you rock! thanks
Comey to McCain: “I have had a lot of conversations with humans over the years”
And Dr. J. Comey Dolittle’s other conversations are with...his dog? his cat?
Thanks.
Anyone else see anything other than nothing here? They could have maybe given Comey some sparklers and asked him to balance a ball on his nose, but other than that — nada.
I admit I skimmed — stopped and read when it looked interesting.
*
First of all, thank you for this...it will come in handy for the months ahead...
I don’t know how many listened to Juan McPain, but he was so busy trying to cover his butt he didn’t care about Comey, McPain is so over his head in this mess than anyone is...
Comey gave him no cover, if you noticed...
Strange how McSenile is listed as “Unidentified speaker.” Wow, talk about a cover up.
C-Span updated the speaker info. Here is the update, beginning at the 02:02:08 mark.
02:02:08
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t want to comment on that, senator, because i’m pretty sure the bureau has not confirmeded any interception of communications. So I don’t want to talk about that in an open setting. > would it be improper for and I coming national security adviser to have a conversation with a foreign ambassador? >> in my experience, no.
02:02:28
Unidentified speaker
02:02:31
Tom cotton
>> but you can’t confirm or deny that the conversation happened and we would need to know the contents of that conversation to know if it was in fact...
Show full text
02:02:40
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t think I can talk about that in an open setting. I’ve been out of government a month. I don’t want to talk about things when it’s now somebody else’s responsibility. Baby had in the classified setting, we can talk more about that.
02:02:51
Tom cotton
>> you stated earlier that there wasn’t an open investigation of mr. Flynn in the fbi? Did you or any fbi agent ever sense that mr. Flynn attempted to deceive you or made false statements to an fbi agent?
02:03:10
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t want to go too far. That was the subject of the criminal inquiry. Did you ever come close to closing the investigation on mr. Flynn?
02:03:24
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t think I can talk about that in open setting either.
02:03:27
Tom cotton
>> I can discuss these more in the closed setting then. Mr. Comey, in 2004, you were a part of a well publicized event about an intelligence program that had been recertified several times and you were acting attorney general when attorney general john ashcroft was incapacitated due to illness. There was a dramatic showdown at the hospital here. The next day, you said that you wrote a letter of resignation and signed before you went to meet with president bush to explain why you refused to certify it. Is that accurate.
02:04:00
James B. Comey jr.
>> yes, I think so.
02:04:02
Tom cotton
>> at any time in the 3 1/2 months you were the fbi director during the bush administration, did you ever write and sign a letter of recommendation and leave it on your desk.
02:04:09
James B. Comey jr.
>> letter of resignation, no, sir.
02:04:13
Tom cotton
>> letter of resignation.
02:04:14
James B. Comey jr.
>> no, sir.
02:04:15
Tom cotton
>> despite all the things you’ve testified to here today, you didn’t feel this rose to the level of an honest but serious difference of legal opinion between accomplished and skilled lawyers in that 2004 episode?
02:04:31
James B. Comey jr.
>> I wouldn’t characterize the circumstances that way. But the answer, no, I didn’t encounter any circumstance that led me to intend to resign, consider to resign. No, sir.
02:04:42
Tom cotton
>> thank you.
02:04:43
Richard burr
>> senator harris.
02:04:44
Kamala d. Harris
>> director comey, I want to thank you. You are now a private citizen and you are enduring a senate intelligence committee hearing, and each of us get seven minutes instead of five as yesterday to ask you questions. So thank you.
02:04:57
John cornyn
>> i’m between opportunities now.
02:04:59
Kamala d. Harris
>> you are — i’m sure you’ll have future opportunities. You and I are both former prosecutors. Not going to require to you answer. I just want to make a statement that in my experience of prs acuting cases when a robber held a gun to somebody’s head and said I hope you will give me your wallet, the word hope was not the most operative word at that moment but you don’t have to respond to that point. I have a series of questions to ask you, and they’re going to start with, are you aware of any meetings between the trump administration officials and russian officials during the campaign that have not been acknowledged by those officials in the white house?
02:05:45
Kamala d. Harris
>> that’s not even if I remember clearly, that’s not a question I can answer in an open setting. > are you aware of any efforts by trump campaign officials or associates of the campaign to hide their communications with russian officials through encrypted communications or other means?
02:06:00
James B. Comey jr.
>> I have to give you the same answer, senator.
02:06:02
Kamala d. Harris
>> sure. In the course of the fbi’s investigation, did you ever come across anything that suggested that communications records, documents, or other evidence had been destroyed?
02:06:12
James B. Comey jr.
>> I think I got to give you the same answer. It would touch on investigative matters.
02:06:16
Kamala d. Harris
>> are you aware of any efforts or potential efforts to conceal communications between campaign officials and russian officials?
02:06:22
James B. Comey jr.
>> I think I have to give you the same answer, senator.
02:06:25
Kamala d. Harris
>> thank you. As a former attorney general, I have a series of questions about your connection with the attorney general during the course of your tenure as director. What is your understanding of the parameters of general sessions’ recusal from the russia investigation?
02:06:43
James B. Comey jr.
>> I think it’s described in a written release or statement from d.o.j. Which I don’t remember sitting here. The gist was he would be recused from all matters receipting to russia and the campaign or activities of russia and the ‘16 election, something like that.
02:07:02
Kamala d. Harris
>> is it your knowledge of the extent of his recusal based on the public statements he’s made in.
02:07:06
James B. Comey jr.
>> correct.
02:07:07
Kamala d. Harris
>> was there any kind of memorandum issued from the attorney general or the department of justice to the fbi outlining the parameters of his recusal?
02:07:14
James B. Comey jr.
>> not that i’m aware of.
02:07:15
Kamala d. Harris
>> and do you know if he reviewed any fbi or d.o.j. Documents pertaining to the investigation before he was recused?
02:07:24
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t know. >> after he was recused, i’m assuming it’s the same answer.
02:07:25
Unidentified speaker
02:07:28
Kamala d. Harris
>> same answer.
02:07:29
Kamala d. Harris
>> and as aside from any notice or memorandum that was not sent or was, what mechanism or processes were in place to ensure that the attorney general would not have any connection with the investigation to your knowledge?
02:07:40
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t know for sure. I know that he had consulted with career ethics officials that know how to run a recusal at doj. I don’t know what mechanism they set up.
02:07:51
Kamala d. Harris
>> and the attorney general recused himself from the investigation, but do you believe it was appropriate for him to be involved in the firing of the chief investigator of that case, of the russia interference?
02:08:03
James B. Comey jr.
>> that’s something I can’t answer sitting here. It’s a reasonable question but that would depend on a lot of things I don’t know like what did he know, what was he told, did he realize that the president was doing it because of the russia investigation, things like that. I don’t know the answer.
02:08:15
Kamala d. Harris
>> you have mentioned in your written testimony in here that the president essentially asked you for a loyalty pledge. Are you aware of him making the same question of any other members of the cabinet.
02:08:26
James B. Comey jr.
>> I am not.
02:08:27
Kamala d. Harris
>> do you know one way or another.
02:08:29
James B. Comey jr.
>> i’ve never heard anything about it.
02:08:31
Kamala d. Harris
>> and you mentioned that on you had the conversation where you hoped that you would let the flynn matter go on february 14th. Or thereabouts. It’s my understanding that mr. Sessions was recused from any involvement in the investigation about a full two weeks later. To your knowledge this was the attorney general, did he have access to information about the investigation in those interim two weeks?
02:09:01
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t — in theory, sure because he’s the attorney general. I don’t know whether he had any contact with any materials related to that.
02:09:08
Kamala d. Harris
>> to your knowledge, was there any directive he should not have any contact with any information about the russian investigation between the february 14th date and the day he was ultimately recused or recused himself on march 2nd?
02:09:20
James B. Comey jr.
>> not to my knowledge. I don’t know one way or another.
02:09:23
Kamala d. Harris
>> and did you speak to the attorney general about the russia investigation before his recusal?
02:09:29
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t think so, no.
02:09:30
Kamala d. Harris
>> do you know if anyone in the department in the fbi forwarded any documents or information or memos of any sort to the attention of the attorney general before his recusal?
02:09:44
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t know of any or remember any sitting here. It’s possible, but I don’t remember any.
02:09:49
Kamala d. Harris
>> do you know if the attorney general was involved in fact, involved in any aspect of the russia investigation after his recusal on the 2nd of march?
02:09:58
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t. I would assume not but let me say it this way. I don’t know of any information that would lead me to believe he did something to touch the russia investigation after the recusal.
02:10:09
Kamala d. Harris
>> in your written testimony, you indicate that you, after you were left alone with the president, you mentioned that it was inappropriate and should never had happen again to the attorney general. And apparently, he did not reply and you write that he did not reply. What did he do? If anything. Did he just look at you? Was there a pause for a moment? What happened?
02:10:34
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t remember real clearly. I have a recollection of him just kind of looking me and there’s a danger here i’m projecting on to him. This may be a faulty memory. But his body language gave me the sense what am I going to do.
02:10:49
Kamala d. Harris
>> did he shrug?
02:10:51
James B. Comey jr.
>> yore clearly. Have I some recollection of almost imper settable like what am I going to do, but I don’t have a clearrection of that. He didn’t
02:11:01
Kamala d. Harris
>> and on that same february 14th meeting, you said you understood the president to be requesting that you drop the investigation. After that meeting, however, you received two calls from the president, march 30th and april 11th where the president talked about a cloud over his presidency. Has anything you’ve learned in the months since your february 14th meeting changed your understanding of the president’s request? I guess it would be what he has said in public documents or public interviews.
02:11:28
James B. Comey jr.
>> correct.
02:11:29
Kamala d. Harris
>> okay.
02:11:30
Kamala d. Harris
>> and is there anything about this investigation that you believe is in any way biased or is not being informed by a process of seeking the truth?
02:11:44
James B. Comey jr.
>> no. The appointment of a special counsel should offer especially given who that person is, great comfort to americans no matter what your political affiliation is that this will be done independently competently and honestly.
02:11:59
Kamala d. Harris
>> do you believe that he should have full authority, mr. Mueller, to be able to pursue that investigation?
02:12:04
James B. Comey jr.
>> yes, and knowing him well, over the years, if there’s something that he thinks he needs, he will speak up about it.
02:12:11
Kamala d. Harris
>> do you believe he should have full independence. >> oh, yeah. And he wouldn’t be part of it if he wasn’t going to get full independence.
02:12:14
Unidentified speaker
02:12:19
Richard burr
>> thank you. Senator cornyn.
02:12:20
John cornyn
>> thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Comey, i’ll repeat what i’ve said at previous hearings that I believe you’re a good and decent man who has been dealt a very difficult hand starting back with the clinton e-mail investigation. And I appreciate your willingness to appear here today voluntarily and answer our questions and cooperate with our investigation. As a general matter, if an fbi agent has reason to believe that a crime has been committed, do they have a duty to report it?
02:12:54
James B. Comey jr.
>> that’s a good question. I don’t know that there’s a legal duty to report it. They certainly have a cultural ethical duty to report it.
02:13:04
John cornyn
>> you’re unsure whether they would have a legal duty?
02:13:06
James B. Comey jr.
>> yeah, that’s a good question. I don’t know where the legal — there’s a statute that prohibits mispersian of a felony nothing of a felony and taking steps to conceal it, but this is a different question. So look, let me be clear. I would expect any fbi agent who has information about a crime being committed to report it. >> me.
02:13:25
John cornyn
>> me. >> but where you rest that obligation, I don’t know. It exists.
02:13:28
John cornyn
>> as a general proposition, if you’re trying to make an investigation go away, is firing an fbi director a good way to make that happen? By that I mean.
02:13:43
James B. Comey jr.
>> it doesn’t make a lot of accepts to me but i’m hopelessly biased given that I was the one fired.
02:13:50
John cornyn
>> I understand. It’s personal.
02:13:52
James B. Comey jr.
>> no, given the nature of the fbi, I meant what I said. There’s no indispensable people at the world including at the fbi. There’s lots of bad things about me being at the fbi. Most of them are for me but the work will go on before.
02:14:08
John cornyn
>> nothing you have teched to today has impeded the direction of the fbi or director mueller’s commitment to get to the bottom of this from the standpoint of the fbi and the department of justice. Would you agree with that.
02:14:20
James B. Comey jr.
>> correct. Especially the appointment of director mueller is a critical part of that investigation.
02:14:26
John cornyn
>> let me take you back to the clinton e-mail investigation. You’ve been cast as a hero or a villain depending on the — whose political ox is being gored. At many different times during the course of the clinton e-mail investigation and even now perhaps. But you clearly were troubled by the conduct of the sitting attorney general, loretta link when it came to the clinton e-mail investigation. You mention the characterization that you had been asked to accept that this was a matter and not a criminal investigation, which you said it was. There was the matter of president clinton’s meeting on the tarmac with the sitting attorney general at a time when his wife was a subject to a criminal investigation and you suggested that perhaps there are other matters that you may be able to share with us later on in a classified setting. But it seems to me that you clearly believe that loretta lynch, the attorney general, had an appearance of a conflict of interest on the clinton e-mail investigation. Is that correct.
02:15:33
James B. Comey jr.
>> I think that’s fair. I didn’t believe she could credibly decline that investigation. At least not without grievous damage to the department of justice and to the fbi.
02:15:43
John cornyn
>> and under department of justice and fbi norms, wouldn’t it have been appropriate for the attorney general or if she had recused herself which she did not do for the deputy attorney general to appoint a special counsel that’s essentially what’s happened now with director mueller. Would that have been an appropriate step in the clinton e-mail investigation, in your opinion.
02:16:05
James B. Comey jr.
>> certainly a possible step, yes, sir.
02:16:07
John cornyn
>> were you aware that ms. Lynch had been requested numerous times to appoint a special counsel and refused?
02:16:13
James B. Comey jr.
>> yes, from I think congress had — members of congress had repeatedly asked, yes, sir.
02:16:18
John cornyn
>> yours truly did on multiple occasions. And that heightened your concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest with the department of justice which caused you to make what you have described as an incredibly painful decision it basically take the matter up yourself and led to that july press conference?
02:16:43
James B. Comey jr.
>> yes, sir. After the president clinton, former president clinton met on the plane with the attorney general, I considered whether I should call for the appointment of a special counsel. And had decided that would be an unfair thing to do because I knew there was no case there. We had investigated very, very thoroughly. This was a subject of passionate disagreement but I knew there was no case there and calling for the appointment of a special counsel would be brutally unfair because this would send the message, aha, there’s something here. That was my judgment. That’s how I thought about it.
02:17:16
John cornyn
>> if a special counsel had been appointed they could have made that determination that there was nothing there and declined to pursue it, right?
02:17:24
James B. Comey jr.
>> sure, but it would have been many months later 0 are a year later.
02:17:29
John cornyn
>> let me just ask you to, given the experience of the clinton e-mail investigation and what happened there, do you think it’s unreasonable for anyone, any president who has been assured on multiple occasions that he’s not the subject of an fbi investigation, do you think it’s unreasonable for them to want the fbi director to publicly announce that so that this cloud over his administration would be removed?
02:18:06
James B. Comey jr.
>> I think that’s a reasonable point of view. The concern would be obviously, because that boomerang comes back, it’s going to be a very big deal because it will be a duty to correct.
02:18:16
John cornyn
>> we saw that in the clinton e-mail investigation, or course.
02:18:19
James B. Comey jr.
>> yes, I recall that.
02:18:20
John cornyn
>> I know you do. So let me ask you finally in the minute that we left, there was this conversation back and forth about loyalty. I think we all appreciate the fact an fbi director is a unique public official in the sense that he’s a political appointee in one sense but he has a duty of independence to pursue the law pursuant to the — the constitutional laws of the united states. And so when the president asked you about loyalty, you got in this back and forth about well, i’ll pledge you my honesty. And then it looks like from what i’ve read you agreed upon honest loyalty or something like that. Is that the characterization?
02:19:04
James B. Comey jr.
>> yes.
02:19:05
John cornyn
>> thank you very much.
02:19:06
Richard burr
>> thank you, sir. >> senator reed.
02:19:10
Jack reed
>> senator reed. >> thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, director comey. There have been press reports that the president in addition to asking you to drop the flynn investigation, has asked other senior intelligence officials to take steps which would tend to undermine the investigation into russia. There’s been reports that he’s asked dna coats and admiral rogers to make public statements exonerating him or taking the pressure off him. And also reports about admiral rogers and director pompeo to intervene and reach out to the fbi and ask them. Are you aware of any of these or do you have any information with respect to any of these allegations?
02:20:01
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t. I’m aware of the public reporting, but I had no contact, no conversation with any of those leaders about that subject.
02:20:09
Jack reed
>> thank you. You have testified that you interpret it the discussion with the president about flynn as a direction to stop the investigation. Is
02:20:21
James B. Comey jr.
>> yes.
02:20:22
Jack reed
>> you have testified that the president asked you to lift the cloud by essentially making public statements exonerating him and perhaps others. You refused, correct?
02:20:34
James B. Comey jr.
>> I didn’t — I didn’t do it. I didn’t refuse. The president. I told him we would see what we could do. Second time he called I told him in substance, that’s something your lawyer will have to take up with the justice department.
02:20:46
Jack reed
>> and part of the underlying logic was we’ve discussed many times throughout this morning, is the duty to correct. That is one of — a theoretical issue but also very practical issue. Was there, your feeling that the direction of the investigation cog in fact include the president?
02:21:12
James B. Comey jr.
>> well, in theory. I mean as I explained the concern of one of my senior leader colleagues was if you’re looking at potential coordination between the campaign and russia, the person at the head of the campaign is the candidate. Solange I cannily, this person argued, the candidate’s knowledge understanding would logically become part of your inquiry if it proceeds. I understood that argument. My view was that what I said to the president was accurate and fair and fair to him. I resisted the idea of publicly saying it. Although if the justice department had wanted to, I would have done it because of the duty to correct and the slippery slope problem.
02:21:54
Jack reed
>> and again, also, you’ve testified that the president asked you repeatedly to be loyal to him and you responded you would be honestly loyal, which is I think your way of saying i’ll be honest and i’ll be the head of the fbi and independent. Is that fair?
02:22:10
James B. Comey jr.
>> correct. I tried honest first. Also, I mean, you see it in my testimony. Also tried to explain to him why it’s in his interest and every president’s interest for the fbi to be apart in a way because its credibility is important to a president and to the country. And so I tried to hold the line, hold the line. It got very awkward. I then said you’ll always have honesty from me. He said honest loyalty. I acceded to that as a way to end this automatic wafrdness.
02:22:43
Jack reed
>> you were summarily fired without any explanation or anything else.
02:22:47
James B. Comey jr.
>> there was an explanation. I just don’t buy it.
02:22:50
Jack reed
>> well, yes. So you’re fired. Do you believe that you were fired because you refused to take the president’s direction? Is that the ultimate reason?
02:22:59
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t know for sure. I know I was fired. Again, take the president’s words. I know I was fired because of something about the way I was conducting the russia investigation was in some way putting pressure on him in some way irritating him and he decided to fire me because of that. I can’t go farther than that.
02:23:18
Jack reed
>> it the russia investigation as you have pointed out and as all my colleagues have reflected is one of the most serious hostile acts against this country in our history. Undermining the very core of our democracy in our elections is not a discrete event. It will likely occur. It’s probably being prepared now for ‘18 and ‘20 and beyond. And yet, the president of the united states fires you because in your own words, some relation to this investigation. And then he shows up in. The oval office with the russian foreign minister first after classifying you as crazy and a real nutjob, which I think you’ve effectively disproved this morning. He said I face great pressure because of russia. That’s taken off. Your conclusion would be that the president, I would think, is downplaying the seriousness of this threat, in fact, took specific steps to stop a thorough investigation of the russian influence and also from what you’ve said or what was said this morning, doesn’t seem particularly interested in these hostile threats by the russians. Is that fair?
02:24:35
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t know that I can agree to that level of key tail. Because no doubt, that it’s a fair judgment. It’s my judgment that I was fired because of the russia investigation. I was fired in some way to change or the endeavor was to change the way the russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal. Not just because it involves me. The nature of the fbi and the nature of its work requires that it not be the subject of political consideration. And on top of that, you have the russia investigation itself is vital because of the threat and I know I should have said this earlier. It’s obvious. If any americans were part of helping the russians do that to us, that is a very big deal. And i’m confident that if that is the case, director mueller will find that evidence.
02:25:28
Jack reed
>> finally, the president tweeted that james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversation before he starts leak together press. Was that a rather unsubtle attempt to intimidate you from testifying intimidate anyone else who seriously crosses his path of not doing it?
02:25:49
James B. Comey jr.
>> i’m not going to sit here and try to interpret the president’s tweets. To me, its major impact occurred to me in the middle of the night, holy cow, there might be tapes. If there are tapes, it’s not just my worth against his on the direction to get rid of the flynn investigation.
02:26:05
Jack reed
>> thank you very much.
02:26:11
John s. Mccain iii
>> senator mccain. In the case of hillary clinton, you made the statement that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to bring a suit against her although it had been very careless in their behavior. But you did reach a conclusion in that case that it was not necessary to further pursue her. Yet, at the same time, in the case of mr. Copy, you said that there was not enough information to make a conclusion. Tell me the difference between your conclusion as far as former secretary clinton is concerned and mr. Trump.
02:27:09
James B. Comey jr.
>> well, the clinton investigation was a completed investigation that the fbi had been deeply involved in. So had I an opportunity to understand all the facts and apply those facts against the laws as I understood them. This investigation was under way still going when I was fired. So it’s nowhere near in the same place, at least it wasn’t when I was —
02:27:31
John s. Mccain iii
>> but it’s still ongoing.
02:27:34
James B. Comey jr.
>> correct. So pfaff as I know. It was when I left.
02:27:38
John s. Mccain iii
>> that investigation was going on. This investigation is going on. You reach separate conclusions.
02:27:42
James B. Comey jr.
>> no that one was done.
02:27:44
John s. Mccain iii
>> that investigation of any involvement of secretary clinton or any of her associates is completed?
02:27:53
James B. Comey jr.
>> yes, as of july 5th, the fbi completed its investigative work and that’s what I was announcing what we had done and what we had found.
02:28:04
John s. Mccain iii
>> well, at least in the minds of this member, there’s a whole lot of questions remaining about what went on particularly considering the fact that as you mentioned, as the a “big deal” as to what went on during the campaign. So i’m glad you concluded that part of the investigation, but I — I think that the american people have a whole lot of questions out there, particularly since you just emphasized the role that russia played. And obviously, she was a candidate for president at the time. So she was clearly involved in this whole situation where fake news, as you just described it, big deal took place. You’re going to have to help me out here. In other words, we’re complete the investigation of anything that former secretary clinton had to do with a campaign is over and we don’t have to worry about it anymore? Slufging. > with respect to — i’m a little confused. With respect to secretary clinton, we investigated criminal investigation in connection with her use of a personal e-mail server. >> I understand.
02:29:14
James B. Comey jr.
>> I understand. >> that’s the investigation I announced the conclusion of on july 5th.
02:29:18
John s. Mccain iii
>> so but at the same time, you made the announcement there would be no charges brought against then secretary clinton for any activities involved in the russia involvement in our engagement in our election. I don’t quite understand how you could be done with that but not done with the whole investigation of their attempt to affect the outcome of the our election.
02:29:45
James B. Comey jr.
>> no, i’m sorry. We’re not at least when I left when I was fired on may 9th, there was still an open investigation to understand the russian efforts and whether any americans worked with them.
02:29:56
John s. Mccain iii
>> but you reached the conclusion there was no reason to bring charges against secretary clinton so you reached a conclusion in the case of mr. Comey, the president — >> no, sir.
02:30:10
John s. Mccain iii
>> no, sir. >> in the case of president trump, you have an ongoing investigation. So you got one candidate who you’re done with and another candidate that you have a long way to go. Is that correct?
02:30:25
James B. Comey jr.
>> I don’t know how far the fbi has to go, but yes. That the clinton e-mail investigation was completed. The investigation of russia’s efforts in connection with the election and whether there was any coordination and if so with whom between russia and the campaign was ongoing when I left.
02:30:42
John s. Mccain iii
>> you just made it clear this was a big deal, unquote. I think it’s hard to reconcile one case you reach a complete conclusion and the other side you have not. And you’ve in fact, obviously, there’s a lot more there as we know as you called a “big deal.” She’s one of the candidates but in her case, you say, there would be no charges and in the case of president trump, the investigation continues. What has been brought out in this hearing is more and more emphasis on the russian engagement and involvement in this campaign. How serious do you think this was?
02:31:29
James B. Comey jr.
>> very serious. But I want to say something to be clear. We have not announced and there was no predation to announce an investigation of whether the russians may have coordinated with secretary clinton’s campaign. Secretary clinton’s campaign.
02:31:42
John s. Mccain iii
>> but they may not have been involved with her campaign. They were involved with the entire presidential campaign, obviously.
02:31:49
James B. Comey jr.
>> of course. Yes, sir. And that is an investigation that began last summer and so far as i’m aware continues.
02:31:58
John s. Mccain iii
>> so both president trump and former candidate clinton are both involved in the investigation, yet one of them you said there’s going to be no charges and the other one that the investigation continues. Well, I think there’s a double standard there to tell you the truth. Then when the president said to you, you talked about the april 11th phone call, and he said quote because i’ve been very loyal to you, very loyal, we had that thing, you know. Did that arouse your curiosity as to quote that thing was? >> yes.
02:32:32
John s. Mccain iii
>> yes. >> why didn’t you ask him.
02:32:34
James B. Comey jr.
>> it didn’t seem to be to be important for the conversation we were having to understand it. I took it to be some — an effort to communicate to me in that there is a relationship between us where i’ve been good to you, you should be good to me.
02:32:50
John s. Mccain iii
>> yeah, but I think it would intensely an rouse my curiosity if the president of the united states said that thing, you know. I’d like to know what the hell that thing is particularly if i’m the headof the fbi.
02:33:07
James B. Comey jr.
>> what I concluded at the time is that in his memory he was searching back to our encounter at the dinner and was preparing himself to say I offered loyalty to you. You promised loyalty to me and all of a sudden his memory showed him that did not happen and I think he pulled up short. That’s just a guess. I have had a lot of conversations with humess over the years.
02:33:28
John s. Mccain iii
>> I think I would have had some curiosity if it had been me, to be honest with you.
02:33:33
John s. Mccain iii
>> are you aware of anything that would lead you to believe that the president or the members of the administration or members of the campaign col potentially be used to coerce or blackmail the administration?
02:33:46
James B. Comey jr.
>> that’s a subject for investigations, not something I can comment on sitting here.
02:33:53
John s. Mccain iii
>> but you reached that conclusion as far as secretary clinton was concerned but you’re not reaching a conclusion as far as this administration is concerned? Are you aware of anything that would lead you to believe that information exists that could coerce members of the administration or blackmail the administration?
02:34:19
James B. Comey jr.
>> that’s not a question I can answer, senator.
02:34:22
Unidentified speaker
>> the senator’s time has expired.
02:34:27
Unidentified speaker
>> thank you.
02:34:28
Richard burr
>> all time has expired for the hearing. Can I say for members, we’ll reconvene promptly at 1:00 p.m. In the hearing room. We have a vote scheduled for 1:45. I would suggest that all members promptly be there at 1:00. We have about three minutes. I’d like to have order. Photographers, photographers, return to where you were. Please. This hearing is not adjourned yet. Either that or we’ll remove you. So members, we have about three minutes of updates that we would love to cover as soon as we get into the closed session before we have an opportunity to spend some time with director comey. Based on our agreement, it would be my intentions to adjourn that closed hearing between 2:00 and 2:10 so that members can go vote. I would urge you to eat at that time. Jim, several of us on this committee have had the opportunity to work with you since you walked in the door. I want to say personally on behalf of all the committee members, we’re grateful to you for your service to your country. Not just in the capacity as fbi director, but as prosecutor and more importantly had, being somebody that loves this country enough to tell it like it is. I want to say to your workforce, that we’re grateful to them with the level of cooperation that they have shown us. With the trust we’ve built between both organizations, the congress and the bureau. We couldn’t do our job if it wasn’t for their willingness to share candidly with us the work that we need to see. This hearing is the ninth public hearing this committee has had this year. That is twice the historical year long average of this committee. I think the vice chairman and my’s biggest challenge when this investigation has concluded is to return our hearings to the secrecy of a closed hearing to encourage our members not to freely talk about intelligence matters, publicly, and to respect the fact that we have a huge job. And that’s to represent the entire body of the united states senate and the american people. To make sure that we work with the intelligence community to provide you the tools to keep america safe and that you do it within the legal limit or those limits set by the executive branch. We could not do it if it wasn’t for trusted partnership that you have been able to lead and others before you. So as we depart from this, this is a pivotal hearing in our investigation. We’re grateful to you for the professionalism you’ve shown and your willingness. I will turn to the vice chairman.
02:37:29
Unidentified speaker
>> I simply want to echo one, again, the thanks for your appearance and there clearly still remain a number of quis. And the one thing I want to commit to you and more importantly I think, mr. Chair, I want to commit to all those still potentially watching and following, there’s still a lot of unanswered questions. We’re going to get to the bottom of this. The american people deserve to know. There’s the questions around implications of trump officials and the russians but also the hack crow issue of what the russians did and continue to do. And I think it is very important that all americans realize that threat is real. It is continuous. It is not just towards our nation. It is all towards all western democracies and we have to come to a solution. Thank you, mr. Chairman.
02:38:16
Unidentified speaker
>> director comey, thank you once again on behalf of the committee. This hearing is adjourned.
02:38:21
Unidentified speaker
>>
*this transcript was compiled from uncorrected closed captioning.
Why would a person leak a memo in response to the thought that there might be tapes? If there are tapes, let the tapes speak for themselves; they would eliminate the need for memos.
The guy seems slimy.
Richard burr
>> no, no doubt. 00:19:58
James B. Comey Jr.
How can Comey make that statement when the FBI NEVER had possession of the DNC servers?