Trump: Suggesting I Had Comey Tapes 'Wasn't Stupid'

Says Mueller's friendship with Comey is 'very bothersome'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 23, 2017 9:01 AM CDT
Trump: Suggesting I Had Comey Tapes 'Wasn't Stupid'
President Donald Trump speaks during the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Allies of President Trump have been demanding Robert Mueller recuse himself from the Justice Department investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia and whether Trump tried to obstruct justice, reports Politico. And while Trump himself wouldn't go that far in an interview with Fox & Friends that aired Friday, he did suggest there was reason for concern. Mueller "is very, very good friends with [James] Comey, which is very bothersome," the president said. Those hired to work on the investigation "are all Hillary Clinton supporters," he continued. "I mean the whole thing is ridiculous." He added, however, that Mueller is "an honorable man and hopefully he'll come up with an honorable conclusion."

Newt Gingrich previously described Mueller—who led the FBI from 2001 to 2013 before Comey took over—as the "tip of a deep-state spear aimed at" Trump, per Business Insider. Shortly after, Politico reports a former White House ethics lawyer who worked under President George W. Bush tweeted, "Trump surrogates are making up Mueller 'conflicts' to justify firing him. That will be yet more obstruction of justice if it happens." In the Fox interview, Trump also touched on his suggestion that he taped his conversations with Comey, noting the move "wasn't very stupid" because it forced Comey to admit that he had told Trump he wasn't under investigation. "If you look further back before he heard about [the tapes], maybe he wasn't admitting that," Trump said. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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