Trump's FBI comments to Russians were aimed at cooperation - aides

[webfact]

Trump's FBI comments to Russians were aimed at cooperation - aides

By Ginger Gibson and Julia Harte

REUTERS

 

U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster speaks to reporters in the briefing room at the White House in Washington, U.S. May 16, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump raised the firing of the FBI director in a meeting with Russia's foreign minister to explain why he had been unable to find areas of cooperation with Moscow, two top administration officials said on Sunday.

 

"The gist of the conversation was that the president feels as if he is hamstrung in his ability to work with Russia to find areas of cooperation because this has been obviously so much in the news," National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" program.

 

On the "Fox News Sunday" show Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump was also trying to convey to the Russians that he was "not going to be distracted by all these issues at home that affect us domestically."

 

Tillerson and McMaster were present at the May 10 meeting where Trump discussed his firing of James Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister and Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States.

 

The New York Times, citing officials familiar with an internal White House summary of the meeting, reported that Trump referred to Comey as a "nut job" and said his removal would relieve "great pressure" coming from the agency's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

 

Lavrov denied that the subject of Comey came up during the meeting, according to Interfax news agency.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin had offered to provide the U.S. Congress with transcripts of the same meeting to counter reports that Trump also disclosed classified information to Lavrov about a planned Islamic State operation.

 

However, neither McMaster nor Tillerson on Sunday disputed that the subject of Comey's dismissal came up in the meeting with Russian officials. Both said that Trump's remarks had been misinterpreted.

 

A steady drip of revelations about the meeting and the broader issue of Trump administration's ties to Russia have complicated the president's policy agenda and threatened to overshadow his first foreign trip.

 

Trump arrived on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the first leg of a nine-day trip and is due to go to Israel on Monday. The trip also includes stops at the Vatican, a NATO meeting in Brussels and the Group of Seven summit in Sicily.

 

Last week, former FBI director Robert Mueller was named special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Moscow.

 

Russia has denied any meddling and Trump has said there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia.

 

Two sources told Reuters on Friday the administration was exploring whether it could use an obscure ethics rule to undermine Mueller's investigation. In response, Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, said on Saturday she would introduce legislation aimed at protecting Mueller's probe.

 

U.S. lawmakers from both parties have expressed varying degrees of concern about ties between the Trump administration and Russia and the president's handling of the matter.

 

Republican U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona told "Fox News Sunday" he was left "speechless" by reports of Trump's remarks about Comey in the May 10 meeting.

 

"I don't know how to read it except that, I'm almost speechless because I don't know why someone would say something like that," McCain said, adding that the president should never have met with the Russian officials.

 

Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanolpoulos" show he was trying to obtain notes from the meeting and expected to speak to the former FBI director on Monday.

 

On the same program, Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House panel, called on Chaffetz to subpoena the White House for documents related to the committee's probe into Comey's firing.

 

Comey is set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also examining Russia's role in the election and possible ties to Trump's campaign, in two weeks. Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican on the panel, told CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday he would ask the former FBI director whether he ever felt pressured to not do his job.

 

"If any president tries to impede an investigation – any president, no matter who it is – by interfering with the FBI, yes, that would be problematic. That would be not just problematic, it would be obviously a potential obstruction of justice that people have to make a decision on," Rubio said.

 

Rubio emphasized that he will reserve judgment until he has seen all the evidence and heard from sources, including Comey.

 

(Writing by Amanda Becker; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-05-22

[darksidedog]

If this was indeed the case, why was it not reported as such immediately? Sounds like pure spin to me. And not very good spin at that.

[tonray]

The big surprise here is that we are learning that Trump's # 1 skill is not Deal Making, or running a business and getting things done. His # 1 skill is getting otherwise respectable people to put their reputations on the line and lie for him. It worked in his previous career because he has great sway over both employees and family members but the current crop of fools selling out their core values is a sad thing to see.

 

I wait for the first brave soul to hand in that resignation letter and get their backbone restored.

[mtls2005]

Talk about a massive PIVOT on this story. The administration's spokes-people are essentially pretzels.

 

He didn't do it. Fake news.

 

Trump tweets that he did it. He was "saving lives".

 

Now he's "cooperating" with the Russians so it's OK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thaidream]

Does Trump have the right to fire Comey. Absolutely.  Did he leak classified info to the Russias. He did not because as President he can immediately declassify anything. As much as I dislike everything Trump  stands for- the current news reporting on his comments are simply nonsensical.  If Comey helt he was being pressured why did he not report it to the Justice Department. In fact Comey recently testified- he was not being asked to stop any investigation. He got fired for several reasons- his mishandling of the Clinton case to include failure to refer the matter to the Justice Department for prosecution and then announcing a week before the election he was looking at more Clinton emails and then again saying he found nothing. Throw in the Russian probe and he was canned.

 

I will await the results of the Special Counsel to see if there is anything there that will connect Trump to a coverup or actual manipulation with the Russians. However, Trump needs to stop the incessant tweeting.

 

 I am more concerned with his upcoming budget which will radically decrease Medicare funding and also cut funds for food stamps. All Americans want to be off food stamps and have a well paying job.  Where are the jobs Mr. Trump- the American people are still waiting for your $trillion dollar infrastructure bill and a return of jobs from abroad. Instead you and your minions want to spend $20 Billion on a useless border wall and add $54 Billion to the defense budget which is already the largest in the World. You are doing this off the backs of the poor and it's not going to work. Show some guts and raise the taxes of the rich so the poor; middle class and the elderly can live in dignity.

[ilostmypassword]

51 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

Does Trump have the right to fire Comey. Absolutely.  Did he leak classified info to the Russias. He did not because as President he can immediately declassify anything. As much as I dislike everything Trump  stands for- the current news reporting on his comments are simply nonsensical.  If Comey helt he was being pressured why did he not report it to the Justice Department. In fact Comey recently testified- he was not being asked to stop any investigation. He got fired for several reasons- his mishandling of the Clinton case to include failure to refer the matter to the Justice Department for prosecution and then announcing a week before the election he was looking at more Clinton emails and then again saying he found nothing. Throw in the Russian probe and he was canned.

 

I will await the results of the Special Counsel to see if there is anything there that will connect Trump to a coverup or actual manipulation with the Russians. However, Trump needs to stop the incessant tweeting.

 

 I am more concerned with his upcoming budget which will radically decrease Medicare funding and also cut funds for food stamps. All Americans want to be off food stamps and have a well paying job.  Where are the jobs Mr. Trump- the American people are still waiting for your $trillion dollar infrastructure bill and a return of jobs from abroad. Instead you and your minions want to spend $20 Billion on a useless border wall and add $54 Billion to the defense budget which is already the largest in the World. You are doing this off the backs of the poor and it's not going to work. Show some guts and raise the taxes of the rich so the poor; middle class and the elderly can live in dignity.

It's true that once the President releases information that was classified it's no longer classified. What you don't seem to be aware of is that this information was given to the US by a foreign power. He decided to declassify it without consulting them. Bad move. And even though he had the perfect right to do it, that doesn't make it the right thing to do. In this case, it was very stupid.

In reply to a specific question, Comey testified that no one in the Justice Department tried to stop him or interfere with his investigation. He said nothing about Trump one way or the other.  And he took memos precisely because he was concerned about the propriety of what Trump said.  And yes, he should have been fired as soon as Trump took office. The question is the timing and Trump's admission that he fired Comey because of the Russian investigation. What's more, he lied about the reason for the firing in the letter to Comey. Why did he lie?

[Epidemiologist Dave]

20 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

It's true that once the President releases information that was classified it's no longer classified. What you don't seem to be aware of is that this information was given to the US by a foreign power. He decided to declassify it without consulting them. Bad move. And even though he had the perfect right to do it, that doesn't make it the right thing to do. In this case, it was very stupid.

In reply to a specific question, Comey testified that no one in the Justice Department tried to stop him or interfere with his investigation. He said nothing about Trump one way or the other.  And he took memos precisely because he was concerned about the propriety of what Trump said.  And yes, he should have been fired as soon as Trump took office. The question is the timing and Trump's admission that he fired Comey because of the Russian investigation. What's more, he lied about the reason for the firing in the letter to Comey. Why did he lie?

As someone on the outside looking at the USA I cannot understand all the effort being spent on the Russia issue when for the last 60 years at least America has interfered with many elections in the world and in particular South America. Can someone please enlighten me?

[ilostmypassword]

Just now, DavetheGreek said:

As someone on the outside looking at the USA I cannot understand all the effort being spent on the Russia issue when for the last 60 years at least America has interfered with many elections in the world and in particular South America. Can someone please enlighten me?

It's not the fact that Russia interfered. It's the possibility that people in Trump's campaign conspired with the Russians to do this.

[chilli42]

That the Russians worked to influence the US election process is a fact confirmed by all of the US intelligence agencies.  Clearly this needs to be properly investigated and action taken pending the detailed findings.  The allegation that Trump attempted to obstruct justice in the case of  Flynn/FBI also needs to be looked into.  The rest of the revelations are just noise.  If they are true it demonstrates bad judgement and questionable talent to lead the country.  One thing is for sure, the country must get all of this behind them ASAP as the government will simply be unable to progress any of the changes needed until these distractions are cleared.  Will Pence make a great President?  Looking at results in his home state when he was governor it's a sure bet he won't.  That said, at least the country can move ahead.

[Epidemiologist Dave]

5 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

It's not the fact that Russia interfered. It's the possibility that people in Trump's campaign conspired with the Russians to do this.

And the USA didn't conspire with anyone around the world? Get real.

[ilostmypassword]

2 minutes ago, DavetheGreek said:

And the USA didn't conspire with anyone around the world? Get real.

And those countries can prosecute those citizens of theirs who were conspirators.  Just as America can prosecute its citizens who were conspirators who collaborated with the Russians.

[Epidemiologist Dave]

10 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

And those countries can prosecute those citizens of theirs who were conspirators.  Just as America can prosecute its citizens who were conspirators who collaborated with the Russians.

It's not the consequences which are in question. It's the hypocracy.