CNN's Dana Bash compares Trump's interactions with James Comey to something 'out of The Godfather'

(Image credit: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

On Thursday, President Trump told NBC News' Lester Holt that over dinner, months before he fired him, he'd asked FBI Director James Comey, "If it's possible, would you let me know, am I under investigation?" On Thursday night, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked chief political correspondent Dana Bash what she thought about that admission.

"It makes sense that that's the way you do business in New York," said Bash, a native of New Jersey. "It does not make sense that that's the way you do business when you are the president of the United States and you are talking to the FBI director. This is a double-whammy, because not only did he go out of bounds in admitting that he talked to the FBI director about an investigation into people who worked for him during the campaign, but in the same conversation they talked about James Comey's job prospects and whether or not he was going to stay in that job. Well, who decides whether he stays in that job? The president. I mean, it almost feels like a scene out of The Godfather." It isn't — it's real life, she said, and "what's even more alarming is that he doesn't seem to get how unusual and out-of-bounds this is."

They didn't even get to the reports that, according to two of Comey's friends, Trump asked Comey for his personal loyalty at that dinner. Trump may not actually hate this comparison, however, given his love and familiarity with the movie.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.