The chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) on Thursday cast doubt on reports that President Trump pushed former FBI Director James Comey to drop his bureau’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“If Comey really thought the president had crossed a line he would have reported it and he didn’t,” Ronna Romney McDaniel said on Fox News Radio. “There is an investigation that is going to take place; we are going to get to the bottom of that.”
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump had pressed Comey during a February meeting to end the investigation into Flynn, who had resigned from office amid revelations that he misled senior White House officials about the nature of his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.
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The conversation between Trump and Comey was reportedly recorded in a memo prepared by the FBI director immediately following the meeting but was shared only with close associates and top FBI officials.
Trump denied during a news conference on Thursday afternoon that he urged Comey to end an investigation into Flynn.
“No,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question. “Next question.”
The Comey memo is just one of a series of controversies surrounding Trump to emerge in recent days, following another surrounding reports that Trump revealed highly classified information during a meeting with Russian diplomats last week.
The RNC chair called on Republicans to rally around Trump in spite of the scandals, blaming recent setbacks on Democrats and news organizations.
“We need to rally around our president right now. He’s had unprecedented obstruction from the Democrats and the media. They are coming after him with everything, and this is the time for our party to be rallying around our leader, which is our president, who the people voted to represent them.”