President Trump didn’t give an inch on his claims about wiretapping and voter fraud in an interview published Thursday, and told the journalist, “I can’t be doing so badly, because I’m president and you’re not.”
In the interview with Time magazine, Mr. Trump defended his tweets about former President Obama wiretapping his campaign headquarters, and said information brought to light Wednesday by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes of California proved him right.
“I’m a very instinctual person, but my instinct turns out to be right,” Mr. Trump said, adding that he did not mean wiretapping in the literal sense, but surveillance in general. “When I said ’wire tapping,’ it was in quotes.”
Mr. Nunes said Trump transition officials were “unmasked” and included in surveillance reports circulated within the Obama administration, potentially confirming Mr. Trump’s allegations that his campaign was “wiretapped.”
The Time article said the House Intelligence Committee’s hearing on Monday, in which FBI Director James B. Comey said he had no evidence of wiretapping, “should have been a massive humiliation for the president.”
Mr. Trump also defended his claim of voter fraud in the president election contributing to Hillary Clinton’s popular vote total.
“When I say that, I mean mostly they register wrong,” the president said. “In other words, for the votes, they register incorrectly, and/or illegally. I’m forming a committee on it.”
The Time writer, Michael Scherer, said he tried one final time to get the president “to answer a question about the risk to his reputation caused by false and ever-changing utterances,” but that Mr. Trump “would not accept the premise.”
“I happen to be a person that knows how life works,” Mr. Trump said. “Hey, look, I can’t be doing so badly, because I’m president and you’re not.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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