Former Donald Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo on Monday argued Donald Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey in May was the biggest mistake of his presidency, arguing the move “put a lot of people in danger.”
Caputo was on MSNBC’s “The Beat with Ari Melber” alongside Georgetown University Law Center professor Paul Butler to discuss former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulus, who is now working with special counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia probe. Caputo had previously dismissed Papadopoulous as a “coffee boy.”
“There are consistent evidence that he was not a coffee boy,” Melber explained.
“I might have exaggerated Papadopoulous’ role when I called him a coffee boy,” Caputo relented. “He wasn't really at the level of the campaign staff where we would have trusted him with the coffee machine. This guy is Zelig. He is an unimportant character that haplessly pops up across the different scenes of this campaign.”
“At the time, our campaign was desperate for foreign policy advisers,” Caputo later explained. “We were getting hit on constantly by our Republican counterparts in the primary for not having any. He wasn't the right guy to bring in. It was a mistake to bring him in. And we're paying for it even today.”
“George Papadopoulos literally had a seat at the table,” Butler reminded him. “We just saw a photo, the president said he is one of his top five advisers for foreign policy … so that's the kind of access that a coffee boy would not have. And then the question is: why is the president and why are you contributing to this false narrative? Why not just tell the truth if the truth is that he went rogue.”
“You're creating the false narrative right now!” Caputo shot back. “You're repeating the false narrative. The truth is Papadopoulos was not a senior adviser in the campaign. He did very little, if anything.”
“He is Zelig,” Caputo repeated. “He is a hapless, unimportant character.”
“Zelig is singing like a canary to Robert Mueller,” Butler replied. “He has pleaded guilty to one count and he is cooperating. So I think we'll find out just how low level, what a low level coffee boy does in the trump administration.”
Melber later asked Caputo what he thinks is the “biggest mistake” Trump made in the Russia probe.
“I think James Comey should have been fired on January 21st, probably to the great fanfare of Democrats across the board,” Caputo argued. “I think he waited too long to fire Comey. And in the end, it may end up being the biggest problem that was created by the White House. I think it was the biggest mistake by far. It's put a lot of people in danger, including the president himself.”
Watch below:
