CNN Forced to Issue Correction After Comey’s Written Testimony Refutes Report By Debra Heine
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/06/08/cnn-forced-to-issue-correction-after-comeys-written-testimony-refutes-report/
CNN was forced to issue a correction Tuesday, after former FBI director James Comey’s written testimony contradicted its damaging report about the president.
“The most trusted name in news” had reported that Comey was expected on Thursday to dispute President Trump’s claims that Comey had told him on multiple occasions that he was not under investigation.
In his termination letter to Comey on May 10, Trump mentioned that the Comey had told him three times that he was not under investigation: “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau,” the president wrote.
But in the former FBI director’s written testimony for his opening statement in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey confirmed that on three separate occasions he had told Trump that he was not under investigation for collusion with Russia.
Via The Hill:
The report, titled “Comey expected to refute Trump,” was based on unnamed sources and said Comey’s conversations with the president “were much more nuanced,” and that Trump drew the wrong conclusion.
The story was complied by four CNN journalists, including Gloria Borger, Eric Lichtblau, Jake Tapper and Brian Rokus.
Borger reiterated the report’s claims in an appearance on CNN Tuesday.
“Comey is going to dispute the president on this point if he’s asked about it by senators, and we have to assume that he will be,” said Borger, the network’s chief political analyst. “He will say he never assured Donald Trump that he was not under investigation, that that would have been improper for him to do so.”
Comey’s opening statement did, however, mention asserting that Trump was not under investigation, however the statement failed to specify whether Trump was not under criminal investigation, but only said there was no counter-intelligence investigation on the president.
CNN’s sources were spectacularly wrong.
“Prior to the January 6 meeting, I discussed with the FBI’s leadership team whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally,” wrote Comey in his prepared testimony. “That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him. We agreed I should do so if circumstances warranted.”
“During our one-on-one meeting at Trump Tower, based on President-Elect Trump’s reaction to the briefing and without him directly asking the question, I offered that assurance,” Comey added.
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