President Trump’s tweets during House Intelligence Committee hearing were misleading

IT WAS political dynamite when the FBI gave explosive evidence about Donald Trump this week, but how accurate was his response?

DURING an explosive day of testimony in Washington on Monday, one man had more at stake than most.

For Donald Trump, the testimony would provide the chance for intelligence bosses to clarify what they are investigating and reveal any evidence for his allegations that Barack Obama ordered a wire-tap of the Republican campaign.

On both counts, Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey and National Security Agency director Mike Rogers were emphatic.

Comey said the “unusual circumstances” had granted him permission to disclose that the FBI was conducting an investigation into Russian interference in the election and any possible collusion with members of the Trump campaign.

He also said there was no evidence, within the FBI or Justice Department, to support claims of a wire-tap and that “no president” could order such surveillance without being granted permission by a court.

“With respect to the President’s tweets about alleged wire-tapping directed at him by the prior administration, I have no information that supports those tweets and we have looked carefully inside the FBI,” he said.

But throughout the hearing, the facts presented by intelligence chiefs came into, at times, direct conflict with what the President tweeted out to millions of followers around the world.

The stark gap provided perhaps the clearest example yet of the disconnect between the intelligence community and the White House.

Here’s a look at how the President’s tweets stacked up with what was being said inside.

ON RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

Consider this tweet from Mr Trump before the hearing began, claiming the Democrats “made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a terrible campaign”.

The Democrats made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a terrible campaign. Big advantage in Electoral College & lost!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 20, 2017

In reality, intelligence chiefs have already made it clear Russia interfered in the campaign. Admiral Rogers and Mr Comey described Russia’s attacks as particularly audacious.

“I’d say the biggest difference from my perspective was both the use of cyber, the hacking as a vehicle to physically gain access to information to extract that information and then to make it widely, publicly available without any alteration or change,” Admiral Rogers said.

“The only thing I’d add is they were unusually loud in their intervention. It’s almost as if they didn’t care that we knew what they were doing or that they wanted us to see what they were doing. It was very noisy, their intrusions in different institutions,” Mr Comey added.

“Their number one mission is to undermine the credibility of our entire democracy enterprise of this nation and so it might be that they wanted us to help them by telling people what they were doing.”

ON RUSSIAN INFLUENCE

At one point, switching to his POTUS account during the hearing, President Trump tweeted that the NSA and FBI told Congress that Russia “did not influence electoral process”.

The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process. pic.twitter.com/d9HqkxYBt5

— President Trump (@POTUS) March 20, 2017

The tweet itself was picked up by Democratic representative Jim Himes, who asked Mr Comey: “I’ve got a tweet from the President an hour ago, saying the NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence the electoral process. So that’s not quite accurate, that tweet?”

Comey replied no, the FBI had not reached any conclusions because the impact of Russian interference was outside the scope of their investigation.

“We’ve offered no opinion, have no view, have no information on potential impact because it’s not something we looked at,” Mr Comey said.

“It certainly wasn’t our intention to say that today because we don’t have any information on that subject.”

ON OBAMA BEING BRIEFED

A similar twisting of the evidence happened when Mr Comey refused to confirm or deny he had briefed Mr Obama on certain issues.

“I’ll just ask you. Did you brief President Obama on any calls involving Michael Flynn?” Republican congressman Trey Gowdy asked Mr Comey.

“I’m not gonna get into either that particular case, that matter, or any conversations I had with the President. So I can’t answer that,” he replied.

Mr Trump jumped on the issue, saying Mr Comey had “refused to deny” Mr Obama had been briefed.

FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls made by Michael Flynn to Russia. pic.twitter.com/cUZ5KgBSYP

— President Trump (@POTUS) March 20, 2017

In fact, it was one of several times Mr Comey refused to answer questions related to certain individuals or events in order to avoid inadvertently releasing classified information.

He even addressed it upfront at the start of the hearing, saying there would be several times in which he would refuse to answer questions involving individuals.

“As I said in the beginning, please don’t interpret my ‘no comment’ as meaning this or meaning that. I just can’t comment,” he said.

ON CLASSIFIED LEAKS

Mr Trump was on firmer ground when Admiral Rogers and Mr Comey agreed that leaking certain secrets was a danger to national security.

The real story that Congress, the FBI and all others should be looking into is the leaking of Classified information. Must find leaker now!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 20, 2017

Admiral Rogers said he had raised the issue of leaks with his own team to remind them of the “ethics of our profession”.

“I’ve also reminded the men and women of the National Security Agency, if I become aware of any such conduct, there is no place for you on this team. It’s unacceptable to the citizens of the nation that one would engage in this,” he said.

ON CLAPPER AND COLLUSION

The President’s tweet that Mr Comey said former national intelligence director James Clapper were “right” to say there was no evidence of collusion between Mr Trump’s team and Russia, again, is not quite accurate.

FBI Director Comey: fmr. DNI Clapper "right" to say no evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump Campaign. #ComeyHearing pic.twitter.com/MqBG2xd4s7

— President Trump (@POTUS) March 20, 2017

In fact, Mr Comey agreed there was no evidence of collusion in a previous report that was prepared under Mr Clapper. That statement has since been updated to say he “could not account for intelligence or evidence that may have been gathered since the inauguration”.