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TEHRAN, April 27 - US President Donald Trump has lashed out at James Comey after he rejected accusations about illegally leaking classified information by sharing private memos, saying that the former FBI director was “either very sick or very dumb.”
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) –The rebuke came on Friday, a day after Comey appeared on a Fox News show, where he denied leaking memos inappropriately.
"Is everybody believing what is going on. James Comey can’t define what a leak is. He illegally leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION but doesn’t understand what he did or how serious it is. He lied all over the place to cover it up. He’s either very sick or very dumb. Remember sailor!" Trump said in a tweet.
The US president possibly referred to Kristian Saucier, a Navy sailor who pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2016 for taking and retaining unauthorized photos of classified areas and objects aboard a submarine. Trump pardoned Saucier in March.
On the Thursday night show, the former FBI chief denied leaking classified information improperly when he shared memos documenting his meetings with Trump and a friend that allegedly handed the content of conversations during the meetings to the media.
The memos, which Comey even wrote about in his bestselling book ‘A Higher Loyalty’, described pressure felt by the president as he tried to withdraw from the FBI investigation of his campaign's alleged contacts with Russia. The memos also revealed the content of conversations with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and described Comey's first encounter with Trump.
“I didn't consider it part of an FBI file, I always thought of it as mine, like a diary,” Comey said, contesting Trump's earlier assertions that releasing the details of their conversations constituted a leak.
“He's just wrong. Facts really do matter,” he noted. “Which is why I’m on this show to answer your questions. That memo was unclassified then, it’s still unclassified, it’s in my book. The FBI cleared that book before it could be published. That’s a false statement.”
The US president has previously branded Comey as a “liar” and “leaker," claiming that the ex-FBI director shared classified information and his leaks led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Trump fired Comey in May last year as he was busy heading an investigation into the Republican president’s ties with the Kremlin during the 2016 campaign and transition. Comey later testified that he believed Trump had fired him because he was unhappy with the Russian probe.
Trump also claimed that the ex-FBI director's leaks led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, denouncing the process of his selection as illegitimate.
Mueller's probe has expanded to include whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey, a claim the president denies.
Mueller, a former FBI director, has been running a high-profile investigation into allegations that Trump won the 2016 US presidential election against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton only because Moscow had rigged the November election in his favor.
US intelligence agencies claim Russia-linked hackers provided WikiLeaks with damaging information -- in the form of thousands of hacked emails -- about Clinton to skew the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump.
Trump has repeatedly denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians and has condemned the investigations. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also denied the allegations.
Source: Press TV
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