I've only seen about 80% of it, so I may have missed some things. Things that bugged me:
- Comey laid out plenty of evidence suggesting Trump intimated that his job depended upon following his directions RE: publicly stating Trump wasn't a target of the investigation and/or going easy on Flynn. I wish he would have plainly stated that he felt Trump would or might fire him for not doing these things.
- Comey made it clear that he kept his private meeting with Trump under wraps within the bureau because, although it didn't affect his actions, he felt it absolutely would influence his agents if they learned that the president said such things
- Why, then, after he was fired, did this consideration change?
- If his intent in releasing the information publicly was to get a special prosecutor appointed, why didn't he make more attempts within the DOJ to make this happen without releasing the info that would damage the investigation?
- Why go through an intermediary to release the memo? I'm certain he could have found a way to securely contact the press anonymously without leaving his computer desk.
I do wonder if Comey was partially motivated by spite. His concern was clearly legitimate. And the response from the DOJ to keep Trump from crossing the line again was inadequate. And I don't think he could trust the administration. But I don't see why he couldn't have tried harder and used the media as a backup if they failed to act (although would need to be careful as to not make it blackmail).
All this said, the most chilling part of his testimony was this:
HEINRICH: The president has repeatedly talked about the Russian investigation into the U.S. -- or Russia's involvement in the U.S. Election cycle as a hoax and fake news. Can you talk a little bit about what you saw as FBI director and, obviously, only the parts that you can share in this setting that demonstrate how serious this action actually was and why there was an investigation in the first place?
COMEY: Yes, sir. There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever. The Russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. They did with purpose. They did it with sophistication. They did it with overwhelming technical efforts. It was an active measures campaign driven from the top of that government. There is no fuzz on that. It is a high confidence judgment of the entire intelligence community and the members of this committee have seen the intelligence. It's not a close call. That happened. That's about as unfake as you can possibly get. It is very, very serious, which is why it's so refreshing to see a bipartisan focus on that. This is about America, not about a particular party.
HEINRICH: That is a hostile act by the Russian government against this country?
COMEY: Yes, sir.
HEINRICH: Did the president in any of those interactions that you've shared with us today ask you what you should be doing or what our government should be doing or the intelligence community to protect America against Russian interference in our election system?
COMEY: I don't recall a conversation like that.
HEINRICH: Never?
COMEY: No.
HEINRICH: Do you find it --
COMEY: Not with President Trump.
HEINRICH: Right.
COMEY: I attended a fair number of meetings on that with President Obama.
HEINRICH: Do you find it odd that the president seemed unconcerned by Russia's actions in our election?
COMEY: I can't answer that because I don't know what other conversations he had with other advisers or other intelligence community leaders. I just don't know sitting here.
HEINRICH: Did you have any interactions with the president that suggested he was taking that hostile action seriously.
COMEY: I don't remember any interactions with the president other than the initial briefing on January the 6th. I don't remember -- could be wrong, but I don't remember any conversations with him at all about that.
The dude was the director of the agency leading the investigation into Russia's interference with our election. I cannot imagine that Trump could possibly have made any steps to acknowledge, address, or plan for even the possibility that what Comey says is unequivocal without Comey's direct involvement. He ought to have been invitee #1 on the list for any such actions.
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