justice Thursday night released to congressional leaders redacted copies of the memos FBI Director Jim Comey wrote detailing his interactions with President Trump before being fired. It was an unprecedented move made only to appease Republicans seeking to discredit Comey.
It backfired.
It also revealed previously undisclosed remarks by Trump, exposing more to the American people how his mind works.
Trump has been besieged by leaks from within his own White House from the start, and he was furious about them.
In one portion of a memo from February 14, 2017, President Trump suggested to his then FBI Director that prison rape would be an effective method of convincing reporters to reveal their sources – the people who are leaking to them.
“The president then wrapped up our conversation by returning to the issue of finding leakers,” Comey wrote, as HuffPost reports. “I said something about the value of putting a head on a pike as a message. He replied by saying it may involve putting reporters in jail.”
″‘They spend a couple days in jail, make a new friend, and they are ready to talk,’” Comey recounted the president saying. “I laughed as I walked to the door Reince Priebus had opened.”
Some on social media expressed disgust:
The fact that the president is recommending prison rape is horrifying.
The fact that it's felt to be a normal part of prison is horrifying.
The fact that it occurs at all is horrifying. https://t.co/J4xxEGQ4bu
— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) April 20, 2018
President makes a prison rape joke to express how incarcerating reporters would be effective. Director of the FBI, by his own account, laughs. pic.twitter.com/k1AFxURohk
— T'Challah 🍝 (@AdamSerwer) April 20, 2018
The current President of the United States describing the value of prison rape for journalists. https://t.co/nEED3IDDRq
— Steven Beschloss (@StevenBeschloss) April 20, 2018
In which Trump and Comey share a laugh about prison rape: pic.twitter.com/Mz8rxUOPMB
— Dafna Linzer (@DafnaLinzer) April 20, 2018
"They spend a couple days in jail, make a new friend, and they are ready to talk," Trump said according to Comey's recollection.
Trump is talking about prison rape. He's talking about rape being used to force imprisoned journalists to "talk".
I am stunned.
— Peter "Little Doc" Delacroix (@DocPeteyJ) April 20, 2018
Ha ha, prison rape, it's both funny and useful for intimidating journalists, because we live in a society so cruel and so blase about sexual violence that of course a prison environment 100% controlled by the government should include a high likelihood of rape. https://t.co/4jSVDCULUp
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) April 20, 2018
Threatening journalists with prison rape. That’s a whole other level of wrong in so many different ways. That man should not be president or at any level of power in any sphere whatsoever.
— AiasIRL (@AiasIRL) April 20, 2018
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