Donald Trump Jr. live tweets response to Comey testimony
President Trump will be watching with his outside legal counsel, Marc Kasowitz, while former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee, CBS News' Margaret Brennan reports. The Trump team plans to withhold comment until the end of the hearing, and Kasowitz is expected to make a statement afterward.
However, one member of the Trump family has begun a running commentary in response to Comey's testimony -- Donald Trump Jr. He began with Comey's account of his conversation with the president, in which, according to Comey, the president asked him to end the investigation into Michael Flynn.
Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch asked of Comey, "He (the president) did not direct you to let it go?" Comey responded, "Not in his words, no," to which Risch followed up, "He said, 'I hope.'"
Comey interpreted this as more than a "hope." "I took it as direction," he said. Risch countered that while Comey may have taken it as a direction, that was "not what he said."
Trump Jr. agrees with Risch.
1/3 Flynn stuff is BS in context 2 guys talking about a guy they both know well. I hear "I hope nothing happens but you have to do your job"
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 8, 2017
It was, in Trump Jr.'s view, "very far from any kind of coercion or influence and certainly not obstruction!" And he went on to say that it's not confusing when his father makes a demand.
"Knowing my father for 39 years when he 'orders or tells' you to do something there is no ambiguity, you will know exactly what he means," Trump Jr. tweeted.
Comey also explained why he didn't voice an objection to the president when he had asked Comey to "let this go," in reference to the Flynn investigation. Comey was "stunned," he said, and added that "Maybe other people would be stronger in that circumstance."
This prompted mockery from Trump Jr.: "So if he were a 'Stronger guy' he might have actually followed procedure & the law? You were the director of the FBI, who are you kidding?"
That sentiment he punctuated with a laughing-so-hard-I'm-crying emoji.
Trump Jr. also asked whether it was "a joke" that Comey asked a friend to share a memo about his conversation with the president.
Did I miss something or did Comey just say he asked a friend to leak information to the press? Is this a joke?
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 8, 2017
Comey, in testimony, said that this came in response to Mr. Trump's tweet that he should "hope there are not tapes." He thought it was possible there might be a tape, so he asked a "friend" from Columbia Law School to share a memo he'd written with a reporter.