The Wall Street Journal - Trump: Willing to Testify Under Oath That He Didn’t Ask Comey to Ease Flynn Probe
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June 9, 2017. Rebecca Ballhaus, Carol E. Lee.
‘I didn’t say that,’ president says at White House news conference.
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Friday disputed his former Federal Bureau of Investigation director’s statements about their conversation regarding the agency’s probe of former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, laying the groundwork for a potential legal clash that could have far-reaching consequences.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, a day after former FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that the president had urged him to ease off the agency’s probe of Mr. Flynn, Mr. Trump said he would be willing to similarly testify under oath that he didn’t do so.
“I didn’t say that. I will tell you I didn’t say that,” Mr. Trump said at a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. “And there’d be nothing wrong if I did say it, according to everything I’ve read today.” He said he would be “100%” willing to testify under oath to that effect and that he would also consent to be interviewed by Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Trump associates’ ties to Russia.
Mr. Trump’s comments were part of a broader counterattack launched Friday by the president and his allies against Mr. Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
The president broke his Twitter silence Friday to call that testimony a “total and complete vindication” of him on the bureau’s Russia investigation because Mr. Comey said Mr. Trump wasn’t under personal investigation. His allies also sought to raise questions about Mr. Comey’s credibility.
Mr. Trump’s private attorney, Marc Kasowitz, plans to file a complaint early next week with the Justice Department inspector general and to send a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, a person close to the president’s legal team said, following Mr. Comey’s acknowledgment Thursday that he passed his notes about his conversations with the president to a friend after his firing and authorized that friend to release them to a reporter.
But the intensifying showdown between Mr. Comey and Mr. Trump carries steep risks as it is providing new leads for the investigators inside the FBI and on Capitol Hill.
The House Intelligence Committee on Friday asked the White House counsel to detail whether any tapes existed of conversations between Mr. Trump and Mr. Comey in the White House—something that Mr. Trump alleged in a tweet earlier this year.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer, asked when the president might comment on whether tapes exist, shook his head and said: “When he’s ready.”
At the news conference, Mr. Trump said he would comment in the “near future” on the existence of any recordings of his private conversations.
Pressed whether he was hinting that there were in fact tapes, Mr. Trump responded: “I’m not hinting anything. I’ll tell you about it over a very short period of time.” He added: “Oh, you’re going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer, don’t worry.”
Mr. Comey said in his testimony Thursday, “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.”
The House Intelligence Committee asked Mr. Comey in a Friday letter to turn over any notes or memorandums concerning his discussions with the president. A bipartisan group of members of the Senate Judiciary Committee also asked Columbia University professor Daniel Richman to turn over any copies of memos in his possession. Mr. Comey testified this week that he gave his memos to a friend, who was later identified as Mr. Richman, as a way to leak them to the media.
And Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser and the president’s son-in-law, is expected to meet privately with Senate Intelligence Committee staff this summer to answer questions related to the committee’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, a White House official said Friday.
Mr. Kushner is in talks with the committee about a specific date, the official said.
The stream of new developments and the president’s denials and comments only heightened attention on the investigation that White House aides have been trying to drive out of the headlines.
The Rose Garden event was intended to showcase Mr. Trump’s commitment to North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies in Europe, which the president did, but that theme was smothered by the discussion about the Russia probe.
In addition to denying any attempt to block the Flynn investigation, Mr. Trump also said he hadn’t told Mr. Comey that he expected his loyalty, as the former FBI director testified Thursday. “I hardly know the man. I’m not going to say, ‘I want you to pledge allegiance,’” Mr. Trump said. “It hardly makes sense.”
Mr. Trump also reiterated comments he made on Twitter earlier Friday that Mr. Comey’s testimony had “vindicated” him, saying it showed that there was “no collusion” between him and Russia and “no obstruction.” He added: “James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said, and some of the things that he said just weren’t true.”
In his testimony, Mr. Comey confirmed Mr. Trump’s claims that he had, during his time as FBI director, told the president he wasn’t personally the subject of the FBI investigation. However, he said that knowledge extended only to May 9, the day the president fired him.
Lawyers and members of Congress have expressed skepticism that Mr. Comey, now a private citizen, could be prosecuted for leaking. Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), asked about the prospect on Thursday, said of Mr. Comey: “Once you’re no longer working for the government, I mean, I suspect that’s his prerogative.”
John Dean, former White House counsel under President Richard Nixon, said in a CNN interview Thursday that there are no restrictions on private citizens discussing meetings they have held with the president.
Mr. Trump’s reaction reflects the mixed nature of Mr. Comey’s testimony. Mr. Comey made clear that Mr. Trump wasn’t a target of the Russia probe, backing Mr. Trump’s statements to that effect. But Mr. Comey also recounted several occasions where he said he felt Mr. Trump was trying to pressure him on the investigation or threaten his independence.
In his testimony, Mr. Comey declined to offer his opinion on whether he thought Mr. Trump was trying to obstruct justice, but he said that issue is something that the recently appointed special counsel would examine.
Mr. Comey’s public testimony lasted more than 2 1/2 hours and allowed the former FBI chief to speak publicly on a range of topics surrounding his interactions with the president, including his decision to document all conversations with the president because he believed Mr. Trump “might lie” about them later.
Thursday’s hearing made clear Mr. Comey believed the president had actively tried to influence the course of the FBI’s investigation into Mr. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser, who was forced to resign after making false statements about his conversations with a Russian diplomat. But because the most damning accounts involved one-on-one encounters with the president—and Mr. Trump disputes Mr. Comey’s version—investigators face a challenge as they examine the matter.
“It’s my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation,” Mr. Comey said.
Following his remarks in the Rose Garden Friday, Mr. Trump boarded Marine One to head to his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., for the weekend, ignoring shouted questions about the alleged Oval Office tapes.
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