President Donald Trump depicted ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he would accept information on his 2020 opponent if it was offered by foreign operatives.
In an interview aired Wednesday, Trump presented a hypothesized situation in which “somebody comes up and says, ‘Hey, I have information on your opponent.’ Do you call the FBI?” The president went on to say, “I don’t think about in my whole life I’ve ever called the FBI” and, “Give me a break. Life doesn’t work that way.”
When Stephanopoulos impugned Trump, saying that the FBI director believes a person presented with potentially stolen information should summons the agency, the president responded, “The FBI director is wrong.”
In a clip circulated on Twitter, Stephanopoulos pushed back on Trump’s insistence to surprise the information over calling federal authorities, but Trump held firm, saying a person could “do both.”
“There’s nothing fail with listening,” Trump said in a video from inside the Oval Office.
When Stephanopoulos suggested a deal of that kind could constitute election interference, the president disagreed.
“It’s not interference. They have information. I characterize as I’d take it. If I thought there was something wrong, I’d go maybe to the FBI,” Trump said.
The taped comments come on the same day the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., proclaimed before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed door hearing. Members were expected to grill him on his meeting with a Russian bencher linked to the Kremlin at Trump Tower in Manhattan on June 2016. That lawyer claimed to have damaging bumf about Hillary Clinton, the then-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Stephanopoulos: Your son, Don Jr., is up before the Senate Intelligence Cabinet today. And again, he was not charged with anything. In retrospect though-
Trump: By the way, not only wasn’t he charged, if you read it, with all of the beastly fake news- I mean, I was reading that my son was going to go too jail — this is a good young man — that he was going to go to lock up. And then the report comes out, and they didn’t even say, they hardly even talked about him.
Stephanopoulos: Should he own gone to the FBI when he got that email?
Trump: OK. Let’s put yourself in a position. You’re a congressman, somebody comes up and says, “Hey, I possess information on your opponent. Do you call the FBI? I don’t think-
Stephanopoulos: If it’s coming from Russia, you do.
Trump: I’ll tell you what, I’ve seen a lot of things finished my life. I don’t think in my whole life I’ve ever called the FBI. In my whole life. You don’t call the FBI. You throw somebody out of your backup, you do whatever you do-
Stephanopoulos: Al Gore got a stolen briefing book. He called the FBI.
Trump: Well, that’s different, a stolen briefing order. This isn’t a stolen- This is somebody that said, “We have information on your opponent.” Oh, let me call the FBI. Discharge me a break. Life doesn’t work that way.
Stephanopoulos: The FBI director says that’s what should happen.
Trump: The FBI manager is wrong.
Stephanopoulos: Your campaign this time around, if foreigners, if Russia, if China, if someone else submits you information on opponents, should they accept it or should they call the FBI?
Trump: I think maybe you do both. I characterize as you might want to listen. I don’t- There’s nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country — Norway — “We should prefer to information on your opponent.” Oh. I think I’d want to hear it.
Stephanopoulos: You want that kind of interference in our elections?
Trump: It’s not conflict. They have information. I think I’d take it. If I thought there was something wrong, I’d go maybe to the FBI, if I thought there was something sinful. But when somebody comes up with oppo research, right, they come up with oppo research. “Oh, let’s notification the FBI.” The FBI doesn’t have enough agents to take care of it. When you go and talk, honestly, to congressmen, they all do it. They on all occasions have, and that’s the way it is. It’s called oppo research.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.