Trump’s lawyer John Dowd explained the “mistake” he made in the tweet liberals say prove Trump committed obstruction of justice.
Trump’s attorney, John Dowd, told Reuters in an interview on Sunday that he had drafted the Saturday tweet and made “a mistake” when he composed it.
“The mistake was I should have put the lying to the FBI in a separate line referencing his plea,” Dowd said. “Instead, I put it together and it made all you guys go crazy. A tweet is a shorthand.”
Dowd said the first time the president knew for a fact that Flynn lied to the FBI was when he was charged.
Here’s the tweet:
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017
This is very odd to me. As I wrote before, all they needed to say is that James Comey’s memo was wrong and that Trump never pressured him to drop the investigation into Flynn. Which they did.
I guess they felt the need to go that extra step to exonerate Trump.
Dowd also clouded the issue by saying that then-Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates informed White House counsel Don McGahn in January that Flynn told FBI agents the same thing he told Pence, and that McGahn reported his conversation with Yates to Trump. He said Yates did not characterize Flynn’s conduct as a legal violation.
Dowd said it was the first and last time he would craft a tweet for the president.
”I’ll take responsibility,” he said. “I’m sorry I misled people.”
This makes no sense at all. This was the first time he ever tweeted for Trump, but Trump didn’t see the tweet or approve of it before he posted it? Then why the hell is he tweeting for the prez?
The whole thing is kinda absurd.