James Comey ‘better hope’ that there are no ‘tapes’ of their conversations: Donald Trump

Trump in his tweets again reiterated that the story that there was collusion between Russians and Trump campaign organisers was fabricated and it was just an excuse put forward by the Democrats for losing the elections. “Again, the story that there was collusion between the Russians and Trump campaign was fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election.” he tweeted

“The Fake Media is working overtime today!” He added that ‘fake media’ which he claims has constantly targeted him and his presidential campaign was working overtime today.

Former FBI director James Comey had his fare share of involvement in the US Presidential election, as in July in 2016 he has said that he would democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s email leaks. However, after concluding the said investigation, he only said that Hillary Clinton had been “extremely careless” in handling her emails but there was nothing incarcerating in them.

But that was not the end of the issue– just two week before the presidential election Comey announced that he would reopen the investigation into email but ended-up clearing  Clinton’s name yet again, just a few days later.  According to Clinton, it was this second announcement that really cost her the election.

Read More: What is the controversy about Donald Trump firing FBI Director James Comey?

Falling out of President Trump’s Good Books

When President Trump came to power, he had made it clear that he wanted Comey to serve his full terms, saying that “You’re stuck with me for another six and a half years” in a conference later that year.

However, in March this year Comey announced that FBI was investigating links between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government to the effect that it influenced the decision of the Presidential elections of 2016. Meanwhile, Trump maintained that the Russian interference was only a hack introduced by the Democrats for political mileage.

Even through there were talks of Trump has business connections with Russians which could influence his presidency and policy decisions, but it was only in June 2016 that the threat of Russian influence in US politics became ever evident. In June 2016, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was hacked, with hackers getting access to DNC emails, opposition research on Trump and personal chats.

“It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected. That’s the consensus view,” a senior US official had said in an intelligence presentation made to US senators back in December 2016.

Trumps on the Firing 

Donald Trump has initially said that it was on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that he had taken the step to fire Comey for mishandling the Clinton email investigation.  Trump late reiterated his stand saying that Comey had lost confidence of US citizens, which resulted in his dismissal.

However, when President Trump was asked by FOX news in an earlier interview whether it was “too late” to fire Comey. He had reportedly said that it wasn’t and that he’s just waiting to see how things turn out.

“You know, it’s going to be interesting,” he said.

In an interview to NBC news’ Lester Holt, Trump has admitted that the investigation on his Presidential campaign had influence on his decision regarding firing Comey. “And in fact when I decided to just [fire Comey] I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won,’” he told Holt.