President Trump said Friday he was amazed that former FBI Director James Comey admitted to leaking his own memos to the press that revealed his conversations with Trump about the ongoing Russia probe, and claimed victory after nearly three hours of testimony from Comey.
“Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication… and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s claim of victory mirrored the claim his lawyer made on Thursday, when he noted that Comey said three times in his testimony that Trump has not been the subject of the FBI’s investigation into Russia.
Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2017
It was Trump’s first tweet in more than 24 hours, as Trump went silent during Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Some reports said Trump would live-tweet the hearing, but Trump didn’t utter a word, and instead left that to his son, Donald Trump, Jr.
Trump tweeted later Friday morning, “Great reporting by @foxandfriends and so many others. Thank you!”
Great reporting by @foxandfriends and so many others. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2017
Comey’s admission that he leaked his own memos of his talks with Trump surprised the committee, and left many Republicans arguing that Comey himself was one of the problem leakers that have been damaging the Trump administration. Comey released his memo to a friend just a few days after he was fired, and that friend of his, a Columbia Law School professor, gave it to the New York Times.
Comey said he wanted to get the information out after Trump hinted in an early May tweet that he might have tapes of his conversations between he and Comey.
The admission came just a day after current intelligence officials told the same committee they did not want to talk about their private conversations with Trump. When Comey leaked his memo, however, he was no longer an official.
Trump’s early Friday morning tweet also took a shot at Comey for saying that Trump told “lies” about Comey to “defame” him. Comey’s stark opening statement said Trump had said Comey was doing a “great job,” but later said he was not liked at the FBI, and said those were “lies.”
“The administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI, by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, and that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader,” Comey said. “Those were lies, plain and simple.”
