Former President Barack Obama knew his FBI director was going to “blackmail” incoming President Trump in January 2017, attorney Joe diGenova said.
Last week former FBI General Counsel James Baker admitted the bureau was worried that former FBI Director James Comey would appear to be “blackmailing” the president-elect at the end of a Jan. 6, 2017 briefing at Trump Tower when he divulged some of the most salacious claims in an unverified dossier about Trump’s ties to Russia.
Appearing on Fox News late Sunday, diGenova noted this briefing happened one day after Obama met with top officials in the Oval Office, including Comey.
“What were they discussing? The counterintelligence investigations against incoming president of the United States. Barack Obama knew that James Comey was going to blackmail the incoming president of the United States,” diGenova said.
On Fox, Joe DiGenova says: “Barack Obama knew that James Comey was going to blackmail the incoming President of the United States” pic.twitter.com/Xc7sUAPrXb
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) May 19, 2019
President Barack Obama had an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 5, 2017 with Comey, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, national security adviser Susan Rice, and Vice President Joe Biden to discuss how much to tell Trump about Russia’s election meddling.
An email Rice sent herself on Jan. 20 — the day of Trump’s inauguration — that said Obama “said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.” The email caught the attention of Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., last year and they wrote Rice asking her to further explain why she sent the email and if it pertains to her involvement in the Trump-Russia dossier.
Rice’s attorney Kathryn Ruemmler said the meeting did not address the dossier.
DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney, served as an independent counsel in the 1990s for a case on former President Bill Clinton’s passport before he was elected. Last year, it was announced diGenova and his wife and legal partner Victoria Toensing were joining Trump’s legal team for the federal Russia investigation, but that plan was nixed within days.
He had been highly critical of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, claiming that Trump had been “framed” by the Justice Department and the FBI. Mueller found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
