FBI Director James Comey kept things light during a visit to Massachusetts as controversy swirled over President Donald Trump's allegations that his phones were tapped during last year's election.
Comey said Tuesday at a ribbon-cutting for the Boston FBI division's new offices in Chelsea that he wanted to talk about something controversial and "on the minds of many people."
"I'm a New York Giants fan," he said, drawing laughter from the New England crowd.
Comey also likened the "sustained excellence" of the FBI with the continued success of Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots.
Trump claims former President Barack Obama tapped his phones during the election.
When NBC Boston asked Comey if Trump's phones had been tapped, he just said, "Thanks for coming today."
NBC Boston also asked, "Do you trust the President?" Comey did not respond.
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FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Harold Shaw similarly avoided the question.
"The way we look at it is that we’re an a political organization," Shaw said.
Comey has privately asked the Justice Department to dispute Trump's wiretapping allegations. It's a move Boston University Dean of the College of Communication Tom Fiedler calls unusual.
"I don’t know if it has a precedent where the director of the FBI would come out literally within hours of the president making an assertion and the FBI director saying he wanted the justice department to say it was not true," Fiedler said.
But Fiedler says we’re in an unusual time where people filter out information they don’t want to hear and filter in information that backups their assertions.
"What we’re seeing with the president is, he makes a statement, he makes an allegation and those people who already are predisposed to agree with him are going to find reinforcement for whatever he said," Fiedler said.
Obama's camp has flatly denied Trump's claims, which were presented without evidence.
