While we wait for the tweets

I think he's both.

A little off topic, but a reminder note on the US justice system, unaired was this Comey comment:



Several times Comey insisted that he was intent on not considering any political angle in his position as FBI Director - "outside of politics" as he put it - staying completely nonpartisan, but that seems to be contradicted by his own statement here:


Is that not considering the political angle?

He does seem to contradict himself from time to time.  Unaired also was this bit about the Martha Stewart case:

JAMES COMEY:   [...]  And in the middle of this, walks on this case involving a famous person who appears to have lied during an investigation of insider trading. And my initial reaction was, "You know, that's kind of a small thing. That'll be a big distraction.

[...]

And folks don't realize this, but I almost hesitated and almost didn't bring the case against Martha Stewart.

[...]

The truth matters in the criminal justice system. And if it's going to matter, we must prosecute people who lie in the middle of an investigation.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You don't lie to investigators, you don't lie under oath?

JAMES COMEY: You can't or the rule of law breaks down. [...] You must tell the truth. It matters enormously.

  ABC News

Which is it? Is lying "a small thing" or does it matter "enormously"?

Personally, I think Comey is a pretty stand-up guy for someone that high up in government. I certainly believe him over Donald Trump, but there are few people I wouldn't. Maybe none. Still, like everyone, he's got his own ass to cover.

If you care to read the full interview, it's here on ABC.  I haven't read it all, and I fell asleep toward the end of the TV show, but I'm sure we'll get plenty more to chew as Comey goes on his book tour, and as His Lardship sees bits and pieces of reportage.

In the meantime, have a look at these stories:

Of the $3.9 million that Trump’s committee spent in the first quarter of 2018, more than $834,000 went to eight law firms and the Trump Corp. for legal fees, according to new Federal Election Commission records filed Sunday.

[...]

The biggest share of legal payments in the first quarter of this year — about $348,000 — went to Jones Day, a law firm representing the campaign in the investigations by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and several congressional committees into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Another $280,000 combined was paid to two law firms — Harder LLP and Larocca, Hornik, Rosen, Greenberg & Blaha — representing Trump and his personal attorney Michael Cohen in litigation with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.

  WaPo

Is that legal?

The Trump campaign paid another $13,500 to McDermott Will & Emery, a firm that represents Cohen in the ongoing Russia investigations and a newly revealed criminal inquiry. That was a sharp drop from the previous quarter, when the campaign paid the firm nearly $215,000.

Surely that's not legal.

The campaign also paid legal fees to the Trump Corp. — a company being run by Trump’s two older sons — and law firms Belkin, Burden, Wenig & Goldman LLP; Schertler & Onorato LLP; Seyfarth Shaw LLP; and Van Hoy, Reutlinger, Adams & Dunn PLLC.

Or that.

Unlike his predecessors, Trump began fundraising for 2020 soon after he won the presidency.

And that makes perfect sense now, if he's going to use campaign collections for legal fees in personal and Trump Organization cases. He's not going to need it for 2020 campaigning.

But, surely this is all illegal.

[T]he committee that raised a record $106.7 million for [Trump's inauguration] has not disclosed how much surplus money it still has or provided a final accounting of its finances.

[...]

The record haul was fueled by big checks from individuals and companies — some with interests before the government. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson was the single largest donor, contributing $5 million, Federal Election Commission records show. The billionaire joined dignitaries on the West Front of the Capitol for a prime viewing of Trump's swearing-in.

Adelson was among an array of wealthy individuals and corporate giants contributing to the celebrations, including the Bank of America, AT&T, Dow Chemical, Boeing and Quicken Loans.

[...]

Within 90 days of the inauguration, the committee must report names of donors who gave at least $200. But election law does not require an accounting of the spending in those reports. And there are few restrictions on how leftover funds are used.

  USA Today

That's handy. So perhaps those funds (up to $50M)are being used for legal fees as well.

Fred Wertheimer, of the Democracy 21 watchdog group, said the committee, as a nonprofit, can’t legally convert any of the funds to personal use, such as paying legal expenses for Trump aides caught up in the special counsel and congressional probes into Russian involvement in the 2016 election.

Well, not legally, anyway.  And who says he'd be concerned about covering aides?  No, I think it would be for himself and Cohen.

He should be awake and up any minute now.

UPDATE:



Comey compares Trump to a mob boss.  As FBI Director, he had to know about Trump's actual ties to mobsters.  My only suggestion is that he can't talk about that because it is under investigation, and perhaps it's something they don't want Trump to know.