Comey Associate Says Trump’s ‘Grotesque Impropriety’ Spurred Him To Give Info To Press
- 7 years ago
Benjamin Wittes recently told BuzzFeed News he decided to reveal bits of his personal conversations with James Comey after reading, “the New York Times story about the loyalty oath dinner…”
Benjamin Wittes was among the Comey associates who released details about the former FBI director’s relationship with President Trump.
Wittes recently told BuzzFeed News that he decided to do so after reading, “the New York Times story about the loyalty oath dinner…”
He recalled, “…I read that story. And I shouldn't have been shocked by it, because of everything that I had already known. But I hadn't processed that information through the right narrative lens…without the framing of this dramatic dinner, and the sort of grotesque impropriety of that taking place in that scene, it hadn't all clicked.”
He continued, “The moment I read that story I said, ‘My God, I understand a whole lot of things that he [James Comey] had said to me in a way that I hadn't understood them before.’ And the next day, I called [New York Times reporter] Mike Schmidt, and I told him I had additional information for him.”
According to the statement Comey provided to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence prior to his June 8 testimony, that meeting took place on January 27.
Comey revealed, “The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director…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.”
He further noted, “Near the end of our dinner, the President returned to the subject of my job, saying he was very glad I wanted to stay, adding that he had heard great things about me from Jim Mattis, Jeff Sessions, and many others. He then said, ‘I need loyalty.’ I replied, 'You will always get honesty from me.' He paused and then said, 'That’s what I want, honest loyalty.' I paused, and then said, 'You will get that from me.' As I wrote in the memo I created immediately after the dinner, it is possible we understood the phrase 'honest loyalty' differently, but I decided it wouldn’t be productive to push it further."
Benjamin Wittes was among the Comey associates who released details about the former FBI director’s relationship with President Trump.
Wittes recently told BuzzFeed News that he decided to do so after reading, “the New York Times story about the loyalty oath dinner…”
He recalled, “…I read that story. And I shouldn't have been shocked by it, because of everything that I had already known. But I hadn't processed that information through the right narrative lens…without the framing of this dramatic dinner, and the sort of grotesque impropriety of that taking place in that scene, it hadn't all clicked.”
He continued, “The moment I read that story I said, ‘My God, I understand a whole lot of things that he [James Comey] had said to me in a way that I hadn't understood them before.’ And the next day, I called [New York Times reporter] Mike Schmidt, and I told him I had additional information for him.”
According to the statement Comey provided to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence prior to his June 8 testimony, that meeting took place on January 27.
Comey revealed, “The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director…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.”
He further noted, “Near the end of our dinner, the President returned to the subject of my job, saying he was very glad I wanted to stay, adding that he had heard great things about me from Jim Mattis, Jeff Sessions, and many others. He then said, ‘I need loyalty.’ I replied, 'You will always get honesty from me.' He paused and then said, 'That’s what I want, honest loyalty.' I paused, and then said, 'You will get that from me.' As I wrote in the memo I created immediately after the dinner, it is possible we understood the phrase 'honest loyalty' differently, but I decided it wouldn’t be productive to push it further."