The 58 most bananas lines from Donald Trump's Friday 'Fox & Friends' interview
Looking for a shelter in the storm amid one of the most damaging weeks of his presidency, President Donald Trump phoned in for a nearly hour-long monologue -- er, interview with "Fox & Friends."
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(CNN)Looking for a shelter in the storm amid one of the
most damaging weeks of his presidency, President Donald Trump phoned in for a nearly hour-long monologue -- er, interview with "Fox & Friends."
The "questions" ranged from the merely pedestrian (how do you make sure people know all the good things you have done for the economy?) to the outright outlandish (how high did the corruption go in the last administration?).
1. "They were spying on my campaign and it went right up to the top and everybody knows it and now we're going to find out."
In which Trump repeats
a debunked claim that the FBI was "spying" on his campaign and then President Barack Obama ordered it. There is zero evidence to support that charge. What did happen -- as far as we know -- is that as part of the FBI's counterintelligence operation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, it did obtain a FISA warrant to wiretap then-Trump foreign policy aide Carter Page's phone. Also: Away we go!
2. "And this was spying on my campaign. Something that has never been done in the history of our country."
[narrator voice] It wasn't.
3. "This was an overthrow attempt at the presidency. They tried to overthrow the presidency. This is a disgrace."
"This" -- to the extent a "this" actually exists -- is a counterintelligence operation run through the FBI aimed at getting to the bottom of Russia's attempts to interfere in our election. The
FISA warrant to listen in on Page went through the proper channels and had zero to do with Obama.
4. "So my conversation was a perfect conversation. The Ukrainian president said, what are they talking about? They must think we're nuts in this country."
I don't doubt that last sentence is true.
5. "It was appropriate. It was perfect. It was nice. It was everything."
The July
25 phone call referenced here between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky raised concerns among several longtime diplomats who were either on the call or received a read out of it. And in some cases they immediately reported their concerns to their superiors. And oh yeah, you can read the
transcript of the call and it sure as hell isn't "perfect."
6. "Now, Adam Schiff is a sick puppy."
What's remarkable is that Trump has so stretched the bounds of acceptable conduct that him attacking the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee as a "sick puppy" barely merits mention.
7. "What you're going to see, I predict, will be perhaps the biggest scandal in the history of our country, political scandal."
What is Trump even talking about here? Presumably that there was some sort of "deep state" conspiracy aimed at trying to keep him from winning in 2016? No matter what it is, it's going to be BIG. BIGGEST.
8. "I think you're going to see things that are going to be incredible if it's -- if it's done right. And I purposely stay out."
This was Trump's "answer" when pressed about what, exactly, he was talking about in regards to the biggest scandal in American history. My favorite part? How he adds the "if it's done right" -- handing himself an out when nothing happens to say it was a coverup. Truly astounding.
9. "You have a FISA report coming out, which the word is, it's historic, that's what the word is. That's what I hear. And if it's historic, you're going to see something."
This is a reference to the report being prepared by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz into
how the FISA warrants on Page were obtained. Horowitz is expected to present his report next month.
10. "I don't like to use the word 'deep state.' I just say they're really bad, sick people."
"Tonight, we forcefully condemn the blatant corruption of the Democrat Party, the Fake News Media, and the rogue bureaucrats of the Deep State. The only message these radicals will understand is a crushing defeat on November 3, 2020! #KAG2020." -- Donald Trump,
October 17
11. "They were spying on my campaign. This is my opinion. I said it a long time ago."
"This is my opinion." Yes, yes it is. And there is zero factual evidence to back it up. What we know was happening -- again -- is that the FBI had obtained a series of FISA warrants to listen in to Page's conversation because they had reason to believe he had been compromised by the Russians.
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