President Donald Trump's admission that he asked now-ex FBI Director James Comey if he was under investigation is "mind-boggling," and other statements the president made in an interview airing Thursday made his staff members appear to be liars, MSNBC "Morning Joe" anchor Joe Scarborough said Thursday afternoon.
"The president of the United States just admitted on national television that he called the director of the FBI to get an update on the status of a possible criminal investigation against him," Scarborough said, calling in to NBC's Andrea Mitchell after an excerpt of an exclusive interview between Trump and NBC News' Lester Holt was shown on her MSNBC show.
During the interview, Trump said he was first told that he was not under investigation over dinner, a meal Comey requested so he could talk to the president about the status of his job. Trump said Comey also told him two more times on the telephone, with one call initiated by the FBI director and the other by the president, that he personally was not under investigation.
Trump referred to the comments in the letter he wrote to Comey to fire him, saying he appreciated being told three times that he was not under investigation.
"For Republicans and editorial boards who rightly condemned [former Attorney General] Loretta Lynch for meeting Bill Clinton on the tarmac over the summer, to talk about golf and kids and grandchildren, wonder if those Republicans are going to be just as critical of the president of the United States asking the FBI director if he was under criminal investigation," Scarborough told Mitchell.
"What if it came out that Bill Clinton got on the airplane with Loretta Lynch and asked the status of the email investigation? The president just admitted that he did this . . . Jim Comey has sworn under oath that Donald Trump is under investigation, and we heard again today by the acting director of the FBI that it's an investigation that they take very seriously."
Mitchell pointed out that Trump's question was not illegal, but it did come during a dinner Comey had requested to ask about the status of his job.
Scarborough also said that with just the small, minutes-long excerpt of the Holt interview, Trump once again made his staff "look like liars."
"He not only makes Sarah Huckabee Sanders look like she's not telling the truth, Sean Spicer is not telling the truth, makes Kellyanne Conway look like she's not telling the the truth, but you have the vice president of the United States left hanging out to dry," said Scarborough.
On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence commented that Trump fired Comey based on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
"He is once again humiliated by the White House and by the president himself, who remarkably said, that he was going to fire him regardless," said Scarborough.
Sanders and Spicer both have also made comments that the decision was made based on Rosenstein's report, with Sanders appearing on several news programs since Tuesday's announcement that Comey was fired.
"Apologists for the president have been hiding behind this memo for the past 24 hours and the president just lit that memo and all the talking points on fire," Scarborough said. "[He] once again, is making everyone around him either look like they aren't telling the truth or are just fools for him."
It's now up to Republicans on Capitol Hill to decide what is to be done, said Scarborough, himself a former Republican representative.
"I believe, over the next several weeks will determine whether Nancy Pelosi is the next speaker of the House or whether they have a chance to get re-elected," he said. "The only thing I will say is, if Republicans don't start speaking truth to power here, then things are going to get considerably worse for their president and their party after Democrats take control of the House in 2018."
It all blew up, concluded Scarborough, "because the White House was caught in 24 hours worth of lies. This is going to be another 24 to 48 hours of turmoil that the president has caused himself and his staff. And it just continues."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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