‘Uh-Oh, We Shouldn’t Have This’
In his interview with George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday, President Donald Trump tried to imagine a scenario in which someone involved with a presidential campaign would call the FBI if that person was offered dirt from a foreign government on the opposition.
“Okay, let’s put yourself in a position,” the president begins. “You’re a congressman. Somebody comes up and says, ‘Hey, I have information on your opponent.’ Do you call the FBI? … You don’t call the FBI.
“Life doesn’t work that way,” Trump added.
In 2000, life did work that way for Tom Downey, a former Democratic representative from New York who was helping his friend, Vice President Al Gore, run for the White House. Downey, who had served in the House for 18 years until becoming a lobbyist in 1993, had been preparing to play Gore’s opponent, George W. Bush, in the presidential debates when, in mid-September, he received a package in the mail. It contained briefing materials and a videotape. When Downey started watching the tape, along with his assistant, he quickly realized it was a video of Bush practicing as if he were being interviewed by Tim Russert, the late host who was a contender to moderate
