Donald Trump has mastered the art of seeming like he’s telling the truth

Even in the story of the boy who cried wolf, most of the time the boy was lying.

Washington: There are two steps involved in US President Donald Trump’s defence of the allegations levelled against him by former FBI director James Comey. The first is to make the question a he-said, he-said contest between the two men. The second is to make himself seem more believable…

During a news conference with the President of Romania on Friday, the Washington Times‘ Dave Boyer asked Trump how the President was “vindicated” by Comey’s testimony – as he claimed on Twitter on Friday morning – given that Comey’s testimony boiled down to “his word against your word”.

In broad strokes, Trump’s tweet was accurate. Comey says that Trump tried to convince him to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn; Trump says that he didn’t.

But Comey also claims to have contemporaneous notes documenting the conversation, which he has provided to special counsel Robert Mueller – notes that shift the balance in Comey’s favour.

Trump, of course, has hinted that he has recordings of his conversations with Comey – but refuses to confirm whether such recordings exist. (On Friday, he said he would let the world know “in a short period of time” if they do.)

Trump’s answer to Boyer’s question happily accepted the he-said, he-said premise…

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