'Was this just mis-tweeted?': Anchors confront Trump lawyer who insists 'the president is not under investigation'
In an interview on "Meet The Press," Jay Sekulow repeatedly denied that Trump was the subject of special counsel Robert Mueller's criminal probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, even when host Chuck Todd pointed out that Trump himself in a tweet this week seemed to confirm that he was a target of the investigation.
"Then why did he say he was?" Todd asked. "I mean, was this just mis-tweeted? Are we not to take him at his word?"
Sekulow insisted that Todd was "reading more to the tweet than what's there."
"The president's tweet was in response to The Washington Post story," Sekulow replied. "The Washington Post issued a story that had five anonymous sources, which they never identified what agencies those sources originated out of. The response from the president, using social media, was about that story. But let me be very clear here, as it has been since the beginning, the president is not and has not been under investigation for obstruction."
When Sekulow insisted that Trump fired Comey at the recommendation of the deputy attorney general, Todd noted ;that Trump himself told NBC anchor Lester Holt he planned on firing Comey regardless of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general's recommendation.
"The question is going to be though, what was the reason behind the firing?" Todd asked. "Was the reason having to do with his handling of the Russia investigation, or was it having to do with his handling of the Clinton email investigation? The reason I ask you this is the memo that was written, the rationale by the deputy attorney general, did not discuss Russia. The president, in his interview with my colleague Lester Holt, said it was about Russia. Which is it?"
Sekulow insisted that Trump fired Comey over his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state - for which she was not charged and pointed out that Trump told Holt that firing Comey would likely lengthen the investigation.
"He was fully aware that if, in fact, he took this action, he would see a lengthening or could see a lengthening of the process," Sekulow said. "So you cannot view this, in my mind, Chuck, or in any reasonable person's mind, especially someone that's representing the president of the United States, these things in a vacuum. There's multiple factors that come into exist. But let me tell you the factor that came into exist here. The president made the determination to remove the director of the FBI after consultation with others. And that determination is protected by the constitution."
Todd continued to push Sekulow, asking before the interview closed why Trump seemed obsessed with the investigation even though he insisted he was innocent.
"Why does the president seem, act as if he is so concerned about this investigation if he did nothing wrong?" Todd said. "If this investigation is going to find - and he knows he did nothing wrong, then he shouldn't be afraid of this investigation. It's being led by professionals, a guy like Robert Mueller who is not a political guy, you know he's not a partisan guy. I'm just curious, why doesn't the president embrace this investigation if he's innocent?"
"Because every day, The Washington Post and The New York Times are utilizing supposed leaked information about supposed investigations of the president of the United States," Sekulow replied. "So his legal team and the president responds."
Todd wasn't the only one who grilled Trump's personal attorney over his insistence that the Washington Post's report was inaccurate.
CNN's Jake Tapper similarly pressed Sekulow on Sunday, noting the president's apparent confirmation of the investigation.
"With all due respect, the president said 'I am being investigated' in a tweet, and people take his word on that," Tapper said. "But you're his attorney. You're saying that the president, when he said that, was not accurate."
"It was 141 characters," Sekulow replied. "There's a limitation on Twitter, as we all know. ... The president issued that tweet, that social media statement, based on a fake report, a report with no documented sources, from the Washington Post."