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Aware of the complexities, but Clinton wasn't impeached by the Senate despite giving a knowingly false statement. While being vague is not a get out of jail fr

• mcphage 9y ago
  > it's demonstrably easier to defend a vague statement than a concrete one It is, I agree. However, when the speaker—in this case Trump—behaves as if the coyly hinted at meaning was correct, then there's no room left to hide behind "oh but that's not what I meant". In Trump's statement was a strongly implied—yet unstated—threat: If you don't drop this investigation, then you'll lose your job. And what happened? When it became clear that Comey wasn't dropping the investigation, he lost his job. Trump has no wiggle room in claiming an alternate meaning, because the clearly implied meaning was what he did.