Executive Branch

Those “Three Separate Occasions”: What Comey Might Really Have Told Trump

Benjamin Wittes
Wednesday, May 24, 2017, 5:27 PM

Last night, CNN ran a lengthy interview I did with Anderson Cooper, in which I made a bald statement. When Cooper asked me about President Trump’s claim that then-FBI Director James Comey had assured him three times that he was not “under investigation," I said: “I have no firsthand knowledge of that. I’ve never talked to [Comey] about it, but I would bet every dollar that I have that no such communication ever took place.

President Trump speaks with Lester Holt on Comey's firing / NBC News

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Last night, CNN ran a lengthy interview I did with Anderson Cooper, in which I made a bald statement. When Cooper asked me about President Trump’s claim that then-FBI Director James Comey had assured him three times that he was not “under investigation," I said: “I have no firsthand knowledge of that. I’ve never talked to [Comey] about it, but I would bet every dollar that I have that no such communication ever took place. It’s simply inconceivable to me that Comey would tell the President that.”



Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books.

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