Some reports have indicated that Comey’s written testimony confirms Trump lying twice. 

 

To clarify: Comey’s written testimony actually confirms Trump telling at least FOUR LIES, often multiple times, to Americans about his interactions with Comey:

 

1. Trump lied when he denied having asked for Comey’s loyalty
2. Trump lied when he denied asking Comey to drop the Flynn probe
3. Trump even lied about who invited who to dinner!
4. Trump lied about Comey calling him

 

LIE #1: Trump and the White House lied repeatedly when they insisted that Trump never asked Comey to drop the Flynn investigation.

 

QUESTION: “Did you at any time urge former FBI Director James Comey in any way, shape, or form to close or to back down the investigation into Michael Flynn? And also as you look back—”

 

TRUMP’S LIE: “No. No. Next question.” [News Conference, Donald Trump And Juan Manuel Santos, Washington D.C., 5/18/17]

 

COMEY’S TESTIMONY: During a one-on-one meeting, Trump said that he hoped Comey could “see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.”

 

COMEY: “The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn…He then said, ‘I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.’

 

LIE #2: Trump and the White House lied when they denied having asked Comey for loyalty during a January 2017 dinner.

 

PIRRO: “Did you ask that question?”

 

TRUMP’S LIE: “No. No, I didn‘t, but I don‘t think it would be a bad question to ask. I think loyalty to the country, loyalty to the United States is important. I don‘t know how that got there because I didn‘t ask that question.” [Justice With Judge Jeanine, Fox News, 5/13/17]

 

COMEY’s TESTIMONY: Trump told me that he needed and expected loyalty.

 

COMEY: “My instincts told me that the one-on-one setting, and the pretense that this was our first discussion about my position, meant the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship. That concerned me greatly, given the FBI’s traditionally independent status in the executive branch. I replied that I loved my work and intended to stay and serve out my ten-year term as Director. And then, because the set-up made me uneasy, I added that I was not ‘reliable’ in the way politicians use that word, but he could always count on me to tell him the truth. I added that I was not on anybody’s side politically and could not be counted on in the traditional political sense, a stance I said was in his best interest as the President. A few moments later, the President said, ‘I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.’”

 

LIE #3: Trump lied when he claimed that Comey asked to have dinner with him because he wanted to keep his job.

 

TRUMP’S LIE: “I had a dinner with him. He wanted to have dinner because he wanted to stay on. We had a very nice dinner at the White House…”

 

HOLT: “He—he asked…”

 

TRUMP’S LIE: “…very early on. That dinner was arranged. I think he asked for the dinner. And he wanted to stay on as the FBI head. And I said I’ll, you know, consider. We’ll see what happens.” [NBC Nightly News, NBC, 5/11/17]

 

COMEY’S TESTIMONY: Comey will testify that Trump invited him to dinner on January 27.

 

COMEY: “The President and I had dinner on Friday, January 27 at 6:30 pm in the Green Room at the White House. He had called me at lunchtime that day and invited me to dinner that night, saying he was going to invite my whole family, but decided to have just me this time, with the whole family coming the next time.”

 

LIE #4: Trump lied when he claimed that Comey had reached out to him during one of the conversations in which he has told he wasn’t under investigation.

 

TRUMP: “Then, during a phone call, he said it. And then, during another phone call he said it. So, he said it once at dinner and then he said it twice during phone calls.”

 

HOLT: “Did—did you call him?”

 

TRUMP’S LIE: “In one case I called him and one case he called me.”  [NBC Nightly News, NBC, 5/11/17]

 

COMEY’s TESTIMONY: Comey said that Trump had called him twice, once on the morning of March 30 and once on the morning of April 11.

 

COMEY: “On the morning of March 30, the President called me at the FBI. He described the Russia investigation as ‘a cloud’ that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country. He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia. He asked what we could do to ‘lift the cloud.’ I responded that we were investigating the matter as quickly as we could, and that there would be great benefit, if we didn’t find anything, to our having done the work well. He agreed, but then re-emphasized the problems this was causing him.”

 

COMEY: “On the morning of April 11, the President called me and asked what I had done about his request that I ‘get out’ that he is not personally under investigation. I replied that I had passed his request to the Acting Deputy Attorney General, but I had not heard back.”