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."
I believe his book would have to be critiqued by the White House or however they insure that nothing is leaked. So I guess Comey’s buddy will get a book deal, too.
Great graphic - it needs distribution beyond FreeRepublic!
“NO ONE has explained how the Russians caused Trump to win.”
No one has explained the “how” because they can’t. Reason? It didn’t happen. That is the point. I do not doubt Russia attempted attempted to do various nefarious things. However, the MSM jumps over the word “attempted” straight to “hacked” which imputes a totally different impression of the statement. This is no accident and it has been repeated so much many people (especially Clinton supporters) come away with the belief that the outcome was affected. In essence they are being brainwashed over time by propaganda.
The problem is the fast and loose of language by MSM. In fact, if there was any collusion in the election it was between Clinton and MSM. I find myself having to parse every syllable of every word in order to process what is being spoken/printed and evaluate the real or subliminal message.
The constant spin, misrepresentation, and the polls. And then there’s the most damning of all: the almost universal reaction on election night by MSM of disbelief, disappointment, and dread when it was evident Trump won. I was browsing other but related stuff yesterday and came across some of the videos. Wow! Hadn’t seen them in a while and . . . wow!
“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.”
“... I did not make ... any such recordings.”
Possible translation: “Comey made ‘such recordings’ secretly, and we found them in his office the day I fired his sorry ass.”
“... I ... do not have, any such recordings.”
Possible translation: “The recordings we found in Comey’s office are in the AG’s office for safe-keeping. Therefore, I do not have them.”
...Boorish /= buffoonish...
That works just fine too.
adjective: ill-mannered and coarse and contemptible in behavior
I say Trump should embargo all of Comey’s testimony for five years......then Comey is finished....book deal is kaput.
Does waxing increase velocity?
I agree generally...
There are even more hints “NSA, CIA...”
There is evidence out there and Comey knew it. Trump was able to use that evidence without actually using it ;)
And so the contents and very existence of such evidence is still unknown just how Trump likes it,....
These tweets were very crafty and likely reviewed if not edited by some of his lawyers. Let’s hope that’s a new trend. No matter who sets the script, they ALL need to be reading off the same one.
Trump twitted the twits and they’re now having fits because his tweeting’s defeating the leaking...
Comey's insistence that the president was not under investigation is the strongest testimony to date that the FBI found nothing on Trump and Trump wanted that on the record under oath without Comey rebutting and hedging himself. Pretending that there might be a tape to back up the conversation force Comey to tell the truth.
It was a brilliant move and told me that the old man is still very sharp of mind. He's playing chess two moves ahead of everyone else.
I love how our President is putting the lying media out of business. Two tweets: BOOM! Checked off!
I think he has other thoughts of terminations, humiliation, and (for Comey) lamentations.
In other words, Nixon's tapes destroyed Nixon.
But Trump's tapes, if they existed, would destroy Comey.
Awesome graphic!
I think Comey had tapes
..
Trump has a better option to end this instantly, if, as we all assume, he is completely innocent.
First, Trump should issue a blanket pardon to anyone in his circle who might be indicted on any charge.
Second, Trump, as Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Justice, should order the attorney General to release 100% of the evidence that has been gathered on the Russian election issue, and release 100% of the intra-department correspondence related to the Russian issue.
Comey & Friends would go berserk - because there is no evidence, and because their internal correspondence would destroy their professional reputations for all time.
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