It’s been said that Americans don’t have many moments that we experience collectively, as a nation, at this point. Like, there’s no one TV show that every single person watches all at the same time anymore. But I bet most Americans watched or listened to some or even all of James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday. His appearance was hyped to the extreme for two weeks. Everyone was waiting for Comey’s first public appearance since he was sh-tcanned by Donald Trump one month ago. When I say “hyped,” I mean it. It felt like people expected Comey to walk into the room and drop a pile of receipts and walk away. That didn’t happen. What happened was more nuanced and thought-provoking, and it turns out that Comey really did have some sh-t to say.
Here’s my issue: while I trust James Comey more than Emperor Baby Fists, that’s setting the bar pretty low. I still don’t buy his “I had to torpedo Hillary Clinton’s campaign, because Loretta Lynch spoke to Bill Clinton, BUT HER EMAILS” defense. I still don’t get why he lied under oath about Huma Abedin (something he was not asked about). I still don’t know why Democrats are falling all over themselves to insist that Comey is a good guy, because they can make the argument for impeachment and obstruction of justice without needing to lionize Comey. I still don’t know why Comey holds himself to such a different set of standards than he held Loretta Lynch, or even Sally Yates, who comes across as a person with bigger stones than James Comey any day of the week.
Everybody had different reactions to what Comey said and what he meant and what it all meant for Emperor Bigly. My take was that Comey was trying to calmly lay down his case for Trump’s (blatant) obstruction of justice, and Comey’s perception that Trump was “directing” him to close down the investigation into Mike Flynn. I also think Comey was also throwing some fascinating details about Jeff Sessions’ role in all of this, and that Comey truly believes that Sessions does not have clean hands in any of this.
The Republican analysis of Comey’s testimony is… convoluted. Trump’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, made a statement following Comey’s appearance. Kasowitz claimed that Trump was feeling vindicated because Comey said he (Trump) wasn’t being investigated. Kasowitz also claimed that Comey directed “unauthorized leaks” of “privileged communications with the president.” Except that’s total bullsh–t – Comey directed a few leaks in retaliation to Emperor Baby Fists’ character assassination (telling the Russian ambassador that Comey was a “nut job”) and in retaliation to the Trump tweet that Comey better hope that there weren’t “tapes” of their conversations. As I said, it’s convoluted. Comey kept memos of his conversations with Trump because, as he told the committee, he thought there was a good chance Trump would lie about their meetings. Which is exactly what happened.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
My husband and I sat and watched the entire thing, start to finish, without moving or saying a word. It was captivating. And Comey pulled no punches. I don’t know how Trumpsters can think Trump won the day after that.
That is because you are rational.
Yes! I made the mistake at looking at some Twitter comments from conservatives (Russian plants?). Not rational at all.
I realized during this that comey is a tall drink of water. Still waiting for a believable reason as to why he issued that statement regarding Clinton prior to the election. Yesterday he said repeatedly that he knew and said there was no case in July.
If you mean in October, the story was about to come out anyway. Giuliani and Trump already knew, Giuliani’s buddies in the FBI in NY were regularly feeding him info against protocol. I think Comey was actually trying to reduce the impact. No matter what he did or didn’t do, it was going to be a problem because media are easily manipulated and too many voters don’t think logically. As soon as I saw Hillary wasn’t worried and just wanted the examination to proceed quickly, I knew there was nothing there. Anybody who changed their vote based on that was unreliable anyway and could have flipped their vote for any ridiculous reason (maybe a black cat crossed their path) on their way into the voting booth. Yes, there are people still deciding as they go into the polling place. I think a lot of people voted for Trump because they thought they knew him from tv.
It may have come out anyway but I don’t think it would have had such fire from another source. The FBI could have used the old standard and said we do not discuss cases that are being investigated… The FBI determined that there was no case against Hillary Clinton in July and if that changes we will let you know.
But they didn’t. so I still haven’t heard from Comey a credible reason for his note in October. At best it was extremely bad judgment and poor wording.
You should google ‘dear Mr Putin, let’s play chess’ for an interesting take on why Comey did what he did re Hilary Clinton. Bear in mind that the author wrote the article in January, and in light of subsequent events, seems to have called it pretty well.
Thank you, Flipper, for the “let’s play chess” story. Fascinating. I can’t believe I haven’t seen it before.
I sat in my car at lunch time and listened. It was hard to go back to work. And trumpeters are delusional
I too sat and watched the entire testimony, and was captivated. I feel like I understand better the choices Comey made (re Hillary) in the past year.
But I feel this is not a “win” for anyone, at least not until the public can know what is going on in the closed sessions. It’s slow, too slow, for the damage being inflicted.
I’ve changed my mind about Comey as I’ve observed him in action more. Still don’t agree with some of his choices but don’t think they were done to trash Hillary and help Trump. He really does have a deserved reputation for integrity and fairness, and the independence of the FBI from the executive branch really is important to him.
I was glued to the screen all day..first the pre-testimony discussions with various political insiders, then the main event. Afterwards I watched the breakdown analysis. I was late getting ready for a retirement dinner. I have to admit Americans have the best entertainment reality shows. The drama, the comedy, the farce. The rich cast of characters a devoted principled FBI head – the passionate and beautiful Senator, the befuddled old man and the evil, mean, cruel, heartless man we kept hoping would make an appearance via twitter. Now that’s entertainment.
Don’t leave out the madly tweeting nonsense to gain daddy’s favor son.
I too was glued to the tv. I found it fascinated and thought provoking. I was wondering why was Comey not replying to 45 when he asked him to shut down the investigation on Flynn. I believe he knew 45 was a liar and could not be trusted. He wanted to build a file on him to see how far he, 45 would go to influence him. I don’t believe Comey believe he would be fired because he was told several times that his job was safe.
Another thing, I believe Comey was truthful yesterday, I totally believed him. I did not like what he did to Hillary at election time. Also, if he was to be fired he should have been fired at the start of 45 administration, not 3 months later.
I also believe every one in this administration is compromise. I believe Ryan, McCain, McConnell. Little Marco, and Cotten went to dinner 2 days before the hearing with 45. What kind of sh@t was that.
I think orange butthole thought he can keep Comey because he thought he would be a supporter due to the hilary email debacle. The only thing was Comey has always been neutral as he should. They fired him because he won’t climb on board the crazy train.
Orangino and his minions are so stupid. The timing is wrong and this thing blew up. Yup Pandora’s box is open.
Because Trumpsters didn’t watch. They tuned into Fox News yesterday evening and got the Trump party line, that Comey’s testimony vindicates Trump. They won’t hear where Comey says his statement is only in regard to whether Trump was being investigated *at that time.*
And if you try to point it out to them, they’ll just start yelling about letting the man do his job.
They also got Paul Ryan’s soundbite that Trump isn’t a politician and we need to cut him some slack. Which doesn’t hold water for me at all. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Not for any American, and sure as hell not for the president. Apologists act like this was some huge job that was just thrust upon him with no warning. He ran for the position! Campaigning for president is a years long process! Years for you to be preparing yourself. And after you win the election, you still have months for people to prepare you more. Except if you’re a narcissistic egomaniac who thinks he knows everything and doesn’t care about doing the job and ignore all the people trying to help prepare you for doing said job. Then you don’t listen to anyone, but still want to whine about how hard it is and use that as an excuse when you f*** up.
Yes this. They didn’t watch, they just waited for Faux and Breitbart to tell them what to think. It’s unreal the naiveté, the sheer delusion.
On my FB, all the Trumpets were saying that this was a win, Trump is “vindicated”, Comey is a “leaker” and that this entire hearing proved nothing.
Federal workers have probationary periods. If Trump were working in one of the agencies, he would have been fired by now so that the rights of a full-fledged employee wouldn’t have kicked in for such a total disaster – and Ryan KNOWS that.
CNN interviewed a group of Trump fans last night and asked who they thought, based on Comey’s testimony & Trump’s lawyer’s statement, if either was lying. A group of them said Comey was. Some said both were. When the reporter asked one of the latter group why she thought Comey was lying, based on the testimony she had just watched , she replied that the media distorts everything – this is with absolutely no media involvement in the actual testimony. Then when the reporter tried to move on, one of the guys complained that he didn’t get to say why he thought both were lying, so the reporter gave him a chance. His reason? “But Hillary …” You can’t make this stupidity up.
Aside from the predictable “But Hillary” they’re focusing on Loretta Lynch telling Comey to call it a “matter” instead of an investigation. That’s the big Trumpster takeaway from the hearing: an (admittedly questionable) request regarding semantics from one high-ranking US official to another. Nevermind that the so-called liberal media had already been calling it an investigation for weeks at that point.
Paul Ryan’s spin is ridiculous. It reminds me of the old Phil Hartman Caveman Lawyer skit on SNL. Dan Pfeiffer on yesterday’s Pod Save America had a good analogy. If you get pulled over for a DUI, it’s not an excuse to say you thought the law was .8, not .08. You still go to jail regardless because ignorance is not an excuse. It should be even less of an excuse for the POTUS, ffs! It’s unf^ckingbelievable how low our standard for presidential behavior had fallen.
Some commentators on CNN made a really good point last night: if Trump is truly clueless, then why did he clear the room before asking Comey to drop the investigation against Flynn? He knew exactly what he was doing. And he knew it was wrong.
New low of 34% approval for trump. Fox News audience way down. Republican senators and representatives are still towing line but Mueller finds obstruction of justice, I think they will jettison trump for pence. GOP has almost destroyed this country and it’s reputation. Hopefully we can get it back in 2018.
Just watched a fascinating clip of Nancy Pelosi recounting how the first words out of trump’s mouth in the Oval Office in front of dem and Repub congressional delegation was “I won the popular vote, you know”. The man is clearly unhinged and delusional.
I saw that CNN panel. How can the media manipulate an unedited clip of a hearing?
Regarding Paul Ryan’s B.S. : we have an almost 70 year old man from New York who ran a billion dollar real estate business including casinos and working around mobsters and we are to believe he doesn’t know he was trying to intimidate Comey into doing his bidding? LMAO!
He invited the man and his family to dinner then called and said, come alone. He asks if the guy likes his job, lets him know many people would like his job then asks for loyalty. Yeah sounds completely innocent to me. *eyeroll*.
Not to add the other time he kicks everyone out of the Oval Office, again to pressure Comey into dropping the investigation one-on-one.
“why did he clear the room before asking Comey to drop the investigation against Flynn?”
This is the biggest point. And there were witnesses to the clearing of the room and it was documented by Comey immediately after the fact. This is obstruction of justice.
It might take a while (years) for the results to take effect, but the seeds have been planted.
Here’s the thing – As much as I wanted to hate Comey for torpedoing Hillary, he has come across in these hearings as someone who has no other intention than seeking the truth. I respect the hell outta that.
He seems to be a class act. And I believe what he has to say. Bottom line.
There’s a piece of video that’s being played over and over. You can find it here:
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/08/james-comey-trump-russia-testimony-239294
“The administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader.
“Those were lies, plain and simple, and I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them and I’m so sorry that the American people were told them.”
Listen carefully. His voice cracks on “lies.” His speech wavers while getting the last sentence out.
It’s heartbreaking.
@tripleCardinal – I was telling my husband that last night too. I told him that I am going to be channeling Comey whenever I have a difficult conversation that needs to be had because he is a rockstar communicator – calm, forward, thoughtful, he chooses his words carefully but quickly. There were 2 points when he was emotionally connected to the topic – the one you mention, and later on when he thanks the FBI personnel and says goodbye to them because his voice cracked then too. I like this man a lot.
Despite the Hilary email debacle, I really respect Comey. He is the ideal FBI agent – neutral, to the point and in search of the facts and truth. Another good example was when he and Mueller (he was his boss) raced to see Ashcroft to beg him not to fire the US Attys because Bush’s evil minions wanted them dismissed.
He can write a book about this when it’s all over and I’ll read it.
Republicans also claimed The Orange One won the debates against Hillary Clinton, so ???
Good point.
Wow. The callers on C-SPAN were like: “He deserves a chance. I’m worried people don’t support our president.,” etc. What kind of parallel universe are these people living in??? I watched the whole thing and I know Dems can achieve their aims without lionizimg Comey but after that, it was hard not to.
I wish I could have heard what was said during the closed testimony. That testimony probably contains the most important information. Sigh….
I think eventually we will hear most of what was said in the closed setting. What’s interesting to me is Comey’s timing if results from the Mueller investigation are really as far off as everyone says. It seems to me like Comey thought this through. Why would he testify now if he knew the results of the investigations weren’t going to be available for several years? IMO it appears things will happen sooner than later since he testified (hopefully). What is truly mystifying is all these Repubs rushing to defend these creeps. With any luck, they will all go down in flames. Trumps approval ratings are tanking. Who are they talking to anymore? Their narrative is becoming impossible to maintain. Why would they make these choices even from a strictly selfish or political stand point?
I think/hope you are right re: closed session testimony.
“Why would he testify now if he knew the results of the investigations weren’t going to be available for several years?”
I agree that Comey approached this thoughtfully. I wonder if he was hoping that some of the information would influence the investigation’s focus. Maybe they will take another look at certain aspects they might not have fully considered before?
The only thing I can guess about the GOP congressional members, is that they just want tax cuts. Once the get their big agenda items through, I bet they will turn on Trump very quickly. I don’t know if the US can handle that, though! See how they are trying to push through banking deregulation and health care reform while Russia takes the front page. Truly disgraceful behavior.
I have to say, the more I see/read of Comey, the more impressed I am and convinced of his integrity. I really don’t think he had a dog in the fight (wanting either side to win the election). But what I (and most Americans) want to know is what is going on in those closed sessions. I really doubt there is a single person in 45’s administration with clean hands, and I mean *no one*. Sigh… I just feel this is such a long, drawn out process that needs a LOT more transparency. I’m surprised a lot of those rotten GOPers aren’t turning coat to try and save their own butts yet. I’ve seen a lot of political scandals in my time, but never have I felt this sense of betrayal in the sense that, for the first time, I feel like my country has truly been sold out for the $$$$, not just political power, if that makes sense.
If trump wanted to know if any of his staff were in collusion w the Russians, why didn’t he fully support Comey’s investigation?
If Trump himself was colluding in any way why wouldn’t he want to know everything they had on everyone?
If they are “unauthorized leaks,” then they aren’t “lies,” so make up your mind. Additionally, the leaked material was Comey’s own notes, about which Trump knew nothing, so Trump had no authority to authorize or not authorize release of them, especially not after he returned Comey to private citizen status. And “privileged?” Not seeing that relationship on my list of privileged relationships.
And Putin’s puppet is tweeting wildly this morning.
Comey didn’t leak anything. He was free to speak to the press and he did so. Sadly, that admission handed Trump a piece of information he could turn into a lie to feed to the deplorables.
I can’t believe how Trump and the Republicans are trying to parse facts and lies from Comey’s testimony. They believe him when he says he told Trump he was not under investigation, but they don’t believe him when he tells them the context in which he discussed that with Trump. F@ck them. I am so disgusted with the state of this country.
Ryan was bending over backwards to defend yesterday and may have broken his own neck doing so. And Rubio got pummeled so badly he was whining last night.
Really you can’t believe it?! Cmon everything the GOP has done so far says they are going to ride this train to get what they want. Even if it means taking the country to another recession.
Ryan defending Trump not knowing anything when their critiques of Obama was that he was a young senator was laughable.
Oh and while we were watching the hearing they turned back Frank-Dodd and setting up the fast track to stripping 20+ million of healthcare. So not only will we slide into another depression because we cannot afford to buy (thanks boomers) but we cannot sue financial instituations for screwing us again (and they will). But not before we die from lack of insurance.
Believe me nothing the GOP does should surprise you.
RE: Ryan
As the guys on Pod Save said “ignorance isn’t exculpatory”.
Claiming that Trump is just an innocent newbie who’s still learning the ropes just isn’t gonna fly in any capacity. That being said, funny to see Ryan admitting that Trump has no f*cking idea what he’s doing.
Yeah, the unauthorized leaks/lies contradiction drives me crazy in the same way the “fake news” screaming does. If you claim a Trump story is fake, then shouldn’t you condemn or not believe every single story written or produced by that outlet? I truly despise what Trump hath wrought. I know he didn’t start this but he sure managed to escalate it to alarming levels.
I wonder if he put that information out there so Trump would dig himself deeper by trying to cover up stuff. I get the impression those that are going for the long play are trying to catch him in a cover up more than an initial crime/debacle/stupidity.
I think Comey is smart and it would not surprise me he laid down a trap. Everything he said was thought out and calculated. Everyone knows baby pants will blow up on negative feedback.
I truly believe Comey said what he said about his ‘leak’ to lay a trap. Everyone is saying he should not have admitted that as it gives Trump leverage but I am positive he did it on purpose for a reason we do not know yet.
That’s correct. The information he released from the ONE memo, was not classified information and he did nothing illegal or wrong. It resulted in the establishment of a special investigation getting underway and imo, it was an act of patriotism. See, that is what Trump lacks: patriotism. He also lacks ethics, statesmanship, class, and common sense.
Depending on what information was revealed in the closed session in the afternoon, we may see some real drama in the coming weeks. Get your popcorn ready.
I don’t buy the excuse that “trump doesn’t know protocol. They spent big taxpayer bucks on a social secretary. You’d ASSUME the President of the United States would hire a 24hr statesman to hold his tiny hand to avoid missteps. #notBuyingTheSPinHe’sIN
If we keep believing this ‘investigation’ is going to end the nightmare that is trump anytime soon, I’m afraid we’ll be regularly disappointed.
But on a happier note–nice to see Rachel Maddow back!..hope she’s well.
Learning that Trump is not, and has never been, under investigation was soul crushing. We’re stuck with this monster for at least four years.
Trump’s campaign is under investigation so while Trump individually may not be, his campaign is so he is indirectly. He is ultimately responsible for what his campaign did. People need to remember and not lose sight of that. Because Trump wants people to lose sight of that.
I didn’t hear Comey say he wasn’t presently under investigation. When he told him he wasn’t, that was months ago. A lot has been uncovered since then.
Yeah, I loved that part of Corey’s statement where Trump told him that if any if his ‘satellites’ had been involved with the Russians then Comey was welcome to throw them under the bus!
All any of those satellites have to do is say that Trump knew what they were doing. The one thing that is consistent with Trump is his desire for power and control, I doubt many of his satellites do anything (let alone engage in treason) without Trump knowing.
One of the reason’s Comey refused to say in public that Trump was not personally under investigation at that time was that the situation could change, and then Comey would feel obliged to correct the prior public announcement with another public announcement. This is also why he publicly announced the results of the FBI examination of the “emails emails emails” investigation last summer. The whole thing had been very public so she deserved a public “we didn’t find anything criminal and she was very cooperative and she didn’t lie to us” announcement. Despite a few remarks that I felt were inappropriate, he was doing it for the right reasons.
He didn’t exactly say Trump isn’t under investigation at this time, only he wasn’t when he spoke to him. Even then it doesn’t mean he knew he soon would be. He’s very careful with his tenses and words.
He wasn’t under investigation at that time, but with Comey putting out his memos you can bet he’s now under investigation. Mueller has Comey’s memos and has not released them to. They the news media is saying that’s a sign 45 is now under investigation.
It was reported that tv ratings were very high yesterday during Comey’s hearing.
What I heard Comey say was that at the time Trump asked him, he wasn’t personally under investigation, but as for now, Comey didn’t want to answer in an open setting.
I just want to say, I like that Comey used the word ‘lie’. Trump lied & continues to lie. I cannot stand it when reporters use the word ‘falsehood’ or ‘untruth’. The Occupant lies.
But isn’t he under investigation now for obstruction of justice?
He’s not the “target” of an investigation, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t/won’t find something that goes back to him. The way Comey parsed his words on this matter was very important.
I don’t think they will admit they have found any wrong doing in regards to the President until they are ready to declare that they have come to a conclusion.
As Omar Little would say…Come at the king you best not miss.
The key word is “At that time.” I think it’s changed now.
It’s my understanding that Trump is UNDER INVESTIGATION NOW for obstruction of justice. However, trump SHOULD have been under investigation- his taxes leading to #russianBrownNoser should have been turned over or asked for long ago. Putin must surely have the entire gov’mt by the balzack, or else why is this “investigation” so nonsensical?
Comey was calm and told the facts which is good. But trump is only a large limb on the diseased tree that is the Republician party. Pence, Ryan, McConnell, Bannon and other high profile republicans are probably just as involved. They are just better at covering their tracks and don’t suck up as much attention as trump. The rot goes deep and hopefully this is the start of an in depth investigation.
It was captivating to me. And if you were really listing you heard some things that yes lived up to the hype. I think Comey was quite honest. He made a lot of mistakes. I will never forgive or forget the Hillary thing. That being said it was interesting to me that he concluded that Trump was a liar right after the first meeting. And knew he had to document his conversations. He told Trump that he was not under investigation in the context of Collusion.. but Trump changed that by his comments.. so now if I heard it right.. Trump is under investigation now. And I found it strange that Jeff Sessions didn’t stop this and walked out of the room and left his FBI director in a situation he shouldn’t have been in. WHY?.. and where are the questions about that. So much and I could go on for hours.. But I learned a lot. And I saw how the GOP are so desperate to stay in power they have loss their sense of integrity.. not that they had much or any to lose it the first place.
Yes to all of this, very nicely phrased. I feel like I can’t quite convey my thoughts adequately after watching, and you can very close to what I am thinking.
I feel some anger (?! maybe) at the previous administration for not stopping trump taking office. I do understand democracy, etc, and the chance of a civil war, but ? the damage trump is inflicting on the world at this point, it should never have come to him actually taking office. If they knew as early as 2015 what russia was doing, in july 2016 that they were influencing the election, they shirked their global responsibility by letting this happen. No, I don’t know what they could have done, I’m venting because we are looking at catastrophic global damage.
I’m just fed up, disillusioned, depressed, angry, and I think I might just eat chocolate all day.
While in general I agree and am very upset about the outcome and the daily disaster in the making, I cannot think of what Obama and the previous admin could have done in 2015 that would not have been misconstrued as interfering with the FBI investigation and attempting to tip the election in Clinton’s favor.
Remember we would not have known then what we know now.
I mean, no one was really taking Trump seriously back then (sadly, to everyone’s detriment) but had it leaked that the FBI was investigating Russian hacking/meddling of the election and Obama got involved you can bet they – the media and the GOP – would have dismissed the entire thing as a Dem hoax for Obama to steal the election for Hills and that would have really riled up the far right. The media was still giving Trump a free ride and largely favorable press (at least $2 billion worth according to estimates). Few were doing real investigative work.
IMO It was a no win for Obama or Hillary.
Personally, I do not expect any movement against Trump as long as the GOP holds both majorities of Congress. Already Paul Ryan is making excuses that Trump simply didn’t know better, that he’s new and made a mistake. That will be their default for all his missteps. And sure, Trump is new to politics and government but it doesn’t take a career politician to read on the separation of powers and to listen to experienced advisers. Trump is ignorant and arrogant. His family’s wealth has protected him all his life. The bar will be even lower now.
The Dems at least need the Senate, preferably both the Senate and the House.
And while Trump support may slowly be eroding with his base it’s not that significant. Most are still happy with him. As long as he keeps rounding up undocumented brown folks and throwing his support behind pro-gun, anti-gay, anti-abortion candidates Trump will gain their votes. Lots of these people vote for those main social issues (GOP bread and butter), economics and everything else be damned.
Dems and Independents better show up in force in 2018. And I hope to see a sea of blue.
Abbie – apparently McConnell told Obama point blank that if he released any information about the Russian situation before the election, McConnell would make sure it was cast as a partisan interference in the election on behalf of Hillary. So it isn’t speculation that such could occur – the Senate Majority Leader promised that it would.
Likely no one will see this, and I will probably get a lot of hate rained down on me if someone does but…is this election just our chickens coming home to roost? And by that I mean, the US (in conjunction w GB) assassinated a leader in Congo, attempted to influence elections in Nicaragua, that is just off the top of my head.
it seems like a sort of karma that we are experiencing the same crap we did to try to make other countries more US interest friendly.
I hate cheetoh, but also, Why should we be exempt from election meddling when other countries have been dealing with it for some time. Instead of why we are dealing with it, I ask – why not us? And relevant to Trump/putin – maybe he was the first candidate they were able to compromise. 🙁
Anyway If a historian or policy expert wants to school me on feeling bad about US foreign policy, I am ready to see the error in my thinking.
@Tata, no you’re correct. Many of the Middle East regimes from the last 4 decades have been handpicked and installed with the help of Americans. They have had a political presence in many corners of the world. I am not American, so as an observer I have been intrigued by the indignance at the interference of a foreign nation of the US people. I do really enjoy watching American politics, but I do have to mute Trump, Paul Ryan and McConnell just because of their idiocy or condescending tones.
Abby, you have to recall that Hillary called Trump “putin’s puppet” on the national stage in a prez debate. Also, Obama literally kicked russian diplomats out of vast US compounds- for what- not exactly clear, but it had to do with hacking and election interference. Also FFS the RNC removed a platform about decisive action against Russian invasion of the Crimea. So…intel HAD to know -then- what we are seeing now. Why wasn’t it stopped? Archie Goodwin- I”m with you. Watergate seems to have had the nation against a bad president- but today- we are the “library snowflakes” against a crumbling democracy. I’ll have that chocolate now ;(
It’s not at all strange that corrupt AG Cornpone left the room to allow his corrupt compadre to have a one on one he said/he said conversation with Comey. Deniabilty, deniabilty, all the way.
He left before dear son-in-law! Jeffy Beau sure did skedaddle and left his direct report to fend for himself. He didn’t have the guts or awareness to say this is not a good idea.
He can’t claim ignorance either since he was a US Attorney in a previous life and a Senator. As an attorney he should be well versed what obstruction of justice is. That’s the linch pin right there.
Yeah, the GOP confuses me because they’re celebrating some perceived victory in Comey’s admission that Drumpf wasn’t under investigation while he was FBI Director, but they’re trashing everything else about Comey’s testimony. It’s all or none in my eyes. I’m more interested in what was said in the closed session.
Also, what was up with Sen. McCain? Was he in the Matrix or something?
I’m very interested in what was said in the closed session. Hopefully it’s really damaging to Trump.
McCain seemed like he’d just had a stroke or something
If it’s not something medical, I wonder if he just received a threat or blackmail? He’s been steady about the Russia investigation, I thought and so his weird questions made no sense. My vote is for either medical (could even be a reaction to medication) or a very recent threat against him and/or his family.
McCain could well have been threatened. His 2008 campaign manager was Manafort’s business partner Rick Davis. McCain celebrated his 70th birthday ten years ago with Deripaska, a Putin friend and Russian oligarch. He was supportive of Putin manhandling Montenegro. Just google McCain and Russian ties and you will find reporting on this. I believe it will come to light that the Putin interference in U.S. politics has been going on for many years now.
If you would’ve told me a year ago that I would’ve spent three hours glued to C-span, I would’ve thought you were nuts. Nope, the world is just nuts.
I’ve only read and saw highlights but Trump didn’t say directly stop investigating Flynn. He could say it was just casual talk, shooting the breeze. But I think Comey did show what a sleaze Trump is but on the line of criminal. I also love how Trumps team is saying believe Comey when he said Trump wasn’t being investigated but he’s lying about everything else.
“I hope you’ll let this go” and “He better hope there aren’t tapes.” One is casual and one is a threat? Hmmm.
Like Kamala Harris said, when you’re being robbed at gunpoint and the robber says “I hope you’ll give me your wallet” hope isn’t the operative word…
The casual talk defense vanished once Trump told Sessions and Jared to leave. That also destroys the argument that poor non-politician President Tweeter didn’t know any better. He would have asked outright in front of the others if he thought it was ok to ask. He knew he was doing the wrong thing.
^^^This.
Asking the AG to leave the room means it was anything but casual. The first words out of Trumps mouth after the door closed was about the Michael Flynn investigation. That speaks volumes. You don’t ask for privacy when you are shooting the breeze.
One does not just shoot the breeze with the director of the FBI
He was never going to live up to the hype. This is not a reality show and people need to stop setting their expectations so high. This is real life and these things take time.
Welcome to being Black in America. This feeling of powerlessness and frustration is the American reality for a lot of us.
Lastly, I agree with most of your assessment but this one: He also did not torpedo Hilary’s campaign. There were several factors that led to her campaign’s demise and no amount of hyperbole and misplaced anger is going to change what happened. He was not the deciding factor. Russia decided it as soon as she became the nominee or maybe even before then and he did everything in his power to get anyone but her elected.
I agree and was about to say the same. Hilary bears a lot of blame for running a lousy campaign and not putting a kibosh on the email thing early. Putin is a spymaster so he knows how to find a person’s character weaknesses and hubris has always been the Clinton Achilles heel. That and finances. It didn’t take much to lead people to think negatively about her. Just like Bill wouldn’t answer early years ago and squash his scandal she actually made this bigger than it had to be.
I don’t think enough people changed their minds due to Comey that would have mattered. It was puzzling but not a game changer.
Read this: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/
I thought Comey was dignified and believable. But he did play a role in the election. Hillary came so close, just a matter of a few thousand votes in a handful of states … his letter cost her. Other factors were working against her, that’s true, including her own actions—she might have won those states if she had taken the time to campaign there. But if Comey’s letter had not come out, she probably would have overcome the other factors.
Yeah, I was hoping for something more
What, the smoking gun. As had been said repeatedly, this was an open session, there was going to be no smoking gun. And we’re at the beginning of Mueller’s investigation. This isn’t going to happen immediately, Watergate didn’t and this is much much more complicated.
Comey was a private citizen when he “leaked” unclassified information. 45 leaked classified information to a hostile foreign power. And 45 gets his knickers in the biggest knots accusing others of what he himself has done … I expect to hear a loooot about Comey the leaker from 45.
Tweeted it first thing this morning.
Oh geez, I’m afraid to look. It’s not as much fun to look at his threads anymore now that the good trolls have been banned.
These tweeters are being harrassed or blocked. I already follow some & will check out the others.
http://twitter.com/officialnmp/status/872308024593051649
http://twitter.com/officialnmp/status/872308562722250752
The funny troll comments were the only highlights of actually looking at his tweets. Now that they are banned, I only look at the unfollow accounts that post all his tweets and retweets. Now there are more responses from bots and his crazy deplorable followers. Some cray cray lady was responding troll to any negative tweet.
Why is it the old white ladies who love Trump so much? It stinks because a lot of the older ladies in the activist group I’m in are awesome. I’m sure they are embarrassed by their peers. We are travelling today and my brother wanted to stop at Cracker Barrel (ugh). An old lady in there, who was apparently a regular, started chatting up a group of soldiers and I’m not sure what one said, but she loudly goes “No, no, I don’t think it’s that bad, we will be okay. Nothing could be worse than the last eight years! Nothing! Our country can only go up from here.” The soldier was just like ok thanks ma’am, you have a nice day.
I mean, I expect nothing less at Cracker Barrel, but ugh. This is why I hate leaving the city!
Pretty sure the the work you produce as a federal employee does not belong to you once you leave federal service. So technically, those weren’t his documents to ‘leak’.
I don’t think Comey gave them those memos. I think he may have written up something new based on his recollections. Mueller has full access to the original memos and maybe the Senators do also.
I’m also sure Comey didn’t make a move without consulting widely, especially with Mueller to avoid causing problems for the investigation. He had the right to distribute the information as he did. Trump lost a lot of power over him by firing him.
A few things that stood out for me:
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions was kept out of Comey’s loop weeks prior to Foghorn Leghorn’s supposed recusal from the Russian investigation. I give Sessions two months max.
When Cheeto Covfefe Mussolini would speak with Comey about the dossier, Cheeto was obsessed with the “hooker” portion — there are far more damning charges on that dossier than pee pee parties. But Cheeto never brings up those issues.
I really don’t expect anything to come out of Comey’s testimony at this point — we really need a smoking gun. It may be awhile, but I’m secure in the thought that Cheeto is mentally ill and will, sooner than later, go completely batsh*t.
And I hope the fallout from that batsh*t explosion lands all over the Republican Party.
“Jefferson Beauregard Sessions was kept out of Comey’s loop weeks prior to Foghorn Leghorn’s supposed recusal from the Russian investigation. I give Sessions two months max.”
There was a closed session after the public one. I wonder if anything was mentioned about Racist Keebler Elf.
I think Sessions’s life is about to get much more interesting than he probably intended it to.
Comey’s comments during the open session seemed to imply that he did. It’s being reported that that during the closed hearing, Comey revealed that Sessions may have not disclosed in his background check forms (which the FBI investigates) a third meeting with Russian officials.
Cheeto never brings up the more serious issues because, imo, he can’t wrap his tiny brain around more than one simple, or in this case, salacious, thing at a time.
Such as outside (foreign) interference in the election process! He never once brought up that topic, per yesterday’s testimony.
Christin, exactly. Everyone, even Paul Ryan, acknowledges how alarming that is. Trump doesn’t even seem to understand the implications, or maybe he just doesn’t care. But as POTUS, he should at least pretend to care. He is such an idiot.
@Christin – he wouldn’t need to ask about something he already knew was happening. He was probably so focused on the part about being recorded because that was he only part of the dossier claims he was unsure of – he wasn’t sure if he had been recorded or not and was prob trying to find out.
I love that the excuse is basically that he is a novice and he can’t be expected to understand this stuff. THEN HE SHOULD HAVE NEVER RAN FOR PRESIDENT!!!
They are making him out like he is Unfrozen Cavemen Lawyer. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m just a 70 year real estate mogul. Your complex government systems confuse and frighten me!” “When I hear Russia wants to help me win, I think that must be a good think because my pal Vlad Putin has been in power for so long. But I’m just a simple minded real estate guy, so that’s just how I think about things.”
Biggest takeaway is that Sessions is going down. And I don’t think it’s going to take 2 months.
We didn’t need a smoking gun. We needed information that was reported in the media to be confirmed as fact under oath in a congressional hearing. That is what we got. Mission accomplished.
We are working towards long term goals, not immediate solutions. We are not working towards a coup, we want the integrity of the system to provide proper checks against abuses of power. This will take years probably, but it will be justice.
What we don’t know is what Comey confirmed in the private portion of his testimony. That information will probably have the biggest impact, but I think they have already been given enough information to support obstruction of justice. But that might be the smallest infraction in this situation.
It did not have to be great entertainment. Mueller holds all the keys to any prosecutions. What Comey did was to, without mincing words and under oath, testify that the President is a liar and cares nothing about Russia interfering with the election. Sure, many of us knew that, but it’s powerful reinforcement. If, as Tumpers insist, he did no damage, why would Trump’s $1,500 an hour lawyer rush out to give a confused and ineffective defense?
After the Hilary debacle, I can’t figure out Comey as a person. Maybe he is the class “tattle tale” of Washington. One thing amusing to me: he shares an alma mater with my daughter, the great College of William & Mary. Got his law degree from University of Chicago. These are some smarty pants places.
I wonder if trump’s lawyer went to trump Fakeaversity.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/06/08/trump_personal_lawyer_marc_kasowitz_s_statement.html
I was listening to an interview with Tim O’Brian who was sued by Trump and won. His description of this lawyer was that he is just as arrogant and unprepared as Trump.
His lawyer (and firm, in which he’s one of the named partners) is actually a very well regarded litigator (and firm). However, supposedly he wasn’t Trump’s first choice, as he doesn’t have experience with this type of investigation.
According to a Yahoo news article (https://www.yahoo.com/news/four-top-law-firms-turned-requests-represent-trump-122423972.html), at least four major law firms turned down Trump for various reasons, but they all mentioned that they didn’t think Trump would listen to them nor pay them.
When I try to figure out Comey’ as a person, I see him as a measured person who deals in facts and implications. I think Comey was trying to say that he can only give so much information, and the blanks need to be filled in by the media because he cannot elaborate or explain it further. They often get it wrong, but Comey’s hands are tied. He may have tried to manage the message before Guiliani did it first. At that time Guiliani was gleefully loose cannon at that time, and was blabbing about the ‘bombshells’ that were going to be coming out from his FBI sources. Like Comey said, he had to choose between a bad choice and a worse choice.
Unfortunately it is the GOP controlling the narrative right now, so they only things that are going to get pushed forward is that Comey didn’t specifically say that 45 obstructed anything, but more importantly, Lynch and Bill Clinton had a talk about stuff that they shouldn’t have (arrogant stupidity that I still want to slap both of them for). I would have been more impressed with his testimony if he hadn’t been so prim and acted like he didn’t want to say anything “unseemly”.
I want to be more excited about this, but I can’t be-I think the democrats put all their hopes in this torpedoing 45 and not only did that not happen, by the mid terms, this testimony is going to be a distant memory. it has been a frustration for me for quite a while that we consistently load all our chips on short term gain instead of planning for the big picture and worse, there is rarely a backup plan because we seem unable to see past the idea of “well, this is the way it SHOULD be, so we just expect and plan that it will be”. 45’s election is a picture perfect example of failure to plan.
The Dems? Meaning the voters or the officials? Because as a voter I sure wasn’t expecting this to be the thing that brings Trump down. And I know the Dems aren’t either. To repeat what Aiobhan Targaryen just wrote: He was never going to live up to the hype. This is not a reality show and people need to stop setting their expectations so high. This is real life and these things take time.
Also, do people think that this is the only testimony that is going to happen?
Nothing may come of this, but hand wringing right now over how it didn’t do anything is helpful for venting but also shows short-sightedness. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Your last sentence is key. Everyone should keep it in mind.
I agree that it is a marathon and not a sprint, and I didn’t really expect it to have any explosive results either.
But I still respectfully maintain that many, many people in this party(voters and politicians alike) were putting waaay too much emphasis on this testimony and behaving as if impeachment proceedings would be starting immediately after Comey was done testifying. And yes, I do realize that this is just an opinion.
I’m always reminded that Watergate took 2 years. CNN had a great special on it. And I wasn’t born then but I have learned so much. And doing a comparison of both events (lack of a better word) the parallels are mind blowing. And this is not going to happen over night. I would think that people understood that Comey would not say something in the open session that would have 45 arrested. That was not going to happen. But Comey made some very good points; and he dropped some not so subtle bombs if you ask me. The stuff about Sessions aqusing himself before he did. Take the testimony the previous day; or lack of answers. There is much going on.
@grabby, it’s your opinion, and it may been coming from whatever you’re reading. My circle of friends, what I’m reading, not getting it. The media hype may have been there, but I think most people who aren’t among the core 30-35% of his die hard supporters know this is a marathon, or even an ultra marathon.
I doubt very much that Comey lied under oath about the number of emails. Considering his history, why would he lie about anything under oath? And why lie about the number of emails? There’s no reason to do that and Comey is quite rational. It sounds like an honest mistake that he quickly corrected. There are people I doubt because of their history and associations (yes, Jared, I mean you), but it makes no sense to accuse Comey of lying under oath here. Goes against all reason and everything we know about the guy.
And I also now doubt very much that he was trying to torpedo Hillary’s campaign last summer. This is a guy who dots every “i” and crosses every “t”. I don’t agree with some of his comments last summer and don’t think it was his place to say them, but I doubt that he did that maliciously. He was being his usual meticulous self which can override better judgment sometimes, but we need that kind of person also. Besides, he obviously finds Trump unnerving and dishonest , and I’m sure he would have picked up those signals just from long-distance observation during the campaign as well as up close and personal after the election.
Same goes for last October. The story was going to burst out of Giuliani and/or Trump soon (they were both acting positively gleeful before the story officially emerged), so sending a confidential letter to Chaffetz let him get ahead of that and minimize the importance of it, just saying that they needed to check to make sure there was nothing new there. He also clearly felt an obligation to inform the committee as he had promised, and everything we’ve heard from Comey indicates he takes his promises seriously. Maybe he would have delayed until after the election and after the emails had been cleared if not for the rogue agents in the NY FBI office in cahoots with Giuliani. He probably knew Chaffetz would break confidentiality and spin it, but at least he was publicizing Comey’s more cautious words rather than Giuliani’s version. I think Comey was between a rock and several hard places in that situation.
100%
Yeah I agree with this tbh.
1) I think Comey was simply mistaken when he made that comment about Huma and the emails.
2) And yes I agree that he did not intend to harm Hillary with that Oct memo either. It *did* have an impact though in that it was the difference between Hillary squeaking out a win and losing (just check Nate Silver’s analysis). But I don’t think he had nefarious intent. At worst I think Comey is a guy that covers his own ass. We have to remember, everyone thought Hillary had it in the bag. So IMO he was probably thinking “What if we find new relevant emails on the laptop? People will wonder why the FBI didn’t disclose this information *before* the election?” IMO Comey was afraid his reputation and the reputation of the FBI could be harmed. And that’s exactly what drove him to speak out after being fired by Trump: Trump defamed him by attacking his reputation and the reputation of the FBI.
Comey is a Dudley Do-Right that cares strongly about people *perceiving* him as a Dudley Do-Right.
totally agree
I love that my two senators, Harris and Feinstein, brought the goods!
Kamala Harris asked pointed questions re Jeff Sessions she knew wouldn’t be answered just to let those questions linger like the foul-smelling stench of sulfur…for all if us to sniff!
Be sure to look up who’s on Mueller’s team; it’s a Murderers Row of prosecutors, just right for Emperor Zero!
Feinstein was AWFUL! Total victim blaming. I can’t believe I’m reading a comment that is supportive of her line of questioning.
California FTW! I think Kamala Harris was asking those questions for us, rather than Comey. She’s a former prosecutor, so she knows even questions that are stricken still linger in the air.
I went food shopping last night and met another stupid, rude Trumpster. While waiting in line, a lady seeing me wearing a Boston Celtics shirt asked if I was another crazy liberal invading all the states. I kept my voice down, but couldn’t stop telling her off. She said it was people like me and like the Latino family in front of us (who weren’t speaking English) who were ruining the country. The Latinos were all wearing Disney stuff so they were probably here on vacation. All I had said was she could get in front of me because she didn’t have much to buy. What kind of person is so rude that they can bring up politics and how much they hate the opposite party just because of where I’m originally from ? Trumpsters are true nut jobs!
Sorry, Beth. But I really believe these people are not the future. They can take one election cycle, but they are not a permanent majority.
I think of it like in the movies when the killer is supposed to be dead and everyone sighs in relief and then suddenly the killer gets one last surge of life fueled by rage and then collapses, gasps and then dies. People like her are in the rage stage. She feels inevitability biting at her heels and clearly can’t control herself. Poor dear.
She got that from a Celtics shirt? Seems like she was ready to pick a fight at the slightest provocation. So sorry, and good for you for telling her off. I agree with the others that she doesn’t represent the majority or anywhere close. Thank goodness.
Statement of trump’s former lawyers on his truthfulness(lack thereof).
http://twitter.com/melissajpeltier/status/872891707507056640
Mueller’s Team!
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/06/mueller-russia-probe-trump-239163
He chose an excellent staff. These people are a big big deal in legal circles.
I am sorry, I know it may be difficult to maintain a perspective from the inside, facing Trump shit every singe day, his tantrums, his clear disregard of democracy, rule of law, separation of powers, common decency, respect and million other things a leader of free world has to display. It is especially hard in the age of social media, when the words are thrown around randomly, when a person, who is sworn in, has a hand on Constitution, arguably the singe most important collection of word in the State and when the White House is mastering the genre of world mean all you want them to mean, but looking from the outside, Comey’s testimony to small degree restored my believe in the common sense in US. He was careful with his words, when pressed if Trump pressured him to drop the investigation, he did not take the easy way out and stick to the exact words and repeatedly said that Trump “hoped” that Comey would let go of the investigation. I found that refreshing. That was refreshing to hear someone use words accurately and making sure they are understood in the context they were used. And yet, he plainly said (repeatedly and under oath) that Trump LIED. He said that he has no doubt that Russia hacked the election. Back in mid 2016, that would have been HUGE. So I am not sure what more could we all have expected from this. It’s important that we stay wake and do not normalise what is going on and think that only if Comey came in with some recording of Trump blackmailing FBI director would be satisfying enough. The fact that President asked for numerous meetings with FBI director and hoped for loyalty should be impeachable in normal circumstances because…. separation of powers used to be a thing so crucial for democracies.
The media hype was frustrating. As someone said above, this is not reality tv. I am sick of those countdown clocks! We are fighting a war on many fronts here. Whether or not I agree with what Comey did before the election, the fact is that he did his duty yesterday to protect the country. His impassioned plea for Americans to understand the Russian threat is real will undoubtedly be used in history and civics classrooms for decades to come. My feeling is that the real action we are seeking (justice) is happening behind the scenes. That is where the definitive battles are being waged. I was struck by the relative timidity of the GOP senators when questioning. They have seen the evidence. They are bending into pretzels to get out of this. They won’t.
I thoroughly agree and I must say that I always appreciate your cogent commentary here on CB! During the open hearing yesterday, I was particularly struck by the recurrent tone of ‘we all know why you can’t answer that in public and we’ll discuss it later’. Clearly, there is unflattering evidence and the SIC have seen (at least some of) it.
Trump’s lawyer couldn’t correctly spell President in his memo, and flat out lied about Comey. He will not fare well in court with this lawyer.
Comey apparently said (in closed session) that Sessions lied about a third meeting with Russians. He’s a goner. He’ll be out before July, imo.
Well this guy is a business lawyer. There were legal analysts who said he needed a criminal attorney not some business attorney. Well I don’t care it’s a mistake I’ll back!
It is easy to be numbed some by now after having Tangerine in our faces day after day with his insanity but Comey’s testimony delivered. His words were carefully chosen and he made it impossible for Bo Jeffery Sessions to refute his testimony without perjuring himself. Some people thought his descriptions and details were just filler but there was a point to it all. He’s interrogated people before and he’s familiar with what to listen for to tell if the story is true or not.
Comey’s wholesome facade is effective because he doesn’t seem threatening or remarkable. Tangerine is so accustomed to certain types of overly ambitious shady business people that he probably thought Comey was weak. He can’t read subtle nor does he understand people who value integrity more than power. He did the same with Obama and it is why he loathes him to distraction. He can’t read him or ruffle him. Obama breezes around the globe merrily having a great time and being welcomed by everyone while he is miserable.
Comey said Tangerine is a bold faced liar with no character and none of the Republicans rushed to defend him or push back much. They know this will not end well.
I think he set a good foundation and Mueller will come and build on it. His testimony made me think this is much bigger than I imagined when I put all of the pieces together, starting with Obama making certain information was scattered in so many different hands that this information would come to light and not smoothed over. I think there are some people in Congress who aren’t going to come away clean too.
Bo Jeffery can soon go on back home to Alabamy and be with his kin folk. I hope he stays gone.
Jeez, don’t send him back here. We’ve suffered enough. He’d fit in perfectly in North Korea.
Sessions is a f*cknugget. We don’t want him back in Alabama. Our entire political system here is corrupt, too. So I have no doubt that he is complicit. The man who he appointed in his place, to fill his seat, Luther Strange, is JUST as bad.
In the past 15 years, we have had 2 governors go to jail (1 from each political party), had our head state justice removed from the bench twice (Roy Moore) who also uses his influence to get his son out of trouble, and have had a very high and mighty state senator, Mike Hubbard (a big financial contributor to Auburn University) go to jail.
I’m just sorry the rest of the country has to experience our nonsense.
Reindeer. Can you believe the crapadoodles who are running for that Senate seat? JFC!! Where did they find that barrel to scrape the bottom of?
PS Everybody, if you want a laugh, google our Luv Guv. But ex-Mrs. Luv Guv kicked a$$.
Am I the only one who noticed, when Comey was talking about his note taking, and handing over his notes, which were NOT classified, to a friend to give to the press, that he explicitly referenced the murder of Thomas Beckett? This is HUGE. (Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?) And the next Senator to ask questions… Senator King, reaffirmed what Comey was saying by bringing up Thomas Beckett’s murder again. Our government has people that it sees as a threat, killed. It’s not a conspiracy any more. Comey feared for his life. Senator King reaffirmed that that was a legitimate fear. Why isn’t this everywhere?
That was a very interesting exchange between comey and king…they both were thinking the same thing. I hadn’t considered that comey was/is likely fearing for his life but you’re so right.
Yes that part was very interesting. Also interesting when he couldn’t talk about the Russian banking institution VEB? I think except to confirm its existence in an “open setting”. Really? He couldn’t say anything about a foreign bank in an open setting? What he couldn’t say was as interesting as what he did say. I also think this was a true act of patriotism. I do not think it’s impossible that Russia is threatening people within the US or the current administration. Don’t you think his friends at the FBI have his back and the secret service? When he was fired, I remember a lot of talk of backlash within the agency and people being upset he left. Surely he has enough friends to protect him but I hadn’t considered this either and it actually makes a lot of sense.
Comey basically told the nation that if you don’t feel Trump is trustworthy, you are correct in your instincts. It was not lost on me, either, how carefully and distinctly stated that Trump wasn’t under investigation at that time. The WH just publicly accused him of perjury – well okay, then. Prove it.
Orange butt said he is willing to testify under oath in Congress. Uh huh Ok. Sure. I bet hell freezes over when that day comes.
Why do the press keep talking to Kristen Welker and Kelly Odonnell? All they do is praise Trump because they are more concerned with not being dropped from Spicers briefings or traveling with Trump.
President Tweeter just pulled another “Obama was spying on me” trick aimed at Comey, claiming with no evidence that “cowardly” Comey is likely responsible for lots of leaks.
The US Attorney in New York that Trump fired (Preet Bharara) says that he experienced similar weirdness and discomfort with Trump’s attempts to inappropriately contact him (one of his investigations was involving Trump’s businesses). As happened to Comey, Trump repeatedly assured Bharara that He wanted him to continue on the job after the election. But his contacts were odd – “shooting the breeze”, trying to establish a personal relationship with the guy investigating his businesses. Bharara felt very uncomfortable about it and didn’t return Trump’s last phone call (except to his office) after consulting with staff who advised against it. Soon after that, Trump fired him.
On a lighter note: Sen. Lindsay Graham said on Face the Nation about Trump: “He can’t collude with his own government. Why do you think he is colluding with the Russians?”.
Also apparently Trump’s UK visit will apparently be “delayed” indefinitely. Oh, dear.