President Trump watched only “bits and pieces” of former FBI Director James Comey’s Sunday interview with ABC News, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday.
“He saw bits and pieces of it. He didn’t watch the entire thing,” Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“I think it’s pretty similar — we didn’t learn anything new,” Sanders said. “The president has been pretty clear what those are, as has the rest of the administration. Comey is a self-admitted leaker. Been proven to be dishonest. And I think that his credibility is really at hand, and it’s quite interesting that he would question someone else’s when he has such a lack of credibility himself.”
[Related: James Comey’s interview is a media flop]
Trump fired Comey in May and has repeatedly criticized him ahead of the Tuesday release of Comey’s book “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership.”
On Monday morning, Trump tweeted: “Comey drafted the Crooked Hillary exoneration long before he talked to her (lied in Congress to Senator G), then based his decisions on her poll numbers. Disgruntled, he, McCabe, and the others, committed many crimes!”
Comey drafted the Crooked Hillary exoneration long before he talked to her (lied in Congress to Senator G), then based his decisions on her poll numbers. Disgruntled, he, McCabe, and the others, committed many crimes!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2018
A Justice Department inspector general report released last week concluded that Comey likely told the truth in denying to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that he “ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source” about an investigation of Hillary Clinton. Comey gave the testimony days before he was fired.
The inspector general’s office concluded Comey’s former deputy Andrew McCabe “lacked candor” in claiming that Comey was aware of the disclosures to the press, which the report describes McCabe authorizing and then lying about, leading to his firing last month by Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the recommendation of the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
After he was fired, Comey admittedly gave memos to Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman so they could be leaked to the press to force the appointment of a special counsel to investigate alleged Trump campaign collusion with Russia.
Richman, who says he represents Comey as a legal client, declined to comment on Comey’s previous claims of never leaking to the press or on possible legal issues involved in Comey’s release of memos after being fired.
“I represent Mr. Comey and will let you know if he has a comment. I’m confident he won’t have one,” Richman said.
