Trump’s Lawyer Claims NBC Edited Lester Holt Interview Where Trump Discussed Comey Firing
President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer has claimed that NBC edited an interview with Lester Holt. In the interview, Trump said he had fired former FBI Director James Comey because of ‘this Russia thing’. Sekulow seemed to suggest that Trump’s comments were taken out of context.
Sekulow talked to CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Cuomo Prime Time. Cuomo asked about Attorney General Jeff Sessions decision to recuse himself in the Russia probe. Trump has strongly criticized Sessions in recent weeks for his decision, including saying he as no attorney general.
“The recusal issue is one that, look, General Sessions made that decision,” Sekulow said” I don’t think it was the right decision. There are people that could disagree. I get that. It’s — people can disagree. Reasonable minds can take different positions here. But let’s be clear, it was before there was any special counsel appointment.”
Cuomo later pointed out the interview Trump gave to Lester Holt and their discussion about Comey. Comey’s firing is still a serious matter and the former FBI director has been a strong critic of Trump. But Sekulow disputed the idea that Trump had Russia on his mind when he fired Comey.
“Actually, not correct… There is actually a transcript of the entire Lester Holt interview, and as you know because you do TV and do a good job… You know that when there are interviews, there are edits and there is a longer transcript. And I will just tell you without disclosing any detail, that when you review the entire transcript, it is very clear as to what happened and I’m not going to give you information on how we provided it,” Sekulow said.
“[I]n our professional discussions with the office of special counsel, we have addressed that on multiple occasions appropriately. And the evidence, when you look at the entire evidence, you don’t see it — I’m not faulting anybody to run a clip or this. But to turn it into a federal case we don’t think it’s right, we don’t think it’s constitutional and we think the entire transcript without question supports the president realized it when he fired James Comey, it might actually extend this investigation and he said that on the tape.”
There is no concrete evidence that the video was edited to change Trump’s remarks and NBC has stood by its reporting. Sekulow did not point to any part of the interview transcript that would support his claims.
