Mystery world leader Trump failed to call for six days revealed to be … Putin
In Comey’s memos, Trump said Flynn’s failure to inform him of a call – confirmed to be Putin by the AP – meant he had ‘judgment issues’
Donald Trump was annoyed with his national security adviser for making Vladimir Putin wait six days for a return phone call, it emerged on Friday.
The disclosure came following the release of memos written by former FBI director James Comey late on Thursday, which detailed his interactions with Trump over the four-month period before he was fired by the president while overseeing the federal investigation into Russian interference in the US election.
In the memos, which were released to Congress by the justice department at the request of Republican investigators, Comey wrote that Trump criticized Flynn during a private dinner for having “serious judgment issues”. Trump cited Flynn’s failure to immediately inform him of a call from a world leader, whose identity was redacted in the memos but confirmed to be Putin on Friday by the Associated Press and other outlets.
According to Comey’s account, Putin’s call was brought to Trump’s attention during a lunch with the British prime minister, Theresa May. Trump had just thanked May for being the first foreign leader to call and congratulate him following his inauguration when Flynn interjected to say Putin had been first to call. Flynn said a return call to Putin had been scheduled, Comey wrote, but that Trump was furious over the delay.
“Flynn said the return call was scheduled for Saturday, which prompted a heated reply from the president that six days was not an appropriate period of time to return a call from the [redacted] of a country like [redacted],” Comey wrote.
“This isn’t [redacted] we’re talking about,” added Trump.
The New York Times had previously reported that Flynn scheduled Trump’s meeting with May before his return call to Putin out of “protocol” to accommodate a US ally.
Flynn was forced to resign as Trump’s national security adviser in February 2017 after misleading the vice-president over the nature of his communications with Sergey Kislyak, who at the time served as the Russian ambassador to the US. Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is said to be cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
In his memos, Comey documented what he interpreted as a request from Trump that the FBI drop its investigation into Flynn. Comey also recalls being asked by the then White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, if Flynn was under surveillance. Comey wrote that he urged the White House to ask such questions through proper channels.
The Comey memos are a critical piece of Mueller’s investigation, which centers not only on Russian meddling in the election but also whether the president sought to obstruct justice. Trump has denied Comey’s version of events, but also acknowledged that his decision to fire the former FBI director was made in part due to “this Russia thing”.
After the memos were made public, Trump defended Flynn on Twitter while continuing to denounce Comey.
“So General Michael Flynn’s life can be totally destroyed while Shadey James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written),” Trump wrote on Friday.
He added: “Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don’t think so!”
