Washington Free Beacon editor in chief Matthew Continetti said Friday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that President Donald Trump's tweet last month warning former FBI Director James Comey about their prior conversations could end "very badly" for the president and his administration.
On May 12, Trump wrote on Twitter: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that Trump's tweet led him to leak a memo of his conversations with the president to "prompt the appointment of a special counsel" for the Russia investigation.
Continetti wrote after Comey's testimony in his latest column that Trump's tweet could have triggered a chain of events that could badly hurt the president, a point he echoed on "Morning Joe."
"For me that's the most riveting part of the testimony, [Comey] talking to [Sen.] Susan Collins about how this process went forward," Continetti said. "We now know that friends of his were talking to the New York Times. That was the first story about the loyalty pledge, and then the following morning, the president tweets out, 'He better hope there aren't tapes.'"
"And that, according to James Comey, was what set in motion the release of the contents of the memos to the New York Times in the express purpose, he said, of getting a special prosecutor appointed, Bob Mueller, who he spoke very highly of," Continetti continued. "I believe that is the train of events that could end very badly for the president and other people in this administration."
Continetti went on to say that so far there is not sufficient evidence to indicate Trump committed obstruction of justice. But he noted that "many Democratic and liberal lawyers" do believe the president obstructed justice.
"This is a long process, and in that process, there are plenty of other opportunities for the president and his team to make mistakes," Continetti added. "The problem for them is, I think they're isolated already in terms of the legal fight, and they soon could be isolated politically."