Thread by @SethAbramson

Trump biographers understand what motivates him to make a statement like this, which might be incriminating from another’s mouth: he’s simply trying to change history on what is considered the worst and most irresponsible decision of his presidency. He’s not “admitting” anything.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1467674845987016707

I understand the temptation to turn this into a “gotcha” moment—but the way Trump operates is that he’s keenly aware of media criticism and even criticism from certain historians, and he is trying to rewrite his failed presidency in real time to make his worst decisions his best.

Trump is accusing Comey of being part of a *political* conspiracy to derail and end his presidency. He is not saying that there was a criminal investigation of him personally at that point, as in fact there was not—the investigation of him that began was *because* he fired Comey.

This is my way of saying, as both a committed Trump critic and a longtime criminal defense attorney, that Trump is not in fact admitting to the federal crime of Obstruction here. He is skirting close to the line, but I do not believe that he is over it—at least in this interview.

One reason Trump wanted Comey to tell him he wasn’t under investigation was so he could fire him without it being a crime. Trump knew the leads Comey was pursuing would *soon* lead to him being under investigation—but he likely didn’t think he was at the time that he fired Comey.

Was Trump trying to obstruct the Flynn probe? Of course. We know this. But saying he would’ve personally been harmed if Comey hadn’t been fired may be a reference to political fallout from the obstruction we know he committed—not a *new* confession that he was protecting himself.

So this new statement would absolutely be valuable evidence in a criminal case against Trump that already was established beyond a reasonable doubt years ago, but it does not generate a new and discrete crime beyond the crimes Biden and Garland decided to let Trump get away with.