Donald Trump at the White House, June 13, 2019 (Doug Mills/New York Times)
In a rare retreat, Donald Trump now says he would report an offer of information, including on an election opponent, from a foreign power.
Trump sparked criticism when he said in a Wednesday TV interview, that he would take material from Russia or another foreign entity and that he would not notify the FBI: “It’s not an interference. They have information — I think I’d take it.”
Trump pointedly rebuffed FBI Director Christopher Wray’s injunction that politicians should contact the agency over any offer of information, “[He] is wrong.”
The comments came amidst ongoing discussion of April’s Mueller Report, which found “numerous contacts” between Russia officials and the 2016 Trump Presidential campaign, and Trump’s obstruction or attempted obstruction of justice to quash any inquiry.
After Republicans as well as Democrats lambasted Trump for his remarks, Trump backtracked in a telephone interview with his favorite program Fox & Friends:
Of course, you give it to the FBI or report it to the attorney general or somebody like that. But of course you do that. You couldn’t have that happen with our country.
TrumpWatch, Day 875: GOP Joins Criticism of Trump’s “I’ll Take Information” from Russia
He tried to cover his climbdown with an angry tirade over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said on Thursday that Trump “does not know right from wrong” and has “been involved in a criminal cover-up”.
Trump said the criticism was a “fascist statement”: “When Nancy Pelosi makes a statement like that, she ought to be ashamed of herself. It’s a disgrace.”
But Pelosi was far from alone in her challenge to Trump. Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump’s behavior “is just dangerous, appalling, unethical, unpatriotic — you name it”.
Republican Senators who chided Trump, saying they would never withhold information included his close ally Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski, Cory Gardner, Joni Ernst, and Thom Tillis: “I would go immediately to the authorities, period.”
Trump’s initial line of defense was to equate the taking of election information with his Presidential meetings with world leaders — but he undermined the effort by including the UK’s “Prince of Whales” on the list.
