Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is upset that news outlets reported that he “defended” President Donald Trump on Thursday when Rubio grilled former FBI director James Comey.
Rubio, who–along with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)–dined with Trump at the White House this week, pushed back against that characterization on Twitter, calling out a Miami Herald headline that read, “Rubio defends Trump, pushes Comey to say Trump wasn’t involved in Russia probe.”
“This story claims I defended President at hearing today but failed to include quote of me defending him,” Rubio tweeted. “Good reason for that, that quote [doesn’t] exist. I didn’t defend or attack anyone.”
Other outlets like CBS News also reported that Rubio “defended” Trump.
“Sen. Rubio devoted most of his allotted time at former FBI Director Comey’s hearing defending Pres. Trump,” CBS News tweeted.
During the hearing, Rubio pointed out that the only thing not leaked to mainstream media outlets was the inconvenient fact that Comey had told Trump that the President was not under FBI investigation.
“Do you ever wonder why, of all the things in the investigation, the only thing never leaked is the fact the president was never personally under investigation, despite the fact that Democrats and Republicans and the leadership of congress have known that for weeks?” Rubio asked.
Rubio also mentioned to Comey, “We keep talking about this cloud, you perceive the cloud to be the Russia investigation in general, but the specific ask [from Trump] was that you would tell the American people what you had already told him, what you had already told the leaders of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, that he was not personally under investigation.”
Despite Comey’s exchange with Sen. James Risch (R-ID) in which Comey admitted that Trump did not “direct” him to drop Flynn’s case and only hoped that he would, Rubio also told mainstream media outlets that he is not going to rule out that Trump may have obstructed justice.
“I’m not prepared to reach a conclusion on that, because we’re not done with all the other pieces that are missing,” he reportedly said.
As Breitbart News Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak noted, “Comey all but destroyed any hope Democrats had for bringing a case of obstruction of justice” against Trump during his exchange with Risch.
Rubio and Trump were bitter rivals during the contentious 2016 GOP primary campaign. Trump ruthlessly mocked Rubio as “Little Marco.” Rubio later ridiculed Trump for his “small hands” and “spray tan.”
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