WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump and one of his personal lawyers have contradicted each other over whether the president is under investigation by the special counsel probing Russians’ meddling in the 2016 election and possible links with the Trump campaign.
A look at recent statements by Trump, lawyer Jay Sekulow and Vice President Mike Pence on the Russia investigation and a variety of other matters:
TRUMP tweet Friday: “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt.”
THE FACTS: This apparent slap at Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, is at odds with Trump’s own account of how James Comey was fired. Trump said previously that a memo from Rosenstein recommending the FBI director’s termination didn’t matter. “Regardless of the recommendation, I was going to fire Comey,” he told NBC News in early May.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified to Congress that Trump wanted a memo laying out the case for firing Comey. But the president took sole responsibility for doing it, at least until he seemed to try to shift it Friday to the deputy.