That might cinch the deal if any Democrat was wavering, but I don't share Comey's respect for Barr.Lawmakers and Comey said that the interview was tense and that Republicans were frustrated by instructions from a FBI attorney telling Comey not to answer certain questions about the Russia investigation. Comey and House Democrats said the interview was a waste of time, consumed with questions about Hillary Clinton's emails.
[...]
The questions from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers ran the gamut, focusing on everything from Comey's announcement on the reopening of the Clinton email investigation just days before the 2016 election to his thoughts on Trump's pick for attorney general, and to whether any pictures existed of him hugging and kissing Mueller — as Trump once claimed in an interview with The Daily Caller.
[...]
Much of the interview covered territory Comey has previously discussed either in past congressional testimony, his memoir, or news interviews over the past year. The interview did not contain any major revelations, but there were interesting tidbits shedding light on the tumultuous period of the FBI and Department of Justice that stretches back to the 2016 campaign.
[...]
"The Trump campaign was not under investigation," he said in response to a Democratic question asserting that it was. "The FBI, in late July, opened counterintelligence investigations of four Americans to see if they were working in any way with the Russians to influence our elections," Comey said.
There are certain clues about what Comey couldn't discuss, too. The FBI lawyer, for instance, said Comey could not answer a question about the sources used by Trump dossier author Christopher Steele, arguing that the sources for the document are still relevant to the special counsel investigation.
[...]
Comey defended the application for the surveillance warrant, which he signed off on before it was obtained in October 2016.
Comey argued that the FBI didn't need to explicitly tell the court Steele's research was paid for by the Clinton campaign, only that it was politically motivated.
"The particulars of which Democrats, which Republicans, I wouldn't think would be important to the court," Comey said. "They'd want to be aware of the general bias, and that's my reaction."
Republicans focused on whether the dossier was verified before the Page warrant was obtained.
Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas, for instance, quoted former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's testimony that the FBI "could provide no points of verification to verify the Steele information other than the fact that Carter Page had traveled to Russia in July of 2016."
But Comey said "an effort was underway to try to replicate, either rule in or rule out, as much of that collection of reports that's commonly now called the Steele dossier as possible."
[...]
Comey reiterated his prior testimony that he viewed the President asking him to let go of the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn as a direction to "drop" the investigation. But an obstruction of justice probe was not opened while Comey was still at the FBI, he said.
[...]
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan pressed Comey about not telling then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions about his meeting with Trump in which the President said to let Flynn matter go because Comey had thought Sessions was about to recuse himself.
"Why would you make that assumption?" the Ohio lawmaker asked him. "He had not recused himself. If this is something important enough for you to memorialize, talk to your top people, why not then share it with the top law enforcement official in the government?"
Comey argued it was the right move.
"Because we believed -- it turns out correctly -- that he was about to step out of any involvement, anything related to Russia," he said.
[...]
Comey was also asked to weigh in on William Barr, Trump's pick to be his next attorney general, and said he thinks "very highly of him." Comey went on to explain that he used to work for Barr, who previously served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, and "probably know(s) him better than I know Bob Mueller," joking that "I probably just damned him by saying he's a friend of mine, but I respect him. ... I think he's certainly fit to be attorney general."
CNN
The transcript of the nearly seven-hour hearing ran to 235 pages and was released as part of a deal reached after Comey sought to quash a subpoena ordering him to testify in private, expressing concern testimony would be selectively leaked. Afterwards, Comey described the hearing as a “desperate attempt to find anything that can be used to attack the institutions of justice investigating this president”.
Comey, who was fired by Trump in May 2017, is due to appear again on 17 December.
[...]
In the hearing, Comey said it was a 2016 encounter between Trump adviser George Papadopoulos and a Russian intermediary in London that prompted the Russia investigation, rather than, as some Republicans maintain, Democratic-funded opposition research compiled by a former British spy.
“It was weeks or months later that the so-called Steele dossier came to our attention,” Comey said.
[...]
“We have become numb to lying and attacks on the rule of law by the president,” he said, before criticising Trump’s contention, in light of the cases of Manafort, Cohen and other former aides, that it should be a crime for subjects to “flip” and co-operate with investigators.
“It’s a shocking suggestion coming from any senior official, no less the president,” Comey said. “It’s a critical and legitimate part of the entire justice system in the United States.”
[...]
Sixty pages in, Jerrold Nadler, the New Yorker who is the likely next chairman of the judiciary committee, raised a striking claim made by Trump about Comey’s relationship with Mueller, his predecessor as FBI director.
“On 5 September,” Nadler said, “President Trump brought up special counsel Mueller in an interview with the Daily Caller, stating: ‘And he’s Comey’s best friend, and I could give you a hundred pictures of him and Comey hugging and kissing each other. You know he’s Comey’s best friend.’”
Nadler asked: “Are you best friends with Robert Mueller?”
Comey replied that though he admired “the heck out of the man”, he did not know his phone number or the names of his children.
“I think I had a meal once alone with him in a restaurant,” he said. “I like him … I’m an associate of his who admires him greatly. We’re not friends in any social sense.”
Nadler said he would not “ask whether you’ve ever hugged and kissed him”.
“A relief to my wife,” Comey said.
Guardian
I suppose it's possible he didn't know a lot of things since Trump fired him in May 2017.Republican lawmakers were frustrated with the proceedings, complaining that Comey didn’t give satisfactory answers to their questions. Rep. Trey Gowdy’s (R-S.C.) office said in a statement that Comey answered “I don’t know” 166 times and “I don’t remember” 71 times.
Comey himself complained the proceedings were too focused on Clinton.
“When you read the transcript, you will see that we are talking again about Hillary Clinton’s emails, for heaven’s sakes, so I’m not sure we need to do this at all,” he told reporters after his six-hour session. “But I’m trying to respect the institution and to answer questions in a respectful way.”
HuffPo
Not sure how that would be a pass.Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) a member of the committee, said he had 14 pages of questions for Comey. He told CNN ahead of the hearing that he didn’t want Comey to testify in public because “we would be giving him a pass that I don’t think he deserves.”
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) told CNN prior to Comey’s deposition that the event was a “complete farce.”
“Going forward, I will be advocating for full, open public hearings on issues of this magnitude,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Comey was asked whether the FBI had any evidence that Americans were assisting Russians subvert the election when Trump was briefed on foreign intelligence threats as a candidate.
“If it was after July 29th, then the answer would be, yes, we had some reason to suspect that there were Americans who might have assisted the Russians,” Comey said.
Newsweek
I feel like we've heard all this before, so I can see why Comey thinks this whole thing was a waste of time.James Comey didn't bury Donald Trump in his Senate testimony, but he dug a Trump-sized hole in the ground.
While the former FBI director danced around what, if anything, the ongoing investigation into possible Trump campaign Russia ties has found, he was much more forthcoming about his relations with the president, before and after his dismissal - and how they made him feel.
He was confused by the circumstances of his firing. He felt the president and his staff "defamed" him and, more importantly, the FBI as a whole.
As for allegations that the bureau was in disarray? "Those were lies, plain and simple," he said.
[...]
Mr Trump may not have been scheming, but his efforts to draw a pledge of loyalty from his FBI director, his pleading for him to go easy on his former national security adviser and his repeated requests for assurances that he, personally, was not under investigation were ham-handed at best.
[...]
This all sets up a "he-said, he-said" conflict. As Mr Comey himself acknowledges, during the key meetings with the president, the two men were the only ones in the room.
The former director, however, comes armed with a career reputation as a straight shooter - sometimes to a fault - who is willing to take what he views as the correct course even in the face of powerful adversaries.
The president comes off a brawl of an election campaign, with more than half the American public doubtful of his very fitness for office.
[...]
It turns out [Comey's] version [of Trumps request to go easy on Flynn] is pretty much what had been reported up until now.
[...]
The former director did take a bit of heat off the president when he noted that he felt he was only being asked to back away from prosecuting Flynn for lying to federal agents about his December conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
"I did not understand the president to be talking about the broader investigation into Russia or possible links to his campaign," he says.
[...]
He said, under questioning, that while Mr Trump framed his request as a "hope", he "took it as a direction" - and he decided to not to share those instructions with the FBI investigators.
"I think if our agents, as good as they are, heard the president of the United States do that, there is a real risk of a chilling effect on their work," Mr Comey said.
The other big New York Times revelation that swept through the nation last month was that, in a one-on-one dinner shortly after his inauguration, Mr Trump reportedly asked Mr Comey to give him assurances that he would be loyal.
[...]
Mr Comey told the president he would be "reliable". Mr Trump countered that he wanted - needed - "loyalty". The director says he froze, as though confronted by a wild beast while hiking in the woods.
[...]
"I didn't move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed," he says.
Finally, he offered "honesty".
Mr Trump countered with "honest loyalty" - a term on which they both agreed.
While the conversation was confusing, Mr Comey said his conclusion from it was clear given that earlier in the dinner they had discussed the director's continued tenure in office.
"My common sense told me, he's looking to get something in exchange for granting my request to stay in the job," he said.
In Mr Trump's letter firing Mr Comey, the president went out of his way to mention that the director had told him three times that he was not under direct FBI investigation.
[...]
On Thursday Mr Comey gave some context to those assurances.
During a 6 January meeting, Mr Comey informed President-elect Trump he wasn't the subject of a "counter-intelligence" investigation, which he said tends to look at whether Americans were "witting or unwitting agents" of foreign powers.
Mr Comey revealed that there was a debate within the FBI over whether to give the president any such assurances, given that the investigation covered the Trump presidential campaign and Mr Trump was the candidate.
According to Mr Comey, one FBI leader insisted that Mr Trump's "behaviour, his conduct, will fall within the scope of that work".
Mr Comey decided to tell the president anyway.
Where the dispute with the Mr Trump arose, according to Mr Comey, was whether the FBI should make it clear Mr Trump wasn't in the investigatory crosshairs. The director was concerned if the FBI went public, it would "create a duty to correct, should that change".
BBC
Well, I hadn't heard that - or don't recall hearing it - but I think that would be absolutely natural for someone in Trump's position to have wanted.Another curious revelation buried in Mr Comey's testimony was that Mr Trump was less concerned about possible legal predicaments of his staff (Mr Flynn, it seems, being the notable exception).
"If there were some 'satellite' associates of his who did something wrong," Mr Comey said the president told him, "it would be good to find that out".
How those "satellite associates" might react to the president's supposed declaration - and what they might do if they eventually face criminal prosecution - will be an interesting question to ponder in the coming days.
But make it they will. In fact, they already have. This isn't going to start a debate, it's just going to revive one.According to [Trump attorney] Marc Kasowitz, Mr Comey's account was vindication where it helped the president and untruthful where it didn't.
[...]
"It is overwhelmingly clear that there have been and continue to be those in government who are actively attempting to undermine this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified and privileged communications," he said. "Mr Comey has now admitted that he is one of those leakers."
Mr Comey's memos weren't classified, but Kasowitz's accusations will start a debate over whether they were privileged communications. Mr Trump's prior willingness to talk about his conversations with Mr Comey will make that a challenging case to make.
But I think this may be a key moment in the testimony:
I'm really looking forward to the report on obstruction, because most everything I read seems to indicate that's a hard thing to prove, so don't think it's going to be a big issue. I disagree. We'll see.Trey Gowdy, the retiring South Carolina Republican who grew famous for leading a Benghazi investigation, was asking Comey whether he considered a Justice Department memo sufficient grounds for Trump to fire him. The FBI official, Cecilia Bessee, interrupted Gowdy: “Mr. Chairman, to the extent that question goes—again, goes to the special counsel's investigation into obstruction, the witness will not be able to answer.”
TheAtlantic
What an image. A Giant among men (and women). Image source: Newsweek
Transcript of Comey's testimony to the House Judiciary December 7, 2018. (at Mother Jones)
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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