Trump defends Michael Flynn after release of Comey memos
President Trump is defending his former national security adviser after the release of memos written by fired FBI Director James Comey.
Mr. Trump tweeted Friday morning, "So General Michael Flynn's life can be totally destroyed while Shadey (sic) James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written)."
He went on to ask: "Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don't think so!"
So General Michael Flynn’s life can be totally destroyed while Shadey James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written). Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don’t think so!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 20, 2018
In one memo, Comey recounted how Mr. Trump once pointed his fingers at his head and complained that Flynn had "serious judgment issues." Flynn was fired in February 2017 for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian officials. Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
The 15 pages of documents, seven memos total, contain new details about a series of interactions with Mr. Trump that Comey said he found so unnerving that he chose to document them in writing.
CBS News on Thursday obtained a redacted version of the memos of Comey, who was fired by Mr. Trump last year. Comey has said he wrote the memos to document his conversations with Mr. Trump.
Two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News' chief White House correspondent Major Garrett Thursday that the president approved the transmission after receiving recommendations from top Justice Department officials. Garrett reports the White House legal team believes they are more favorable to the president than how the president has been represented in Comey's new book.
During their first meeting in Trump Tower on Jan. 6, 2017, Comey says Mr. Trump told him "I had conducted myself honorably and had a great reputation" and was "repeatedly put in impossible positions." He told Comey he hoped he planned to stay on.
After Comey described the alleged Russian tapes of Mr. Trump with prostitutes, Mr. Trump allegedly said, "there were no prostitutes; there were never prostitutes." Comey writes Mr. Trump said he assumed the hotel rooms he stays in while traveling are always wired in some way.
"He then started talking about all the women who had falsely accused him of grabbing or touching them…and gave me the sense that he was defending himself to me," Comey writes. Mr. Trump also explained the FBI was trying to protect him from efforts to coerce him, according to Comey.
"He said he was grateful for the conversation, said more nice things about me and how he looks forward to working with me and we departed the room," Comey writes.
— CBS News' Rebecca Kaplan contributed to this report.