Comey opening statement posted, now with in person testimony

[K1052]

https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/os-jcomey-060817.pdf

Dear. God.

 

[Sunburn74]

To me it looks pretty brutal, but I am biased.

 

[Grooveriding]

Confirms it all. Wanted a loyalty pledge. Asked him to back off from Flynn. Interesting read and confirms most people's suspicions about the quality of Trump's character; he's a scheming piece of shit.

...
A few moments later, the President said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence. The conversation then moved on, but he returned to the subject near the end of our dinner.
At one point, I explained why it was so important that the FBI and the Department of Justice be independent of the White House. I said it was a paradox: Throughout history, some Presidents have decided that because “problems” come from Justice, they should try to hold the Department close. But blurring those boundaries ultimately makes the problems worse by undermining public trust in the institutions and their work.

Near the end of our dinner, the President returned to the subject of my job, saying he was very glad I wanted to stay, adding that he had heard great things about me from Jim Mattis, Jeff Sessions, and many others. He then said, “I need loyalty.” I replied, “You will always get honesty from me.” He paused and then said, “That’s what I want, honest loyalty.” I paused, and then said, “You will get that from me.” As I wrote in the memo I created immediately after the dinner, it is possible we understood the phrase “honest loyalty” differently, but I decided it wouldn’t be productive to push it further. The term – honest loyalty – had helped end a very awkward conversation and my explanations had made clear what he should expect.

During the dinner, the President returned to the salacious material I had briefed him about on January 6, and, as he had done previously, expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them. He said he was considering ordering me to investigate the alleged incident to prove it didn’t happen. I replied that he should give that careful thought because it might create a narrative that we were investigating him personally, which we weren’t, and because it was very difficult to prove a negative. He said he would think about it and asked me to think about it.

As was my practice for conversations with President Trump, I wrote a detailed memo about the dinner immediately afterwards and shared it with the senior leadership team of the FBI.

...

When the door by the grandfather clock closed, and we were alone, the President began by saying, “I want to talk about Mike Flynn.” Flynn had resigned the previous day. The President began by saying Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong in speaking with the Russians, but he had to let him go because he had misled the Vice President. He added that he had other concerns about Flynn, which he did not then specify.

The President then made a long series of comments about the problem with leaks of classified information – a concern I shared and still share. After he had spoken for a few minutes about leaks, Reince Priebus leaned in through the door by the grandfather clock and I could see a group of people waiting behind him. The President waved at him to close the door, saying he would be done shortly. The door closed.

The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn, saying, “He is a good guy and has been through a lot.” He repeated that Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President. He then said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” I replied only that “he is a good guy.” (In fact, I had a positive experience dealing with Mike Flynn when he was a colleague as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the beginning of my term at FBI.) I did not say I would “let this go.”

 

[UNCjigga]

B-b-b-but this is all MSM bias a-a-and liberal hysterics and Trump derangement syndrome and a big fat nothing-burger...right?

Hannity?? Steve?? Brian?? Ainsley?? ANYBODY?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

If this is real it confirms all of the fake news being reported for the last couple of months about their interactions.

 

[K1052]

If this is real it confirms all of the fake news being reported for the last couple of months about their interactions.

And then some. Seems in addition to his memos he was talking to FBI leadership about what was going on at the time which erodes the inevitable Trump narrative about it being he said/he said.

 

[Commodus]

To be clear: some of this has been touched on before (the "I hope you can let this go" is familiar), but you're getting much more detail about both the obstruction and the greater context of these conversations.

I'm sure some hardcore conservatives will try to give Trump an escape clause by claiming he didn't directly order Comey to drop the case, but it's pretty clear from the phrasing that this was a pressure tactic. And don't forget, Trump admitted that he fired Comey to reduce the heat on him... it's not looking good.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

To be clear: some of this has been touched on before (the "I hope you can let this go" is familiar), but you're getting much more detail about both the obstruction and the greater context of these conversations.

I'm sure some hardcore conservatives will try to give Trump an escape clause by claiming he didn't directly order Comey to drop the case, but it's pretty clear from the phrasing that this was a pressure tactic. And don't forget, Trump admitted that he fired Comey to reduce the heat on him... it's not looking good.

And the frequency of them. He spells out he spoke to Obama twice. And once was to say good bye. Trump has contacted him by phone 6 times and in person met 3 times. And that was in 90 days.

 

[kage69]

GWB and Nixon's ghost must be so happy.

Finally a bigger shitbird to take the mantle of republican pariah.

You done fuct up snowflake, and I hope what's coming is as painful and embarrassing as possible for you.

 

[dainthomas]

Fortunately he had the sense to take detailed notes on their conversations. Anyone who has any dealings with Trump would be smart to do so.

 

[Grooveriding]

Also confirms he called him asking him to come out publicly and say Trump was not under any investigation, didn't have anything to do with Russian hookers (LOL). Comey called acting AG and told him the contents of the call, never heard back from him for 2 weeks. Trump called him again, insinuated they had a 'thing' referring to their dinner where he tried to get his loyalty/or back off from Flynn. Next thing he knew he was fired.

I can't see any way Trump deals with this that does not have him trying to say Comey is lying. It's too damning for him. No reasonable person is going to believe Trump over Comey though. This read is not even the actual memos, just his accounting, and it's very detailed and includes key people who were aware of the meetings and able to confirm.

He mentions Priebus sticking his head in the room after Trump chased everyone out and got Comey one on one. Trump waving him off to leave the room. Makes one wonder if he was trying to stop what he may have recognized as something inappropriate potentially happening.

 

[AnandThenMan]

I don't see any smoking gun or anything like that, looks to me like the standard goings on behind the scenes stuff you'd see from any administration. The left will go ape crap about this, the right will downplay the whole thing the truth being somewhere in the middle. I guess the key is did Trump do anything to break the law, I have no idea.

 

[Roflmouth]

I don't see any smoking gun or anything like that, looks to me like the standard goings on behind the scenes stuff you'd see from any administration..

They know.

 

[kage69]

I have no idea.

I don't think anyone will argue that with you. The rest was damn funny though, thanks! The smoking gun was what was linked in this thread. You either have no idea what you are talking about or are just another troll trying to defend this disaster of admin. Might even be both!

 

[fskimospy]

I don't see any smoking gun or anything like that, looks to me like the standard goings on behind the scenes stuff you'd see from any administration. The left will go ape crap about this, the right will downplay the whole thing the truth being somewhere in the middle. I guess the key is did Trump do anything to break the law, I have no idea.

Comey's testimony explicitly says that this sort of thing didn't go on behind the scenes under Obama. In addition, this is exactly the sort of thing that got Nixon impeached.

I'm not aware of any credible authority that thinks the President asking the FBI director to drop an investigation into his National Security Adviser is normal or anywhere on even the same planet as normal. Do you have any sources that say otherwise? Everything I've read says this is EXTREMELY abnormal.

 

[DisarmedDespot]

I need more popcorn.

 

[Ns1]

Mjpopcorn.gif

 

[zinfamous]

To be clear: some of this has been touched on before (the "I hope you can let this go" is familiar), but you're getting much more detail about both the obstruction and the greater context of these conversations.

I'm sure some hardcore conservatives will try to give Trump an escape clause by claiming he didn't directly order Comey to drop the case, but it's pretty clear from the phrasing that this was a pressure tactic. And don't forget, Trump admitted that he fired Comey to reduce the heat on him... it's not looking good.

You don't mess with on OCD detail-type like an FBI agent. Reason being, that statement contains tons of specific details of each meeting: who was there, where they were sitting, the order of people leaving and entering the room, who was interrupting by poking their heads through the door. The committee could verify these details through these individuals, under oath, as a metric to verify the content of Trump's requests, as recorded by Comey.

 

[kage69]

Fortunately he had the sense to take detailed notes on their conversations.

That is established FBI training and protocol actually. I'm not saying he didn't employ some judicious forethought, just that taking detailed notes is what FBI investigators do. Hence the acceptance of them as evidence. As Director of the FBI, Comey's notes are pretty much beyond reproach.

 

[Roflmouth]

That is established FBI training and protocol actually. I'm not saying he didn't employ some judicious forethought, just that taking detailed notes is what FBI investigators do. Hence the acceptance of them as evidence. As Director of the FBI, Comey's notes are pretty much beyond reproach.

Except when it came to Hillary's email investigation, I guess

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/os-jcomey-060817.pdf

Dear. God.

That's pretty awesome. It very much seems that Trump is accustomed to other members of leadership doing him favors, and him doing favors in return. I don't think he realizes that the FBI isn't your friend. They may sometimes be your enemy, but they aren't your friend.

 

[zinfamous]

Except when it came to Hillary's email investigation, I guess

nope same metric. Just so happens there was nothing there, right?

 

[K1052]

That is established FBI training and protocol actually. I'm not saying he didn't employ some judicious forethought, just that taking detailed notes is what FBI investigators do. Hence the acceptance of them as evidence. As Director of the FBI, Comey's notes are pretty much beyond reproach.

He also discussed it with FBI leadership at the time. Those people are now witnesses.

 

[First]

I don't see any smoking gun or anything like that, looks to me like the standard goings on behind the scenes stuff you'd see from any administration. The left will go ape crap about this, the right will downplay the whole thing the truth being somewhere in the middle. I guess the key is did Trump do anything to break the law, I have no idea.

"Standard goings on behind the scenes stuff" eh?

Take me to your dealer, cause whatever you're smoking has gotta be out of this world.

 

[AnandThenMan]

Comey's testimony explicitly says that this sort of thing didn't go on behind the scenes under Obama. In addition, this is exactly the sort of thing that got Nixon impeached.

Nixon was not impeached. Maybe you're thinking of Bill Clinton.