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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Trump Tweets Warning at Comey, Threatens to Yank Press Briefings

President Donald Trump took to Twitter Friday morning to unload on recently axed FBI director James Comey, Democrats and even his own White House.

WASHINGTON (CN) - President Donald Trump took to Twitter Friday morning to unload on recently axed FBI director James Comey, Democrats and even his own White House.

Shortly after sunrise, with headlines about Russia, the Trump campaign, investigations and special prosecutors dominating the news, the president aired his grievances and specifically let fly a suggestion that Comey may have recorded their private conversations.

"James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press," the president tweeted early Friday morning.

What prompted the tweet is unclear, but The New York Times published a detailed report late on Thursday night about a private dinner the men shared after the inauguration, saying Comey demurred when Trump demanded unflagging loyalty.

Friday's tweet also hearkens to a post Trump made in March when he accused President Barack Obama of wiretapping in his campaign offices. Like Friday's “tapes” suggestion, the March tweet also featured quotations around the words “wires tapped.” No one including Trump has offered substantiation of the wiretap accusation.

The president began his seven-tweet storm this morning by denying evidence that his inner circle conspired with the Russians during last year’s election. “Again, the story that there was collusion between the Russians & Trump campaign was fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election,” Trump wrote.

Trump suggested this morning that CIA Director James Clapper is on his side.

"When James Clapper himself, and virtually everyone else with knowledge of the witch hunt, says there is no collusion, when does it end?" Trump tweeted, referring to the Russia probe. 

Friday’s Twitter deluge comes just a day after Trump commissioned an investigation via executive order of his unverified voter-fraud and -suppression claims regarding the 2016 election.

Despite handily winning the electoral vote, the 3 million-to-5 million popular vote disparity has been a barb in the commander-in-chief's side since he came into office.

News of the order and the commission appears to be largely overshadowed by the brewing Russia investigation.

With calls for special prosecutors and impeachable offenses dominating the national headlines, the president blasted the press Friday morning too. "The Fake Media is working overtime!"

Seeming to acknowledge a disconnect with the White House press team, Trump also offered a solution: canceling press briefings altogether.

"As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at a podium with perfect accuracy... maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future ‘press briefings’ and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy?" he asked.

Moving onto trade, Trump’s last tweet proved his most popular, with about 39,000 “likes.”

"China just agreed that the U.S. will be allowed to sell beef, and other major products, into China once again," he tweeted. "This is REAL news!"

 

Categories / Entertainment, Government, Media, Politics

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