Trump Attorneys Reportedly Trashed James Comey While Arguing Against Obstruction Of Justice Charges

août 31, 2017

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President Trump’s attorneys are sparing no energy when it comes to defending him for firing James Comey, trying a legal strategy that reportedly involves trashing the former FBI director. The Wall Street Journal reports that, over the course of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Trump’s lawyers have submitted a series of memos outlining legal arguments. Some take the approach of defending Trump’s executive authority to hire and fire or bring up past legal precedents. Others focus on chipping away at Comey’s credibility and casting doubt on what he’s had to say.

Since June, Trump’s legal team has submitted at least one memo to Mueller that paints Comey as an unreliable leaker who tells tall tales — that’s according to anonymous sources familiar with the case who spoke to the WSJ. It’s an approach that is in keeping with Trump’s own characterization of Russian interference being a conspiracy cooked up by the Democrats over a lost election. Trump has also been frustrated by continued leaks from the White House on the matter.

This isn’t exactly surprising. given what Comey had to say back in June about the Trump’s team’s attempts to discredit him. When Comey testified before the Senate, he explained in his opening statement that the Trump administration “chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying the organization was in disarray, it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. Those were lies, plain and simple.”

Indeed, data from employee surveys released by the Bureau in August contradict Trump and reveal that employees highly rated their “trust and confidence in [Comey] as a leader,” had faith in the rationale of his decision making, and his ability to operate well under stress. If the reports on those legal memos are accurate, it looks like Comey was right about the Trump team’s efforts to defame him.

(Via Wall Street Journal)