“We are under Siege”: President Trump Trump’s personal counsel accuses Comey of leaking “classified information”
I.S. Saluja
WASHINGTON (TIP): In the Atlantic season of hurricanes, one political hurricane could turn out to be historic- the Comey testimony. In his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, June 8, former FBI Director James Comey affirmed his belief that President Trump fired him “because of the Russia investigation.” He did not accuse the president of obstructing justice, leaving that question up to Robert Mueller, the appointed special counsel. In response, Trump’s personal lawyer accused Comey-inaccurately though-of leaking “classified information”, referring to the memos Comey had drafted regarding his conversations with the president.
Ousted FBI director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, June 8, and didn’t pull any punches when discussing President Trump. Here are five takeaways from his blockbuster testimony.
“Lies, plain and simple”: Throughout his testimony, Comey accused Mr. Trump of misleading Americans about the nature of his tenure at the Bureau and his firing in May. “The administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI, by saying the organization was poorly led,” Comey said at the onset of his testimony.
“Those were lies, plain and simple.” Mr. Trump and his allies have criticized Comey’s tenure numerous times since his firing. The president even reportedly called Comey a “real nut job” during his meeting with Russian diplomats. Last month, Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Comey had “lost the confidence” of the FBI’s rank-and-file agents, which Comey, among others, dispute.
Why he was fired: Comey told the committee that he does “take him at his word” on one thing — that he was terminated over the Russia investigation. Comey said the “shifting explanations” for his ouster “confused” and increasingly, “concerned” him, as the White House’s official explanation for his firing contradicted that of the president’s. Comey said he couldn’t be sure of why the president fired him, but that he believes the president’s public comments.
After firing Comey, Mr. Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt he thought of the thought of “made-up” story of ties between Russia and the Trump campaign when he fired Comey, and he told Russian diplomats that firing Comey relieved “great pressure” on him from the FBI’s Russia probe.
“I take the president at his word that I was fired because of the Russia investigation,” Comey said in the hearing. And he went further, suggesting that the president hoped to “change” the way the Russia probe was being conducted. “I was fired in some way to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted,” Comey said. “That is a big deal. On top of that, the Russia investigation itself is vital because of the threat. And if any American were part of that, that is a very big deal.”
Comey leaked: How did the existence of Comey’s memos make it to the press? He leaked them. Comey says he believes the memos were his personal property and written in his capacity as a private citizen, although he has now turned them over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In fact, Comey says he hoped that by sharing what he had written in the memos with the news media, he could help trigger the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Comey, however, did not leak the memos to the press himself. Nor did he rely on his friend Benjamin Wittes, a legal blogger who frequently teases new revelations in the Russia investigation with his Twitter account. Instead, Comey said that he turned to a “good friend” who teaches at Columbia Law School to share what he had written with the memos. That friend, CBS News’ Andres Triay reports, is Daniel Richman, a law professor at Columbia.
“Lordy, I hope there are tapes” : Mr. Trump tweeted after firing Comey last month that the ex-FBI chief “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Comey says this tweet inspired him to leak the contents of his memos to the press, because he felt he “needed to get that out into the public square.”
“Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Comey said during a back-and-forth with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, to laughter from the crowd. He later said that if Mr. Trump had indeed recorded any of their conversations that he hoped they would be released. He also disclosed that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has his memos.
Loretta Lynch’s strange request: Comey said his reasoning behind his much-criticized July 2016 announcement that the FBI would not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton over her private email server had a lot to do with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch holding a private meeting with former President Bill Clinton on a Phoenix, Arizona tarmac.
But that wasn’t the only reason he decided to make the announcement. “Probably the only other consideration that I guess I can talk about in open setting is that at one point the attorney general had directed me not to call it an investigation, but instead to call it a ‘matter,’ which confused me and concerned me, but that was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude I have to step away from the department if we’re to close this case credibly,” Comey said.
Trump is not under investigation — or, rather, he wasn’t: As Comey said in his written statement before the hearing, Comey did in fact inform Mr. Trump three times that he was not personally under investigation. Mr. Trump, Comey said, was frustrated that the FBI did not make this public, and asked Comey to make it so several times. But Comey had serious reservations about letting it be known that Mr. Trump wasn’t under investigation, among them that if that information were to be made public, the FBI would then have to announce that Mr. Trump was under investigation if that ever became the case.
Of course, whether Mr. Trump is under investigation now is impossible to know, since Comey was fired on May 9, and the Russia investigation may have expanded since then. Who all are the guys on Intelligence Committee who questioned James Comey?
Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina: The chairman of the committee, which he joined in 2007, Mr. Burr embraced President Trump during the campaign. But he has earned praise from his peers in both parties in recent weeks for the seriousness with which he has taken his role in leading the Senate’s investigation.
Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia: Mr. Warner, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, has thrived in the spotlight that the investigation brings. He has in the past expressed presidential ambitions and has praised Mr. Burr, whom he calls a friend, for his leadership of the committee.
Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho: Mr. Risch was elected to the Senate in 2009 and has been a member of the committee since then. He is one of Mr. Trump’s strongest supporters in Congress and has expressed significant concern about leaks to the news media. He is a former governor of Idaho.
Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California: Ms. Feinstein, who was once the head of the committee, has in the past criticized Mr. Comey for his actions in the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server. But she expressed concern after he was fired in May and said then that she believed he should “absolutely” testify before the other committee on which she sits, the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida: A candidate for president in 2016, Mr. Rubio joined the Intelligence Committee in 2011. Mr. Rubio has been willing to criticize Mr. Trump, his former campaign rival, and has been dismissive of the president’s complaints that the Russia investigation is a “witch hunt.”
“We are nation of laws, and we are going to follow those laws,” Mr. Rubio said recently. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon: Mr. Wyden, who has been on the panel since 2001, has been a strong critic of the Trump administration and had early on called for Mr. Comey to appear in front of the committee.
Susan Collins, Republican of Maine: Ms. Collins, who has been on the committee since 2013, is known as one of the more moderate Republicans now serving in the Senate. She has been tougher on the president than many colleagues in her party. “I really want to know the truth no matter who is implicated, no matter where the evidence leads,” she told The Times last month.
Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico: Mr. Heinrich joined the committee when he arrived in the Senate in 2013. He pushed the F.B.I.’s acting director, Andrew McCabe, to assert that Mr. Comey still enjoyed “broad support” among the agency’s rank and file.
Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri: Mr. Blunt, along with Ms. Collins, has been a strong supporter of Congress’s investigation into Russia’s actions in the 2016 presidential election. A former acting house majority leader, he has been on the panel twice, leaving after 2012 and rejoining in 2015.
Angus King, Independent of Maine (Caucuses with Democrats): Mr. King, a former governor of Maine, has been on the committee since he joined the senate in 2013. One of the most steadfast members of the committee, he caused a stir on Wednesday when he pressed Mr. McCabe and other intelligence officials on why they could not elaborate on earlier conversations they had with Mr. Comey.
James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma: Mr. Lankford, who was once a Baptist youth minister, joined the committee in 2015. He has insisted on the seriousness of its investigation into Russia’s alleged interference and has said that he hopes that Mr. Comey’s hearing will “hopefully end speculation and lead us to facts.”
Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia: Mr. Manchin, a moderate Democrat and a former governor of West Virginia, is known for crossing the aisle. He joined the Senate in 2011 and was assigned to the committee this year. He told the news media that Mr. Comey, shortly before his firing, had sought more resources for the Russia investigation.
Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas: A former member of the U.S. Army and the youngest U.S. senator, Mr. Cotton has expressed skepticism of Mr. Comey’s accounts of his interactions with Mr. Trump. He joined the committee in 2015.
Kamala Harris, Democrat of California: Ms. Harris was ferocious in her calls for a special prosecutor to supervise the F.B.I.’s Russia investigation. Often named as a potential presidential candidate, Ms. Harris, a former attorney general of California, was assigned to the committee this year when she joined the Senate. She has expressed impatience with the Senate’s probe, saying that she thinks it needs to be sped up.
John Cornyn, Republican of Texas: Mr. Cornyn, the majority whip, only recently joined the panel. He is one of Mr. Trump’s stronger allies in Congress and was reportedly being considered to replace Mr. Comey before taking himself out of the running last month.
Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, and John McCain, Republican of Arizona, also questioned Mr. Comey on Thursday. As the leaders of the Armed Services Committee, they are “ex officio” members of the Intelligence Committee, as are the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer.
