Frankie Cordeira Jr.

Description: NYT: In Private Dinner Trump Demanded Loyalty. Comey Demurred... The White House on Wednesday said this account is not correct. And Mr. Trump in an interview on Thursday with NBC described a far different dinner conversation with Mr. Comey in which the director asked to have the meeting and the question of loyalty never came up. It was not clear whether he was talking about the same meal but they are believed to have had only one dinner together. By Mr. Comeys account his answer to Mr. Trumps initial question apparently did not satisfy the president the associates said. Later in the dinner Mr. Trump again said to Mr. Comey that he needed his loyalty. Mr. Comey again replied that he would give him honesty and did not pledge his loyalty according to the account of the conversation. Video Times Reporters Decode the Trump-Comey Saga The New York Times reporters Peter Baker Maggie Haberman and Matthew Rosenberg analyze the firing of the F.B.I. director James B. Comey. By A.J. CHAVAR on Publish Date May 11 2017. . Watch in Times Video But Mr. Trump pressed him on whether it would be honest loyalty. You will have that Mr. Comey told his associates that he responded. Throughout his career Mr. Trump has made loyalty from the people who worked for him a key priority often discharging employees he considered insufficiently reliable. As described by the two people the dinner offers a window into Mr. Trumps approach to the presidency through Mr. Comeys eyes. A businessman and reality television star who never served in public office Mr. Trump may not have understood that by tradition F.B.I. directors are not supposed to be political loyalists which is why Congress in the 1970s passed a law giving them 10-year terms to make them independent of the president. Mr. Comey described details of his refusal to pledge his loyalty to Mr. Trump to several people close to him on the condition that they not discuss it publicly while he was F.B.I. director. But now that Mr. Comey has been fired they felt free to discuss it on the condition of anonymity. A White House spokeswoman on Thursday disputed the description of the dinner by Mr. Comeys associates. We dont believe this to be an accurate account said Sarah Huckabee Sanders the deputy press secretary. The integrity of our law enforcement agencies and their leadership is of the utmost importance to President Trump. He would never even suggest the expectation of personal loyalty only loyalty to our country and its great people. At the dinner described by Mr. Trump in his interview with NBC the conversation with Mr. Comey was quite different. Mr. Trump told NBC that Mr. Comey requested it to ask to keep his job. Mr. Trump said he asked the F.B.I. director if he was under investigation a question that legal experts called highly unusual if not improper. In Mr. Trumps telling Mr. Comey reassured him that he was not. Mr. Trump did not say whether he asked Mr. Comey for his loyalty. Asked at Wednesdays White House news briefing whether loyalty was a factor in picking a new F.B.I. director Ms. Sanders said Mr. Trump wanted someone who is loyal to the justice system. The dinner described by Mr. Comeys associates came in the early days of Mr. Trumps administration even as the F.B.I. was investigating Russian meddling in the election and possible ties to Mr. Trumps campaign. That investigation has since gained momentum as investigators have developed new evidence and leads. Mr. Trump had met Mr. Comey for the first time in January during the transition when along with the intelligence chiefs the F.B.I. director presented him with evidence of that intervention. Mr. Comey was tasked by his fellow intelligence directors to also pull Mr. Trump aside and inform him about a secret dossier suggesting that Russia may have collected compromising information about him. The dinner at which the conversation Mr. Comey related took place was on Jan. 27 a month later. Mr. Comeys associates said that the new president requested the dinner he described and said that he was wary about attending because he did not want to appear too chummy with Mr. Trump especially amid the Russia investigation. But Mr. Comey went because he did not believe he could turn down a meeting with the new president. During the meal according to the account of the two associates Mr. Comey tried to explain to Mr. Trump how he saw his role as F.B.I. director. Mr. Comey told Mr. Trump that the country would be best served by an independent F.B.I. and Justice Department. In announcing Mr. Comeys dismissal on Tuesday the White House released documents from the attorney general and the deputy attorney general that outlined why Mr. Comey should be dismissed. Mr. Trump said in the NBC interview that regardless of recommendation I was going to fire Comey. In fact when I decided to just do it I said to myself I said you know this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story Mr. Trump said. Continue reading the main story
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
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