So it was a threat then
Trump tweeted today that nyah nyah he didn’t make any tapes of Comey haha fooled you.
With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017
…whether there are "tapes" or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017
Adam Schiff put out a statement saying what bullshit that is.
.@POTUS statements stop short of denying WH has any tapes in possession, and only raise more questions. WH must respond to us in writing. pic.twitter.com/I0AW6lYXwp
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) June 22, 2017
If he didn’t tape Comey, that tweet about tapes looks all the more like pure intimidation and thus obstruction of justice.
This lie increases Trump's legal exposure for obstruction and witness intimidation–more evidence of corrupt intent @Susan_Hennessey https://t.co/qBx7e58XEl
— Norm Eisen (#TryingTrump out now!) (@NormEisen) June 22, 2017
Oops.
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1576194799065642/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1576216572396798/?type=3&theater
I think everyone knew perfectly well all along that there no tapes, based on the simple fact that if they did exist – and they backed Trump’s account of things – he’d have released them immediately and gleefully, because he has the temperament of a vindictive toddler. The other alternatives are that they do exist but completely refute Trump’s word, or they don’t exist, making it his word against Comey’s. And we all know who is the more reliable of the two.
Which just goes to show how monumentally stunted Trump is. If, as seems likely, Comey was telling the truth about Trump’s attempt to quash the Russia investigation, then a) Trump knew all along that his threat was hollow, and b) Trump knew all along that Comey knew the threat to be hollow all along. He then compounded this stupid threat by giving himself a deadline to reveal the alleged recording.
And he has he highest office in America.
It does not surprise–but continues to amaze–that there is still this stubborn thirty plus percent rump of true believers support this guy.
Doesn’t surprise because so many religions had one of these. The fast talking bald faced liar people stuck to however bizarre and self contradictory might be the story. Whatever the explanation, empirically, we know it happens…
Still amazed. He lies continually and still they stick to him. Rationalizations from everyone else does anyway (probably technically true if you ignore frequency and severity) to hey he’s just a salesman selling (and see also Reagan ‘making a point’). Missed in all of this: absurdities have justified atrocities. And may do again.
The wording of his tweet suggests he at least kinda-sorta understands the position he’s put himself into with his original lie. Now he’s saying “Well I didn’t actually *say* there were any tapes, did, I? So I couldn’t possibly have been threatening anyone, right? I was totally right to mention tapes completely out of the blue because for all I know there might be some.”
Yeah, I don’ think that’s going to cut it.
And it means that he’s so clueless that he doesn’t know if his private rooms – which should be among the most secure on the planet – are checked for bugs regularly or effectively, or who may or may not be taping him without his knowledge or consent in them.
He is practically telling anyone on Twitter that he is as dumb as a post and doesn’t see the admission as any sort of problem.
Jeff,
Well, in truth, he probably can’t be sure which rooms are being bugged or not, if he’s inviting Russian photographers to bring their “equipment” in.
He saw a beetle scurry across the Oval Room carpet once. Proof that it’s bugged, I tells ya.