Trump Stuns With Oval Office Interview: 'Like the Smoking Gun Tape, if Nixon Had Confessed on National Television'

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks speaks to the press during a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Oval Office at the White House, April 11, 2019.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that if a foreign power offered dirt on his 2020 opponent, he’d be open to accepting it and that he’d have no obligation to call in the FBI.

“I think I’d want to hear it,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News, adding, “There’s nothing wrong with listening.” Trump's comments were immediately met with shock and condemnation by members of Congress and the media. The Atlantic's David Frum wrote on Twitter, "Like the smoking gun tape, if Nixon had confessed on national television to a network anchor instead of in the secrecy of the Oval Office to his most trusted aide."

Like the smoking gun tape, if Nixon had confessed on national television to a network anchor instead of in the secrecy of the Oval Office to his most trusted aide https://t.co/sdQRTT4JFu — David Frum (@davidfrum) June 12, 2019 Disgraceful yet sadly par for the course for this president.

When the president talks like this, it’s no wonder @SenateMajLdr McConnell is blocking bipartisan efforts to secure our elections from foreign interference. https://t.co/AOHAlS5pOs — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 13, 2019

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded, "Disgraceful yet sadly par for the course for this president. When the president talks like this, it’s no wonder @SenateMajLdr McConnell is blocking bipartisan efforts to secure our elections from foreign interference." While Pennsylvania Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon noted, "If you’re shocked by this you haven’t read Volume 1 of the #MuellerReport."

"I think you might want to listen. There's nothing wrong with listening... I think I'd want to hear it."

Trump declaring he'd take dirt from a foreign country on his 2020 opponent. *THIS* is the danger of the GOP utterly failing to hold him accountable.pic.twitter.com/ttuN3TFuZ6 — Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) June 12, 2019 If you’re shocked by this you haven’t read Volume 1 of the #MuellerReport. https://t.co/PkKQ6wWTfO — Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (@RepMGS) June 13, 2019

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The role of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., in organizing a 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer offering negative information on Hillary Clinton was a focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the last presidential campaign.

Anybody still believe that Don Jr did not pre-clear his Trump Tower meeting w Russian agents with his father first? — David Frum (@davidfrum) June 12, 2019 The failure to impeach leads directly to thishttps://t.co/Yj4Vbf6jjW — Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) June 12, 2019

Read more: Trump doubles down on openness to information from 'foreign governments'

Mueller painstakingly documented Russian efforts to boost Trump’s campaign and undermine that of his Democratic rival. But while Mueller’s investigation didn’t establish a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump’s campaign, Trump repeatedly praised WikiLeaks in 2016 and celebrated information exposed by Russian hackers.

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One of Trump’s challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden, tweeted: “President Trump is once again welcoming foreign interference in our elections. This isn’t about politics. It is a threat to our national security. An American President should not seek their aid and abet those who seek to undermine democracy.”

Several of Trump’s other Democratic opponents in the 2020 race, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kirsten Gillibrand and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, repeated their calls to begin impeachment hearings in the wake of the president’s latest remarks.

Trump’s comments came just a month after he pledged not to use information stolen by foreign adversaries in his 2020 reelection campaign, even as he wrongly insisted he hadn’t used such information to his benefit in 2016.

During a question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office in May, Trump said he “would certainly agree to” that commitment.

“I don’t need it,” he said as he met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. “All I need is the opponents that I’m looking at.”

Trump also insisted erroneously that he “never did use, as you probably know,” such information, adding: “That’s what the Mueller report was all about. They said no collusion.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers that Donald Trump Jr. should have called his agency to report the offer.

But Trump, who nominated Wray to the role in 2017, told ABC News that he disagrees. “The FBI director is wrong,” the president said. He added, “Life doesn’t work like that.”

Asked whether his advisers should accept information on an opponent from Russia, China or another nation or call the FBI this time, Trump said, “I think maybe you do both,” expressing openness to reviewing the information.

“I think you might want to listen,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called, from a country — Norway — we have information on your opponent. Oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”