Sean Spicer looks so tired these days. The White House press secretary can barely keep up with the many denials and turns of stories from his boss.
Audio of the briefing:
Spicer was asked repeatedly during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to DC about the Comey memo, why Trump won’t release the tapes to prove his side, is the president lawyering up, is he concerned about the references to Watergate, and did he discuss his leaking of Israel’s highly classified information about an ISIS plot with Netanyahu. Phew.
Here’s the meat of the White House’s Comey memo problem: The White House won’t say what Trump’s version of the Comey meeting really is. They’ve said it wasn’t accurate but refused to provide tapes that Trump himself tweeted about in a threat to James Comey.
Transcript from the White House press office sent to PoliticusUSA:
MR. SPICER: This is not — the President has been very clear that this is not an accurate representation of that meeting.
Q Are we just corroborating that based on his words, though? I mean, he said in a tweet about tapes last week — are there records, transcripts of those conversations?
MR. SPICER: I think we’ve been clear about that. I think we’ve been very — we put out a statement regarding that.
Questions about Comey testifying:
Q Sean, does the President support former Director Comey testifying before Congress about his recollection of their conversations and the investigation, and would he be willing to waive executive privilege about their conversations to allow them to discuss fully the nature of those conversations?
MR. SPICER: The President wants the — is confident that the — in the events that he has maintained, and the truth will– he wants the truth and these investigations to get to the bottom of the situation.
Q Does he support —
MR. SPICER: There’s two investigations going on in the House and Senate, and he wants to get to the bottom of this.
Q Have you gotten a chance to look into a little bit more what took place in the meeting between the President and Comey in February? What’s the President’s side of this? We know that he says he did not ask about the Flynn investigation. Can you tell us more about what the President says took place at that meeting?
MR. SPICER: I’m not going to get into — the President has been very clear that the account that was published is not an accurate description of his — of how the event occurred.
Q I guess can you confirm, though —
MR. SPICER: I think that we’ve made it very clear. I’m not going to give any further comment on that.
Q So do you have any evidence to back up, like, what — is it just that the President says that this didn’t happen, this conversation didn’t happen? Or is there any recording or —
MR. SPICER: This is not — the President has been very clear that this is not an accurate representation of that meeting.
Is the President lawyering up?
Q Two quick questions. Is the President considering having personal lawyers, like outside of White House counsel, in light of these kinds of allegations and things that have come up?
MR. SPICER: If I have any updates for that at some point I’ll let you know.
And now to Trump’s leaking of highly classified information to Russia. Russia claims they have a transcript of the conversation and will release it with the White House’s approval but Trump hasn’t given his approval yet and Spicer tried to dodge the question, claiming that we already know what happened in the room because the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor and the Deputy National Security Advisor were there.
Spicer wouldn’t answer if Trump et al knew the Russians were recording the conversation.
Q The White House disputed some of the characterizations of the conversation the President had with the Russian Foreign Minister. It sounds like the Russian President said that their side is willing to release a transcript of the conversation. Do you support the Russians releasing a transcript of that conversation to Congress? And were you aware that they were recording the conversation?
MR. SPICER: I think each side — I am not aware of anything on that, I don’t have any update on that. But I think we put out a statement very clearly about the President does not believe that is an accurate representation of that —
Q If the Russians have some sort of transcript, are you willing — would you like it made public?
MR. SPICER: The Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor and the Deputy National Security Advisor have been very clear with their recollection of that meeting, with their account of that meeting.
Spicer denied that Trump discussed his leaking of Israel’s classified information about an ISIS plot with Netanyahu:
Q — that the President spoke to Bibi Netanyahu yesterday. Can you discuss a little bit more about what they talked about? And were the specific allegations that Israel intelligence was behind the — what he told the Russians — was that — did that have anything to do with it?
MR. SPICER: That phone call was purely a logistical and trip preparation.
Q Did they discuss the fact that the source of the intelligence that was told to the Russians —
MR. SPICER: That was preparation.
And finally we close with questions about “this approaching Watergate proportions”:
Q How concerned are you by the comments that some of the Republicans in Congress are making, saying that this is starting to approach Watergate proportions and will affect the agenda?
MR. SPICER: — very clear that — the President is obviously focused on his speech that he gave today, winning widespread praise for what he talked about — the role of the Coast Guard and the future of these young ensigns that will go out there and help defend our homeland, and obviously he’s going to continue to prepare for the meeting with the President of Colombia tomorrow and looking forward to taking off on this trip.
Spicer had no real answers for the questions, and this is just getting started. Due to self-inflicted wounds, President Trump is getting it from all sides.
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