Posted on 06/07/2017 11:50:17 AM PDT by TheConservator
The official statement (pdf.) from James Comey, to be read during the hearing tomorrow, has bombshells — but they are helpful to Donald Trump. The statement is embedded in full at the bottom of this post.
Comey confirms — contrary to media reports — that he told Trump that Trump was not personally under investigation.
Comey also paints a picture of Trump trying to put in a good word for Michael Flynn, but there is no suggestion that anything rising to the level of obstruction of justice was said. Also, Comey made clear that those comments did not relate to the general investigation of Russian interference in the election.
We will have additional analysis shortly.
Here are some key excerpts (mostly) in the order in which they appear, and how they relate to prior media reporting.
Comey confirmed — three times in the statement — that he told Trump he was not under investigation:
January 6
“In that context, prior to the January 6 meeting, I discussed with the FBI’s leadership team whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally. That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him. We agreed I should do so if circumstances warranted. During our one-on-one meeting at Trump Tower, based on President Elect Trump’s reaction to the briefing and without him directly asking the question, I offered that assurance.”
January 27
“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.”
March 30
“I explained that we had briefed the leadership of Congress on exactly which individuals we were investigating and that we had told those Congressional leaders that we were not personally investigating President Trump. I reminded him I had previously told him that. He repeatedly told me, “We need to get that fact out.””
More to follow.
To answer your question no the Flynn investigation and the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia are two entirely separate things.
We will have additional analysis shortly.
Analysis? Analysis? A three year old...or my dog could understand what’s going on. Analysis, my butt!
So this means that all the #FakeNews networks have been lying to us? Shocking.
Of course this is Comey statement. If it were not call me statement you would already have denials on all the major networks slamming it as being false. Are you seeing any of this?
All that aside Comey has already said previously and under oath that the president never pressured him or interfered with any investigation of the FBI.
The clinical definition of hearsay evidence, is statements about things not experienced firsthand. Comey experienced the meetings with Trump firsthand, so the testimony is not hearsay. That does not mean it is credible, only that it is not hearsay.
This narrative actually reflects well on BOTH Trump and Comey ... and is a thorough, embarrassing repudiation of every pr!ck in political office and the media who parroted those allegations in the first place.
But Reagan survived it and became one of the most successful presidents in our history.
When Trump asked Comey to "back off" Flynn, I believe Comey says that he understood this to mean that he should back off any FBI activity related specifically to the Flynn-Sessions interaction, not anything related to the Russia investigation.
This appears to be one of the things that had the Trump people confused at the time. They couldn't understand why anyone outside the Trump leadership team would make a big deal out of Flynn's dealings with Sessions. Lying to the Vice President of the U.S. got Flynn fired, but it wouldn't have been a crime under any circumstances.
I'd have to give them all an I.Q. test before I venture a guess, since the Democrat with the lowest I.Q. is the one most likely to take this step.
My money is on Maxine Waters.
Schumer
Yep, that’s the left. Bitterly clinging to their fibs, fake news, and phony made up stuff.
What I don’t get is, this is probably the very last time anybody will be getting Comey to testify on anything. Shouldn’t this be used as a drain-the-swamp opportunity? Shouldn’t he be grilled about obstruction or destruction of justice that Sessions now has evidence via his office contents?
Maybe that’s what the ‘live tweet this’ from DJT was, he’s gonna peel back as many scabs as possible tomorrow, 20 different charges against him and McCabe.
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.
Oh, this is sweet. Will the networks now cancel all coverage tomorrow? Bet that will occur or they will talk over Comey. What a joke this all has become!
The name of the game is innuendo, rumor and gossip...aka fake news
Clapper and others found Flynn “did nothing illegal” with respect to Russia. See...this goes nowhere.
Because as long as our crooked congress "investigates" they don't have to do any real work.
Every last swinging @ick of them knows the Russia thing is a total fabrication, but it doesn't stop them from "investigating."
You see how http://www.cnn.com/ is reporting the news?
“This will never go away”
This doesn’t hurt Trump at all.
The democrats are wasting all their ammo on BS that doesn’t move any votes.
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