Hill GOPers Trot Out Tortured Defenses Of Trump As Pressure Builds
By ALICE OLLSTEIN Published MAY 17, 2017 12:50 PM
Republicans on Capitol Hill are still reeling from the waves of scandals that have hit Washington in quick succession over the last few days: President Donald Trump’s sudden firing of FBI Director James Comey, the admission he did so to in order put the kibosh on the bureau’s investigation of his own campaign, reports that Trump pressured Comey in a private meeting to drop that investigation, and news that Trump revealed highly classified Israeli intelligence to the Russians. Any one of those revelations on its own could drive a wedge between a President and his own party in Congress. In combination, they threaten to derail Trump’s presidency entirely.
While the latest Comey allegations have forced reluctant Republican leaders to initiate some oversight of Trump, and at least two GOP lawmakers have raised the possibility of impeachment, most members are standing by their man. Here are the some of the arguments GOP members made to reporters as to why Trump’s pressure on Comey to let Flynn off the hook does not constitute an obstruction of justice.
Trump was joking
Several Republican lawmakers claimed Wednesday morning that Trump may have been speaking in jest when he spoke to Comey about the Flynn investigation and said: “I hope you can let this go.”
“Having spent time on Air Force One with the president, I can say that he jokes a lot,” Rep. James Comer (R-KY), a member of the House Oversight Committee, told reports. “Sometimes when you say a joke, everybody gets a joke. But when you write it on paper, it sounds very different.”
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It’s a conspiracy to bring down Trump
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Comey has an agenda
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It’s not a big deal
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The leaks to the media are the real crime.
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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/republicans-fbi-comey-defenders
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