When we discussed late Sunday's blockbuster report by The Hill, according to which as part of his leak of personal recollections of his conversations with Trump in hopes of (successfully) launching a special probe into the president's alleged Russian collusion, former FBI director James Comey also allegedly disclosed classified information in direct violation of FBI rules and regulations, we said "for an appetizer of what's to come, look closely at Trump's twitter feed once the president learns the news of Comey's alleged transgressions."
Roughly 8 hours later Trump finally caught up, and around 6am slammed Comey tweeting "James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media. That is so illegal!"
James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media. That is so illegal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2017
Trump also retweeted a Fox News report on The Hill’s article:
Report accuses material James Comey leaked to a friend contained top secret information pic.twitter.com/Hkg4cAb6o9
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) July 10, 2017
For those who missed it, officials familiar with the memos told The Hill that more than half of the documents contained classified information, raising the possibility that Comey broke FBI rules and ignored a security protocol in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Even more ironic is that Comey allegedl violated the same protocol which Hillary Clinton was accused of breaching, and one which James Comey was tasked with investigating last summer, and ultimately found to be a non-event.
Judging by Trump's tweet, as we expected, this is just the start of the next round of recriminations between the president and Comey. We look forward to an official statement from the former FBI chief next.