As previously reported by The Inquisitr , the Mueller report has been released today, and news outlets, politicians, and concerned citizens alike have been digging into the 400-page report to see what special counsel Robert Mueller has unearthed (those looking to read the report themselves can view it on the Justice Department’s website ).
While a lot of attention is being paid to what the report details about Donald Trump — and any potential collusion with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election — it seems that White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been dragged into the spotlight. As reported by Newsweek , Sanders admitted that she lied to the press in regards to President Trump’s decision to fire then FBI Director James Comey back in 2017.
A heavily redacted version of the Mueller report reveals that Sanders characterized her lie as a mistake.
“Sanders told this Office [of the special counsel] that her reference to hearing from ‘countless members of the FBI’ was a ‘slip of the tongue,’” the report notes. “She also recalled that her statement in a separate press interview that rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey was a comment she made ‘in the heat of the moment’ that was not founded on anything.”
Sarah Sanders admitted she lied to media about firing of FBI Director James Comey: #MuellerReport https://t.co/XQtSreFaBZ pic.twitter.com/fx3Igk9qD0
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) April 18, 2019
Back in May of 2017, Sanders told reporters that Trump had decided to fire James Comey as “countless” FBI personnel were no longer confident in his ability to lead the bureau. Over the years, Trump has been critical of Comey, even taking to Twitter to claim that Comey had leaked classified information to news outlets.
When James Comey was fired from the FBI, some outlets and critics noted that his firing could have been an attempt by Trump to obstruct and limit the investigation into any potential collusion between his presidential campaign and Russian officials. While Mueller and his team of investigators did dig into Comey’s firing, the final report did not deliver a definitive verdict on these allegations. That being said, Newsweek notes that both Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein came to the conclusion that Trump’s “actions did not amount to a crime.”
While a redacted version of the Mueller report has been released, several Democratic Congress members have made it clear that they will not be content until they can get their hands on a full, unredacted copy. Jerry Nadler, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has already gone on the record to say that he plans to issue a subpoena to obtain the full report if the redacted version proves unsatisfactory.
