President Donald Trump clearly said Former FBI director James Comey didn’t tell the truth during his explosive testimony before Congress last week. The commander in chief essentially accused Comey of perjury, denying claims that Trump had expressed “hope” that the FBI chief would drop the investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
In a television interview on Saturday night though, Donald Trump Jr. appeared to directly contradict his father’s denial. “When [Trump] tells you to do something, guess what, there’s no ambiguity in it,” Trump Jr. said in an interview with Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro. “There’s no, ‘hey, I’m hoping.’ You and I are friends, ‘hey I hope this happens, but you’ve got to do your job.’ That’s what he told Comey.”
That appears to directly contradict what Trump said during a Friday news conference, when he insisted, “I didn’t say that” when he was asked about that portion of Comey’s testimony. When journalists wondered whether Trump was saying that Comey lied under oath, Trump skirted the direct question but didn’t change the substance of his point: “I didn’t say that. I mean, I will tell you, I didn’t say that.”
The president’s statement seemed to be in line with the response by Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz,* to the Comey testimony. “The President never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone, including suggesting that that Mr. Comey ‘let Flynn go’,” Kasowitz wrote.
*Correction, June 12, 2017: This post initially misspelled Marc Kasowitz’s name.
