President Donald Trump tweeted early Friday morning that he feels “total and complete vindication” following former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Breaking his all-day silence on the testimony on Thursday, Trump tweeted around 5am CT about his feelings on the testimony—which brought to light several matters that will continue to be part of the growing probe into whether or not Russia had ties to Trump’s presidential campaign or interfered in any way with the 2016 election.
Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2017
As noted on Twitter, by saying Comey lied under oath in this tweet, the president is accusing the former FBI Director of committing perjury.
Making a false statement to Congress is a felony. This is not just another silly tweet. https://t.co/I9AjkMdvqY
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) June 9, 2017
Trump’s feelings echo the sentiments of his personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, who was brought on to help defend the president amid the Russia probe.
Shortly after Comey’s testimony ended on Thursday, Kasowitz said Trump felt vindicated in an (error-filled) written statement.
The president also tweeted about one of the other bombshells that came out of the testimony hearing—that Comey helped orchestrate a leak of his personal memos of his interactions with Trump to the press.
Comey authorized a Columbia Law School professor and friend to talk to a reporter with The New York Times and share the content of his memos—something he thought would lead to the appointment of a special counsel.
During the hearing, Comey said he felt as if Trump telling him that he “hoped” the FBI could end the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was a direction from the president.
