Paul Ryan covering for Trump today by saying he’s just too stupid to know what inappropriate contact is:
“The president is new at this,” Ryan said. “He’s new to government. And so he probably wasn’t steeped into the long going protocols that established the relationships between DOJ, FBI, and White Houses.”
When a reporter questioned why that’s an “acceptable excuse,” given that Trump has a staff and counsel that should have been informed, Ryan reiterated that Trump did not know what he was doing.
“He’s new at government,” Ryan said. “Therefore I think he is learning as he goes.”
Here’s a random smattering of quotes from Donald Trump during the campaign about Loretta Lynch meeting with Bill Clinton on the tarmac for 30 minutes. He seemed to understand the protocols quite well and had no trouble making all kinds of accusations about it:
“…Because of this highly-inappropriate meeting at best, the Attorney General took herself essentially out of the case and put Director Comey in charge of making decisions, you saw that decision-making process. So why is she now allowed to fight so hard to get someone who is so obviously guilty on so many different fronts off the hook? In fact, it was publicly reported that sources close to Hillary Clinton said, and she actually I think said it to the papers, that she was thinking of reappointing Attorney General Lynch. She was thinking, she said it; I mean it was a statement she made. And effectively, I guess you’d call that a bribe, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t that be called a bribe? How could she say they’re going to make a decision on her and you’re talking about you’re going to reappoint? She said it publicly, I believe….” Nov ’16
“…I would think he probably talked about appointing her as the Attorney General if Hillary wins this election, and you’re not allowed to do that. And they were very embarrassed. And they thought it would be something where they could sneak on and sneak off. And I’ve had a plane for a long time, I’ve never had anybody stop it, get on, come off, on the tarmac. Doesn’t happen.” Oct ’16
“…So went onto the plane on the tarmac, and right on the tarmac, and they had a meeting for 45 minutes, right before she was supposed to issue her judgment on Hillary and maybe Bill. Bill could be a target, who knows? Because of what’s going on….” Oct ’16
“…Americans have had it with the years and decades of Clinton corruption. And I will tell you, what happened with the Attorney General of the United States [Inaudible] airplane in Arizona. When he was going to be playing golf, very hot. I don’t think he was going to be playing golf. Just happened to meet her, happened to be on the tarmac, said, let’s say hello. Stayed for 39 minutes and talked about golf and his grandchildren. He didn’t talk about golf and he didn’t talk about his grandchildren, unless it was a minute of two….”Oct ’16
How can the Attorney General be involved in this case or tell the FBI what to do when the Attorney General violated sanctity of law by secretly meeting with Bill Clinton, the husband of the possible target of the investigation and a possible target himself, in an airplane on the tarmac in Arizona? Remember, he was going to play golf, remember? But he just happened to be at the airport hanging around and the Attorney General’s plane drove by, right, and he said oh isn’t that their plane, oh yes, gee let’s say hello, let’s say hello. It was a chance meeting they said, right….”Oct ’16