Here's how Republicans are trying to defend Donald Trump
THURSDAY, JUN 8, 2017 8:49 AM EDT
Here’s how Republicans are trying to defend Donald Trump
The GOP is going on the offensive after seeing Comey's testimony — but their damage control isn't very good
MATTHEW ROZSA
President Donald Trump is going to rely quite heavily on the Republican National Committee and his own legal team to respond to the ongoing scandal involving his firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
The RNC has a team comprised of approximately 60 staffers who will attack both Comey and the Democratic Party as the scandal continues to unfold, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Trump is also relying on his longtime attorney Marc Kasowitz, who said in a statement yesterday that “the president is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the President was not under investigation in any Russian probe. The president feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda.”
The Republicans’ talking points about Comey not only contradict previous reports about Trump. They also contradict themselves.
Link to tweet
Although they insist that “Comey’s opening statement confirms he told President Trump three times that he was not under investigation,” they also argue that “Director Comey has a long history of blatant contradictions and misstatements.”
Similarly, although they claim that “while investigating the Clinton email scandal, Comey succumbed to political pressure from the Obama White House” and that “this is far worse than anything President Trump is rumored to have said,” they cite public comments by Obama that indirectly tried to clear Clinton in the investigation while ignoring the comments that Trump is reported to have said to Comey. Those comments, it must be noted, come from the same statement that Republicans are citing as proof that Comey reassured Trump he wasn’t under investigation.
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http://www.salon.com/2017/06/08/heres-how-republicans-are-trying-to-defend-donald-trump/