Posted on 06/24/2017 5:18:58 AM PDT by Kaslin
"I don't know there was a game," White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday in response to a question about President Donald Trump's latest tweets, in which he denied taping former FBI chief James Comey.
Actually, it is a game -- a 41-day back-and-forth marathon called "snooker," played not with cue sticks and red balls, but with cryptic social media posts prodding reporters' raised hands and shouted questions. Once again, Trump has managed to make journalists look easily dispatched on a fool's errand to investigate what turned out to be a nonissue.
But why? What, if anything, did Trump himself gain?
This chapter began on May 12 -- two days after the president fired Comey -- when Trump tweeted, "James Comey had better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" Trump apparently was angry over a New York Times report that he had asked Comey for his loyalty in an early meeting.
News hounds' noses turned toward the new scent. Trump's tweet spawned hours of cable TV debate over what the president meant. Had Trump actually taped White House conversations or was this a feint? Was the tweet a threat that might constitute obstruction of justice? Or was this typical Trumpian bluster engineered to push his critics off balance?
A Friday deadline was looming for Trump to turn over to the House Intelligence Committee any tapes, if they existed, when he took to Twitter Thursday afternoon. Minutes before Sanders was set to enter the briefing room, the president denied that he had taped Comey.
In two tweets, Trump told the world, "With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea ... whether there are 'tapes' or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings."
When reporters followed up with questions -- such as "Why the game? What was he doing?" -- Sanders schooled the room. "Look," she said, "I think the president's statement via Twitter today is extremely clear. I don't have anything to add beyond the statement itself."
Then followed the predictable after-game arguments. GOP consultant Bryan Lanza defended the gambit. With that action, Lanza said, Trump "forced Comey's hand so that he revealed that he told Trump on three separate occasions that the president was not under investigation."
Comey never said as much before the Trump tape tweet, Lanza added.
Also, Comey admitted when he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June that he arranged for a friend to leak information from memos he wrote after meeting with Trump.
On the left, disgust replaced admiration. "The first thing I thought was, duh, I never thought there was any tape," said Democratic strategist Maria Condona. "I always thought this was a distraction" designed to "keep us in suspense for weeks on end. It is such buffoonish behavior from someone who is supposed to be the leader of the free world."
For his part, Lanza pointed out that after months of probing and leaking, there is "not one shred of evidence of collusion between the campaign and any Russian officials."
And his "sorry I couldn't say goodbye properly" to the boys at the FBI was code for....get rid of everything....They have all my stuff except for......
Covfefe in action...
Trump has an excellent memory....and the three occasions was a big part of the story to date....Simply....Trump was NOT under investigation. There was no real reason it could not have been put out to the media. The FBI was playing a little game.....a game that once again favored Hillary.
LOL, thanks, paladin...
I misread this to say "admiration replaced disgust" for the brilliance of the Trumpian ploy. On second pass I wondered when the Democrat strategist (whatever that is) ever in this world admired the President.
Trump should finish the job and FIRE the other three. TODAY!
Well, dear Skank, I never expected such boorish behavior on the part of the democrats and press, to try to pass off Trump's legitimate election as president to some Russian interference that you have YET to prove!
After months of fake news, anonymous sources, off-the-record "officials" and speculation, NO ONE has explained how the Russians caused Trump to win.
Because they didn't.
There's your boorish behavior right there.
Autocorrect, geesh!
Boorish /= buffoonish...
Thanks. I figured one of the bottom two was RosenKrantz, but couldn’t guess the other. McCabe has certainly been keeping a low profile these daze.
He’s “the insider” controlling all probes at FBI, taking up where Comey left off, also feeding Comey and Mueller information, and following their orders.
“The Insider.”
He can’t. In this chess game, if he did that, the Rats would immediately call for impeachment, and enough GOPe RINOs, led by McCain, would go along to make it stick.
McCabe is probably busy keeping his new red sports are waxed and fueled for a quick getaway.
You can imagine what Comey would have said if he knew that there was no tape to verify him. As it is, his claims are based on subjective interpretations and innuendo.
Dreaming of locking up Comey? Hah. Dream on.
All of Comey’s glib remarks at the Congressional hearing become clearer......plus the endless headlines in the aftermath. All fodder for Comey’s 10 million book deal.
No wonder he looked so comfy and relaxed up there....and very, very talkative. Comey dropped one bomb after another......practicing his chapter headings, I presume.
Oh, and one more thing.....Comey had to exonerate Trump.
B/c Comey would not be able to write about Trump as a potential witness, Couldn’t get his grubby hands on the 10 mill......b/c he be a potential witness against Trump.
You know Trump is going to be a big part of his book.
How else could he nail 10 million?
Oh, to be a fly on the wall when they pitched that book to a pbblisher....betcha 90% of the pitch was Comey’s testimony to Congress.
Is Mueller up for a book deal? Maybe some of the other players....like Rosenstein?
>> I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.
There could still be tapes. If someone other than Trump made them and has them, this statement could be entirely true. Maybe Comey made them and when Trump fired him the tapes (or at least their existence) were discovered in Comey’s office. Maybe one of intel agencies made them and Trump found out about their existence. So many possibilities.
Fine point: I’m sure there are no “tapes”. Any record that exists would be 100% digital. Easy to make. Easy to transport. Easy to copy.
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