Trump should grow up, focus on country

Fake news or real? Does our president know the difference?

On Monday, after President Donald Trump pooh-poohed the notion that his campaign or his associates might have colluded with Russian operatives to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, his FBI director, James Comey, confirmed that his agency is investigating that very possibility and has been since last July.

Comey’s revelation, while not totally unexpected in some circles, is nonetheless shocking.

The FBI rarely confirms or denies ongoing investigations — a notable recent exception is its investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails and her use of an unsecured server.

In confirming that the FBI is looking into potential links between Russia and the Trump campaign, Comey said it was in the public interest and appropriate because of the unusual circumstances. He did not detail the unusual circumstances.

Comey also said his agency and the U.S. Department of Justice have found no evidence that former President Barack Obama had Trump Tower phones tapped, an allegation Trump tweeted earlier this month and has continued to defend, with the aid of press secretary Sean Spicer.

“With respect to the president’s tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, I have no information that supports those tweets, and we have looked carefully inside the FBI,” Comey said in testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Meanwhile, during Monday’s hearing, a tweet from Trump’s @POTUS account at one point said, “The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process.”

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut, saw the tweet and read it to Comey during the hearing, asking if it was accurate. Comey replied that it wasn’t quite right and the effect of Russian interference was outside the scope of the agency’s investigation. “We’ve offered no opinion … on potential impact because it’s not something we looked at.”

Comey also noted that looking into leaks of classified information, a point made repeatedly by the Republicans on the committee, is a serious priority.

On Wednesday, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, chairman of the committee, dropped his own bombshell — that U.S. intelligence agencies may have incidentally collected information on members of Trump’s transition team, ultimately putting it into various intelligence reports.

During a subsequent news conference Nunes said the conversations may have been collected during routine foreign intelligence gathering and that the names of Trump associates may have been improperly leaked. Usually, American citizens who are caught up in surveillance of foreign targets are not identified by name in intelligence reports.

“Details about the U.S. persons involved in the incoming administration with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reports,” he told reporters.

Nunes informed both the White House and news media before informing the committee, prompting sharp criticism from Democrats.

Trump says Nunes’ announcement bolsters his argument that he and his team were surveilled under the Obama administration.

So what’s fake news and what’s real?

In February, when Trump delivered his State of the Union address, the nation saw a glimmer of hope that our president would act presidential. Unfortunately, it didn’t last. He soon reverted to his truth-stretching ways with his fingers at the ready on his cellphone.

Irresponsible statements without evidence to back them up only harm our nation’s credibility with allies and enemies alike.

Our president needs to grow a tougher skin, stop picking fights, abandon distracting conspiracy theories and seriously focus on bringing this country together.

— Albuquerque Journal