James Comey’s Memo States He Briefed Trump on Fusion GPS Dossier Due to Media Pressure
In his newly-released memo, James Comey states that media interest factored into his decision to speak with Donald Trump about the Fusion GPS dossier in early 2017.
When Comey’s notes were released by Congressional Republicans last night, one of the first subjects that drew intrigue was the part about his interactions with Trump over the “golden showers” thing. During one of these chats, Comey apparently told Trump that CNN and other media outlets were aware of the Fusion GPS dossier and were poring through the sensational allegations.
“I said media like CNN had [the dossier] and were looking for a news hook,” Comey wrote. “I said it was important that we [not] give them the excuse to write that the FBI has the material or and that we were keeping it…I said it was inflammatory stuff that they would get killed for reporting straight up from the source reports.”
When CNN first reported on the Steele dossier, they did so by focusing on the Trump’s alleged connections with Russia, as well as Comey’s briefing with the president-elect on Moscow’s election-meddling campaign. The dossier blew up, however, after Buzzfeed published it in full — including the all of the disgusting allegations and parts that haven’t yet been completely verified.
Comey’s memo states that Trump wanted him to investigate the Fusion GPS dossier after he was told that CNN was going to start running with the more salacious parts of it. This happened during one of the chats in which Trump once again took time to profusely deny the sexual allegations against himself.
[Image via screengrab]
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