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President Trump gave a press conference today, and once again dove into conspiracy theory territory in an effort to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Even by his standards, this one was bizarre though, bordering on outright nonsense.
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After explaining how he has had “conflicts” with Mueller included some unspecific “business dispute” he went after Mueller’s relationship with ex-FBI Director James Comey, who Trump infamously fired in an effort to derail the Russia probe.
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In his usual rambling fashion, the President attempted to turn the tables and lay the blame on the law enforcement officials who did their diligence to uphold the law and discover the truth about the incredibly suspicious behavior of Trump and his presidential campaign.
But today, he took a new tact — insinuating that Mueller and Comey were somehow in cahoots with each other, playing into right-wing paranoia and the pervasive conspiracy theory that the entire Mueller probe is part of a grand conspiracy by members of the “deep state” and the Democratic Party to frame Trump and his family in a secret coup.
His proof?
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A “picture file” which indicates that Mueller and James Comey are “best friends.”
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Citing a "picture file," Trump claims Mueller and James Comey are "best friends" pic.twitter.com/9TVYOlzPZT
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) May 9, 2019
Also Trump on Mueller: "In love with Comey, in like with Comey, very, very good friends with Comey, supposedly best friends, maybe not, but supposedly." He's a mess. pic.twitter.com/JVfW4WbYVv
— Denise Tate (@stateof_tate) May 9, 2019
Considering that Mueller and Comey worked in the Department of Justice together for decades, there are likely many pictures of them together and they are likely on good terms.
But that doesn’t mean they’re colluding together to frame their Commander-in-Chief; in fact, it says volumes about Trump that he’s incapable of conceiving that someone following the rules and doing their duty isn’t motivated by personal ambition and nepotism.
Original reporting by Caitlin MacNeal at Talking Points Memo.