Trump says he did not ask FBI director to end Flynn investigation

Record ID: 876380

  • Title: Trump says he did not ask FBI director to end Flynn investigation
  • Date: 18th May 2017
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (MAY 18, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING: "I think it's totally ridiculous. Everybody thinks so. And again we have to get back to working our country properly so that we can take care of the problems that we have. We have plenty of problems. We've done a fantastic job. We have a tremendous group of people millions and millions of people out there that are looking at what you just said and said 'What are they doing?" Director Comey was very unpopular with most people. I actually thought when I made that decision and I also got a very, very strong recommendation as you know from the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. When I made that decision, I actually thought that it would be a bipartisan decision because you look at all of the people on the Democratic side, not only the Republican side that was saying such terrible things about Director Comey. Then he had the very poor performance on Wednesday that was a poor, poor performance, so poor in fact that I believe and you'd have to ask him, because I don't like to speak for other people, but I believe that's why the deputy attorney general went out and wrote his very, very strong letter. And then on top of that after the Wednesday performance by Director Comey, you had a person come and have to readjust the record, which many people have never seen before because there were misstatements made. And I thought that was something that was terrible."
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2017 22:07
  • Keywords: Rod Rosenstein Russia memo FBI James Comey Donald Trump
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036HDB613
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday (May 18) he did not ask former FBI director James Comey to back off on the investigation into national security adviser Mike Flynn.
    Trump also said he was close to selecting a new Federal Bureau of Investigation director to replace James Comey, who he fired last week.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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