Trump Faces Deepest Crisis of Presidency With Comey Memo
The White House was already on the defensive over the Trump’s firing of Comey a week ago.
(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump is facing the deepest crisis of his presidency after contents of a memo written by James Comey when he was FBI director surfaced Tuesday, alleging that the president asked him to drop an investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
The White House was already on the defensive over the president’s firing of Comey a week ago and over a report Monday that Trump disclosed sensitive intelligence to Russian officials. Then another political bombshell exploded Tuesday night.
Trump and Comey in January.
After a conversation Comey had with Trump in February, a day after Flynn was ousted for what the White House said were misleading accounts of his conversations with Russia’s U.S. ambassador, the FBI director wrote a memo documenting the Oval Office meeting. In it, Comey said the president asked him to abandon the Flynn investigation, according to a person who was given a copy of the memo and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“I hope you can let this go,” Trump told the FBI director, according to the memo as cited by the New York Times, which first reported its existence. The contents of the memo have subsequently been confirmed by other news organizations, including Bloomberg, although the memo itself has not yet surfaced publicly.
Question of Influence
The revelation raised questions about whether the president sought to influence the FBI at the same time the agency is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with Moscow by Trump associates. The memo’s emergence, after Trump fired Comey, had congressional Democrats raising the specter that the president engaged in obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense.
In his first public appearance since the Comey memo was revealed, Trump made no mention of it but used a commencement address to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to air his irritation and boast about what he’s accomplished in the short period he’s been in office.
He told the academy graduates that life isn’t always fair and that the best response is to “put your head down and fight, fight, fight” and, in an unusual aside for such an event, portrayed himself as the victim of unscrupulous opponents.
“Look at the way I’ve been treated lately, especially by the media,” Trump said at the academy in New London, Connecticut. “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
No one from the administration has responded on the record about the Comey memo. Instead, the White House press office released an emailed statement -- not on official letterhead -- denying Comey’s version of events. Trump “has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn,” according to the statement. The description in the purported memo “is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the President and Mr. Comey,” it said.
One frustrated senior administration official questioned why Comey didn’t complain to Department of Justice officials or to Congress if he thought Trump was trying to impede the Flynn investigation.
Comey wrote the memo documenting the conversation with Trump because he was uneasy about the president’s request, even though the FBI director didn’t consider it a direct threat, said the person who received a copy. Trump said to Comey that Flynn was a good guy, to which Comey agreed, the person said.
It wasn’t immediately clear who within the FBI received or saw the memo, or whether acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe was among them. The White House pointed to congressional testimony by McCabe last week in which he said there has been no effort to impede the FBI’s probe.
The FBI’s investigation is broader than just Flynn, and it’s possible McCabe was referring to the overall probe, the person said.
Records Sought
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz, wrote a letter to McCabe on Tuesday demanding all FBI memos and other records documenting communications between Comey and Trump by May 24.
FBI spokeswoman Carol Cratty declined to comment.
The turmoil spilled over into financial markets, as the S&P 500 Index slumped to a three-week low, the CBOE Volatility Index spiked the most since January, and Treasuries rallied with gold.
Congressional Republicans have largely backed Trump through the rocky initial months of his administration, but the events of the past week -- Comey’s firing, the report that Trump disclosed classified information to Russian officials, and Comey’s memo -- are testing the party’s patience.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Tuesday that Republicans desire “less drama” from the White House. Several Republicans said Tuesday after the memo surfaced that Comey should testify to Congress. AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, said the Wisconsin Republican backed Chaffetz’s demand for documents.
Republicans React
“If true, these memoranda raise questions as to whether the president attempted to influence or impede the FBI’s investigation as it relates to Lt. Gen. Flynn,” Chaffetz wrote.
Lawmakers need to hear Comey testify and get documents or transcripts of any meetings he had with Trump, Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, told CNN on Wednesday.
"Unfortunately the administration has given such conflicting information, the president’s own tweets at times seem to contradict the statements made by staff," she said.
Representative Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, went further.
"I think we’re at the position now where it’s time for an independent commission or a special prosecutor or whatever," Kinzinger told CNN Wednesday, adding that it was the first time he had made such a call. "If in fact what was said in the memo is true, it’s very concerning and we need to get to the bottom of that."
Democrats Pounce
Democrats were far less sparing in their criticism.
Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a member of the Judiciary Committee, called the memo as reported “powerful evidence of obstruction of justice.”
“If there were ever a final nail on the case for an independent prosecutor, this is it,” Blumenthal said at the Capitol. “And there’s more behind it. There are other memos.”
He and other Democrats said Comey must testify before lawmakers about his conversations with the president.
“At best, President Trump has committed a grave abuse of executive power,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said in a statement. "At worst, he has obstructed justice."
Second-ranking Senate Democrat Dick Durbin told reporters, "Each day as this unfolds, this pattern of obstruction of justice grows." The Illinois senator said he wants to see Comey’s memos and hear his testimony in public.
Comey had been invited to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday but never accepted and indicated he would appear at another time.
--With assistance from Anna Edgerton Laura Litvan Margaret Talev Justin Sink Terrence Dopp Billy House Robert Brand Jennifer Epstein and Shannon Pettypiece
To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net, Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net, Joe Sobczyk, C. Thompson