Patterico's Pontifications

6/7/2017

James Comey’s Statement

Filed under: General — Dana @ 5:41 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Late getting this up due to other obligations. Here’s James Comey’s opening statement.

As Dan McLaughlin notes, there’s both some good news and some bad news for the president. “Comey explodes the Democrats’ narrative that Trump was under criminal investigation for collusion with Russia, and confirms with specificity that Trump was telling the truth when he tweeted that Comey had told him as much on three occasions. The bad news, for Trump, is that Comey also details his mounting concerns about Trump’s heavy-handedness. His discussion of the January 27 dinner, which he interpreted as Trump asking him to audition for staying on as FBI Director, set the tone”…

Much more at the link.

–Dana

132 Responses to “James Comey’s Statement”

  1. Just throwing this up for a fresh thread.

    Dana (023079)

  2. Comey already went on the record on May 3, 2017>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-dW59Fu1hg

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  3. Comey explodes the Democrats’ narrative that Trump was under criminal investigation for collusion with Russia

    When did that become the Democrats narrative?……….investigate, see where it leads and don’t obstruct. Simple enough. Meanwhile, everyone is free to speculate based on the behavior of POTUS and those around him.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  4. Putting pressure on a subordinate is not obstruction of justice. Democrats and leftists like Sparkycuss can’t seem to get that.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  5. Director of the FBI is NOT a subordinate of the president. POTUS doesn’t seem to get that.

    He won the electoral college in an unprecedented landslide and had a yuge inaugural crowd, bigger than Obummers. So he thinks he’s king.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  6. 3… Google “democrats say Trump is under criminal investigation for collusion with Russia” and see whatcha find, Sparkycuss.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  7. The very fact the prez can fire him would indicate otherwise, Sparkycuss. Wake the EFF up. Don’t bring your limp-wristed shizzle to a gun fight.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  8. This is like le chifffre’s bluff in casino royale can we get to the real business please. Yes Chris wray defended stay put out of criminal charges, that the point of a good defense atty.

    narciso (d1f714)

  9. The very fact the prez can fire him would indicate otherwise

    Not without consequences. Stay tuned.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  10. Heck of a job Dave:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/06/london-attacker-rachid-redouane-refused-uk-asylum-2009

    Sometimes people must wonder what is the point of voting Tory, the same can be said stateside all too often

    narciso (d1f714)

  11. 9… You will not find a pony under all that, Sparkycuss.

    In other news, it’s a little known fact that wherever Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) sits, upon her departure, a fellow in a haz mat suit follows up with a thorough mop up of the greasy stench puddle.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  12. Nothin’ from nothin’, but Mike Rogers doesn’t look like he’s getting much sleep. He resembles a severely sleep deprived Stimpey.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  13. Its because he has a real job reviewing the electronic intercepts so we don’t have a borough park or Manchester.

    narciso (d1f714)

  14. “The ‘Independent’ Mr. Comey
    His prepared testimony shows why he deserved to be fired.”

    — Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-independent-mr-comey-1496878266

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  15. Three quotes:

    January 27, to James Comey: “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty.” Nice job you got there fella, wanna keep it?

    February 24, to Comey: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” I need you to do something for me

    On May 9, Trump fires Comey. Comey doesn’t let Flynn go

    May 11, to Lester Holt: “Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey knowing there was no good time to do it. And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself — I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.”

    What more do you need?

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  16. Whatcwas said in some apocryphal memo, what was the president thinking at that time oh yes we got a lead on Al rimi from the uae.

    narciso (d1f714)

  17. For someone who wanted to resign, snorfle, he seems quite busy.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/07/doj-ends-holder-era-slush-fund-payouts-to-outside-groups.html

    narciso (d1f714)

  18. Everybody in the Executive Branch is a subordinate of the President. Where did this nonsense that the FBI Director is a fourth branch of government come from?

    nk (9651fb)

  19. Funny you should say that Nk
    acecomments.mu.nu/?post=370099

    narciso (d1f714)

  20. nk – Richard Milhouse Nixons ghost on line #1

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  21. I don’t go to Ace, narciso. What’s the content?

    nk (9651fb)

  22. Gates admitting in his memoir that Obama did demand loyalty,

    narciso (d1f714)

  23. Hey, Spartacvs. For a slice of gluten-free avocado toast, a Perrier, and two Zanax, tell me who signed the Supreme Court mandate in Bush v. Gore telling the world that Bush won Florida.

    nk (9651fb)

  24. Thank you, narciso. Yeah, you don’t hear this stuff when a Democrat is President.

    nk (9651fb)

  25. Clinton News Network eats a crow casserole:

    “CORRECTION AND UPDATE: This article was published before Comey released his prepared opening statement. The article and headline have been corrected to reflect that Comey does not directly dispute that Trump was told multiple times he was not under investigation in his prepared testimony released after this story was published.”

    harkin (f611c5)

  26. Enjoy, and yes it’s relevant

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  27. No Obama would often.be a liitke more subtle having underlings that the Kate Gerald walpin was senile, or having Lois learner pre spin the IRS investigation,

    narciso (d1f714)

  28. Precondition of relevancy are validity and authenticity. Nothing from HuffPo is relevant.

    nk (9651fb)

  29. nk – its an aggregator. Don’t be an ass.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  30. It’s garbage.

    nk (9651fb)

  31. Well that leak of the use’s ambassador date book really worked well,

    narciso (d1f714)

  32. If Comey tries to leave the impression that Trump committed obstruction of justice, then I can spot at least 45-minutes worth of devastatingly effective cross-examination of Comey, using nothing more than his own words in his written statement.

    But I think he’s not going to try to leave that impression. He’s going to label Trump as crude, boorish, overbearing, inexperienced, self-destructive, unconcerned about protocol and lines of reporting, and ignorant of the impropriety of what he was trying to do. (And that’s all indisputably true.)

    But that’s not obstruction, without a whole lot more. Comey didn’t think it was obstruction of justice, but he thought (correctly) that it was grossly improper. And that’s where he’ll leave it.

    There was nothing more in his written statement than Comey had already leaked, just more corroborative detail. Dem senators are going to be very frustrated.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  33. We’ve known of his dissembling for nearly 15 years from the games behind the Libby special counsel to the brouhaha on the dismissed us attorneys

    narciso (d1f714)

  34. And see it all get said under oath– LIVE, folks!

    The commercial networks and newscablers have cleared their schedules for rolling coverage; the bars will open early in Washington with Happy Hours [2 drink minimum] for the television spectacular!

    What a show!

    Because Americans don’t want to be governed, they wish to be entertained.

    “What we were elected to do, we are going to do, and let others wallow in Watergate, we are going to do our job.” – Richard Nixon, White House Rose Garden, July 20, 1973

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  35. @ Spartacvs, who wrote (#5):

    Director of the FBI is NOT a subordinate of the president. POTUS doesn’t seem to get that.

    Your stupidity is mind-blowing. You could not possibly be more wrong. Jim Comey would surely be among the first to tell you that you’re an idiot, because what you just wrote is absolutely contrary to what Jim Comey reminded his co-workers of in his departure email after he was fired.

    Small words: The Executive is in charge of the Executive Branch. The Department of Justice is a cabinet department in the Executive Branch. The Director of the FBI is part of the Department of Justice and must be directly subordinate to the POTUS, through the AG, in order for its work to be valid.

    It’s actually possible that even Donald Trump is smarter than you — and I wouldn’t say that about very many commenters here.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  36. he’s a smarmy nasty corrupt fbi sleazypoof

    and everybody knows it

    sleazy cowardly john mccain and him teamed up to do pee pee dossier all up in the cnn anderson cooper fake news

    there’s no walking that back

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  37. 28 – “Enjoy, and yes it’s relevant.”

    Everyone should enjoy. It’s truth over fiction. Something we’ve been lacking for eight years.

    harkin (f611c5)

  38. In other news:

    legalinsurrection.com/2017/06/senate-passes-bill-to-make-firing-va-employees-easier

    narciso (d1f714)

  39. From one angle, the POTUS’ pardon power is like a super-duper “Obstruct Justice Whenever You Feel Like It, Mr. President” card. Trump could write a pardon for Flynn, for Manfort, for Jared, for as many people as he wants, and it’s entirely within his exclusive and indisputable constitutional power, regardless of his motive.

    Would he get away with it? Would there be consequences?

    None other than political ones, possibly, at a future ballot box. But ask how many Hillary voters were bothered by Bubba selling pardons out of the Oval Office to the likes of Marc Rich when he left the White House.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  40. Pardon for what exactly a delayed fara registration, with flynn and probably manafirt.

    narciso (d1f714)

  41. But that’s not obstruction

    Obstruction is what the House says it is, as far as ridding the country of Trump as POTUS goes. Not that I’m holding my breath or anything. Meanwhile, the Republican legislative agenda takes a serious hit and POTUS slips further into millstone territory with every passing day.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  42. That’s because they don’t really a give a farthing or they would do
    More to prove they deserve a majority

    narciso (d1f714)

  43. Constitutionally, the POTUS doesn’t have to specify what crimes are being pardoned. He can just say, “Pardoned for anything and everything.” Ford referenced a possible indictment and prosecution, but didn’t say what crimes Nixon was being pardoned from.

    That Trump has avoided that temptation, like the fact that he refrained from invoking executive privilege, suggests that he might be able to survive this. He just needs to stop acting like he’s got something to hide.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  44. Beldar, its pretty simple really. You can’t fire the head of the FBI for refusing to back off on an investigation. Not without serious consequences.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  45. It’s this kind of false optimism on the part of the Left, fueled in part by wish-fulfillment polls, that gave us a Republican Congress and put Trump in the White House. It’s a by-product of herd mentality — a concept that everyone wants to be with the “popular” group and if we convince them that we’re the popular group they’ll join us.

    nk (9651fb)

  46. 45… yeah, for your ilk, fu*king the country over is what it’s all about.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  47. That’s funny his the most transparent chief executive in real time, he telkd what he’s concerned about,

    narciso (d1f714)

  48. He just needs to stop acting like he’s got something to hide.

    Ahh, but maybe he does have something to hide?

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  49. Was there any hint from the White House that executive privilege was being considered, or was it simply general speculation given the possibility?

    nk (9651fb)

  50. The events of Manchester and kondin emphasize tie every one except salami apologist who brought a trainer of the 7/7 bombers to the nenorial service , why a ban from those 6 countries are important:

    narciso (d1f714)

  51. So Trump is a bad guy for wanting Comey to say the truth.

    Yikes, people are so f’ed up to think this bad.

    Blah (0a5467)

  52. BTW, you Trump supporters. Take it easy on Spartacus and Tillman. Don’t drive them away from here. Like Kevin said on the other thread, nothing makes me like Trump more than his opposition from the Left.

    nk (9651fb)

  53. Based on What, the souffle recipe was classified, shirley

    Its like the investigators on Fargo, missing the point

    narciso (d1f714)

  54. Anyone shocked since firing Comey leaks have stopped for the most part?

    Blah (0a5467)

  55. That’s not what you wrote, sparty. You wrote that the FBI Director isn’t subordinate to the POTUS.

    So your choices now are to continue to pretend you wrote something other than I quoted, thereby confirming that you’re a stubborn idiot, or to prove me wrong, or to admit that you were wrong.

    What serious consequences afflicted Bill Clinton after he fired Attorney General William Sessions in 1993? I seem to remember Clinton serving two terms, alas.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  56. *excuse me, FBI Director William Sessions, I meant to write.

    (See, that’s how you admit you were wrong.)

    Beldar (fa637a)

  57. Davis thewlis seems to be doing the part of inscrutable dubious characters on the small and bug screen

    narciso (d1f714)

  58. You can only have obstruction if there is a crime.

    And yet no crime anywhere to see ……

    So no collusion.

    No vote tampering.

    No crime.

    No obstruction.

    …… WTF is Mueller doing?

    Blah (0a5467)

  59. nk, I’m too lazy to find a link, but there was speculation, some of it allegedly encouraged by WH staffers leaking/spinning, that Trump was “considering” relying on executive privilege to block Comey’s testimony. I think it wasn’t until Monday that Sarah Huckabee Whoever officially confirmed, in a tightly scripted response to a question she clearly expected, that Trump would not invoke executive privilege.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  60. New yiu can’t chase them with a stick. Btw what part of Greece is your famuly

    narciso (d1f714)

  61. Firing for cause, is fine Beldar. ‘Cos the guy is investigating me isn’t good cause. But you knew that.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  62. Russiagate = DNC Hoax

    Real issue is who created the dossier and how was such absurd info ever translated into this mess?

    Comey has some splaining to do.

    Blah (0a5467)

  63. But he was not investigating Trump.

    Yikes, special stupid that Sparty fella.

    Blah (0a5467)

  64. 61… I have been enjoying Thewlis’s performance on Fargo, narciso. Marvelous actor! Emmy for sure.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  65. Yes he’s clearly a anglicized member of the bratva, a villain but without some of grand guignol of last season.

    narciso (d1f714)

  66. A key sentence from Comey’s statement, for example, that some GOP senator should explore and make Comey repeat aloud for the TV cameras:

    Although we [i.e., Comey himself plus Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats) agreed it made sense for me to do the [Jan. 6th] briefing, the FBI’s leadership and I were concerned that the briefing might create a situation where a new President came into office uncertain about whether the FBI was conducting a counter-intelligence investigation of his personal conduct.

    This necessarily implies that Comey and the “FBI leadership” to whom he referred conceded that this POTUS, any POTUS, is entitled to a straight and direct answer to a question that the rest of us are not constitutionally entitled to ask, and that the FBI (pre-Hillary) consistently refused to ever answer: “Am I under criminal investigation?” Indeed, the fact that Comey gave him a direct and straight answer, not once but three times, effectively precludes Comey from arguing that Trump was obliquely obstructing justice as to himself, and further precludes Comey from arguing that Trump shouldn’t have brought that subject up at all.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  67. President Trump continues to make sterling judicial nominations

    By Jonathan H. Adler, Volokh Conspiracy

    Yesterday, Chris Wray. Today a fresh slate of outstanding jurists. It doesn’t get much better than this.

    Tomorrow we get President Trump live-Tweeting the Comey Circus. That should be fun.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  68. Stubborn idiot it will be, then, Sparty.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  69. Mi d you swalwell has spent a little less time in the sense deep tank:
    http://www.mediaite.com/online/tucker-carlson-spars-with-dem-congressman-over-russia-whats-the-crime

    narciso (d1f714)

  70. Beldar @71

    Comey gave up a lot when making that statement. There’s plenty of fishy stuff in the Comey statement that needs to be explored.

    I’ve read that Comey has been working with Mueller on his statement and testimony. What’s up with that?

    ThOR (c9324e)

  71. It’s not that complicated folks. Trump wanted the investigation to go away. Comey wouldn’t make it go away, so Trump fired him. Hell he’s already publicly admitted as much in a televised interview. That sort of thing may be perfectly normal in the Trump organization. But it’s not normal and it’s not ok for a POTUS dealing with the head of the FBI.

    Bottom line tho. He can do what the hell he likes until his public support drops low enough to give Congressional Republicans enough spine to finally place some limits on his behavior or get rid of him.

    So we wait.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  72. Yrs they are getting the gang back together like 2004, when they doubled teamed Alberto gonzalez, wray had the evidence but it didn’t matter then.

    narciso (d1f714)

  73. Comey’s statement about Trump does not support bringing a criminal charge but it clearly keeps the heat on Trump as doing something inappropriate.

    Great irony here is that Comey refused to speak out that Trump was not under suspicion but he did exactly that for Hillary when he announced July 5 that no charges were possible.

    Then Comey made a new statement right before the election regarding emails to Carlos Danger. Maybe Comey learned his lesson with Hillary that clearing someone prematurely might later require a retraction.

    What Trump should have realized that even if Comey had cleared him, the media/Dem industrial complex would have continued. So getting Comey to budge was not really worth it.

    AZ Bob (f7a491)

  74. Warriors!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  75. narciso @64. We’re from Mani, Southeastern Laconia. Look at this map. On the left, follow the road that goes Petrina, Melitini, Arna. Our village was a kilometer up the mountain from Melitini. Paleovrisi, maybe visible on this map..

    Or just Sparta, if you wish. 😉

    nk (9651fb)

  76. Because the earlier instance involved serious violations of federal law, hundreds of instance balkard was so insistant that mattered a tinkers

    narciso (d1f714)

  77. Beldar:

    the FBI’s leadership and I were concerned that the briefing might create a situation where a new President came into office uncertain about whether the FBI was conducting a counter-intelligence investigation of his personal conduct.

    I think you’ll find this likely refers specifically to the alleged pee tapes.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  78. I dud here a little about the mandates in mccarrys Shelby’s heart, a tale curuously about the progs attempt to tipple a president

    narciso (d1f714)

  79. @ ThOR, who asked (#75):

    I’ve read that Comey has been working with Mueller on his statement and testimony. What’s up with that?

    Comey and Mueller have been “de-conflicting,” which Mueller also did with the two witnesses who testified today before their Senate testimony, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers. Those guys, in trying to follow Mueller’s guidelines, clearly frustrated the Dem Senators, who accused them of stonewalling and tried to exploit their inability (as nonlawyers) to offer an articulate legal explanation for some of their (appropriate) refusals to answer today.

    “De-conflict” sounds like “getting their story straight,” but that’s not it at all.

    Traditionally, as a function of separation of powers doctrine, Congress has subordinated itself, in its Article I government supervisory role, to ongoing criminal investigations and prosecutions being conducted by the Executive in his Article II role. Occasionally Congress-critters have asked questions that might be appropriate under other circumstances, but that aren’t at that moment because of such an on-going matter.

    There are surely things that Comey learned in his capacity as FBI Director that the FBI & the DoJ still consider incredibly sensitive and confidential, including information that if spilled or leaked prematurely could very much hamper later prosecutorial efforts. Hypothetically, for instance, if they’d been investigating, say, Manafort for some improper financial transaction and they were close to seeking an indictment, the FBI & DoJ wouldn’t want Congress to accidentally step on and compromise that prosecution — witnesses might flee, people move assets, etc. Similarly, Comey is privy to tons of classified information which is even more secret, appropriately, than the FBI’s & DoJ’s internal deliberations and efforts. Those might be explored in closed session with a limited audience.

    The worst example of conflict between Executive prosecutions and Congressional investigations has to do with grants of immunity — there having been times when Congress has conferred immunity to get a witness to drop his Fifth Amendment objections to testifying before Congress, but then because of that immunity the witness can’t be prosecuted when it turns out he was the “big fish” all along.

    So this “de-conflicting” is an informal but entirely appropriate exercise. Mueller surely sensitized Coats & Rogers on some topics, and he’ll do the same with Comey, to ensure that future hypothetical prosecutions aren’t affected. So Dems are likely to be frustrated tomorrow as they were today, for the same reasons.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  80. Errata: Coats does have a law degree, but hasn’t practiced since the 1970s. Rogers isn’t a lawyer.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  81. No, they are getting their story straight, if he was a witness under invEstigation, like north or the late city manager of san Diego it would be something else again.

    narciso (d1f714)

  82. The worst example of conflict between Executive prosecutions and Congressional investigations has to do with grants of immunity — there having been times when Congress has conferred immunity to get a witness to drop his Fifth Amendment objections to testifying before Congress, but then because of that immunity the witness can’t be prosecuted when it turns out he was the “big fish” all along.

    A certain marine colonel who became an ever present on Fox springs to mind.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  83. Which raises way he isnt under investigation, because capricious unmasking if Parsons is a felony

    narciso (d1f714)

  84. Did Comey seriously claim that he didn’t write notes on any of his Obama meeting over the years? And he wants to be taken seriously as anything other than a hack?

    NJRob (7f4bec)

  85. They were playing these games during the Watergate era, Ken Starr was a bit scout compared to cox and jaworskis minions

    narciso (d1f714)

  86. Thank you, Beldar. You’re a great help.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  87. Shirley, rob he is serious.

    narciso (d1f714)

  88. Do we care about real things apparently nit:
    https://sharylattkisson.com/new-fast-and-furious-secrets-from-government-emails/

    narciso (d1f714)

  89. Narciso,

    it’s a farce. But we knew that already. He won’t say anything to incriminate or purger himself. Just more innuendo.

    NJRob (7f4bec)

  90. 82… Oh, piss off Sparkycuss!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  91. You’re welcome, Th0R. 😀

    nk, I don’t know who signed the mandate. That’s a nice bit of trivia, and it defeated my efforts to find it online in less than five minutes. So do tell!

    Beldar (fa637a)

  92. NJRob, if handled well — and that’s a big if — Trump’s supporters ought be glad that Comey made such thorough and contemporaneous notes.

    Notes pin the witness (Comey) down. The classic cross-examination strategy for every hostile expert witness is find-fix-flank-finish. His leaks made a big stir, but the written statement adds nothing substantive to them, and in tomorrow’s testimony he’s going to stick closely to the statement (which he had no obligation to provide, unless it was a request from Mueller, which it might well have been, to further assist in “de-conflicting” and ensuring Comey doesn’t inadvertently spill something he oughtn’t.

    So he’s been found and fixed. A good cross-examiner will extract all the things that Comey has to admit in his written statement, confident that he can make Comey repeat everything in it, but in the sequence the questioner wants. These can even been non-leading, open-ended questions, but they must be short and entirely non-argumentative, so that it is instantly obvious if he’s arguing or filibustering (which Comey will do if permitted).

    He’s got two motives: To try to rescue his own shattered and tarnished professional reputation, and to paint Trump as a buffoon. Well, certainly everyone who already shares that opinion of Trump will agree, but it’s not likely that he’s going to do Trump much further damage beyond that which this whole kerfuffle has already inflicted (mostly self-inflicted, actually).

    Beldar (fa637a)

  93. (Alas, there’s not likely to be even one decent cross-examiner.)

    Beldar (fa637a)

  94. Trump can fire the FBI director for wearing a green tie. He doesn’t need a reason to dismiss an appointed executive branch official.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  95. Beldar @96. The President of the United States, who at that time was William Jefferson Clinton. I had a link to the entire .pdf of Bush v. Gore which included the mandate but I cannot find it now either.

    nk (9651fb)

  96. It’s not that complicated folks. Trump wanted the investigation to go away. Comey wouldn’t make it go away, so Trump fired him.

    Spartacvs (2db708) — 6/7/2017 @ 8:40 pm

    You’re right. In fact it couldn’t be simpler.

    You’re lying.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/comey-testify-believes-trump-wanted-192309299.html

    Comey will say that he interpreted the president’s comment as a request that the FBI “drop any investigation of Flynn in connection with false statements about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in December.” Comey will testify, “I did not say I would ‘let this go.'”

    However, the former FBI chief “did not understand the president to be talking about the broader investigation into Russia or possible links to his campaign.”

    Not only are you lying, it’s an incredibly stupid lie. There’s no way that you can make an investigation go away by firing an FBI director.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  97. Here it is. Pages 3-4 of the .pdf. http://election2000.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/USMandate9491.pdf Actually, it is in the name of the President but the actual signature is William K. Suter, Clerk of the Supreme Court.

    nk (9651fb)

  98. I think cotton is pretty good but will they let him ask a question?

    narciso (290bbd)

  99. An interesting bit of news is that back in June of 2016, Comey received a call from the White House (not the Prez) asking if he would like to come over and “have a beer with the President on the White House lawn”. Comey – being in the thick of things re: Hillary Clinton – thanked them for the invitation, but declined. Approximately 2 weeks later, Comey received a call from Barack Obama, who turned on his charm, schmoozed him a bit and then asked if Comey would come over for a discussion of a “few issues”. Comey was at that point almost certain that the Prez’s request pertained to Hillary Clinton, so again he declined. At that point. a noticeably angry Obama terminated the conversation and the matter was reportedly dropped, no more calls.

    Colonel Haiku (b6b19d)

  100. CBS News has Comey coverage eve before the hearing start – they did not go to regular programming at 9 am.

    Sammy Finkelman (375edc)

  101. From anther thread:

    Spartacvs (2db708) — 6/7/2017 @ 4:46 pm

    What more do you need?

    The firing of Comey was over the fact that he didn’t make it public that Trump, personally was not under investigation, but had only informed him, and Congress. Comey says the biggest reason he didn’t do that was because if he did, then he would (ethically, I guess) have to make it public when and if an investigation into Trump did occur. But he didn’t tell him this. He didn’t really give Trump any explanation as to why he wouldn’t do that, or even explicitly, that he and his top associates at the FBI didn’t want to do that. Trump wanted this over.

    There are 3 issues here:

    1) The issue of loyalty, where it is unclear what Trump meant – Comey decided to interpret that favorably.

    2) The Mike Flynn investigaiton, where Comey says he didn’t underdtand it as anything but the question of whether Mike Flynn committed a crime in commection with what he falsely said about his December conversations with Kislyak.

    This is where Democrats want to make it into obstruction of justice, trying to say that this applied to the entire Russia investigation, and with Adam Schiff arguing that Donald Trump must have perceived his asking the FBI Director to do something in regard to Mike Flynn as inapprppriate (notive that very limited word – inappropriate) because he ordered everyone else out of the room before he did that.

    Comey says they didn’t pass it on to anyone involved in making a decision about Mike Flynn. He doesn’t say that within a day or two a story was leaked saying that Mike Flynn was not going to be charged. Comey may have known in fact that, at the point when Trump asked, dropping that investigation was only a formality.

    Trump did not order that investigation dropped – he only asked that they be lenient with him if they could, but he must have felt it would undermine the effect of not charging Flynn if it was known by anyone that he had anything to do that, even if all he did was put in a plea.

    3) Comey not making it public that there was no intelligence investigation into him. Trump also wanted or had wanted, the FBI to clear him of this charge of hiring hookers to damage a bed Obama was supposed to have slept in in Russia. Comey had said that is difficult to do – to prove a negative.

    Comey indicates Trump never asked to stop the entire Russia investigation, and in fact said it would be good to find out if any “satellites” of his had done something wrong.

    Sammy Finkelman (375edc)

  102. 106. Colonel Haiku (b6b19d) — 6/8/2017 @ 6:05 am

    In his prepared testimonty, Comey said he had only two contacts with Obama, neither of them on the phone, and the first was in 2015 to discuss law enforement policy issues and the second was a brief meeting in late 2016 to say goodbye.

    He says nothing about any kind of phone conversation with Obama in June pf 2016, inviting him over to the White House ro discuss a few issues, where supposedly he expected he might be asked something about Hillary Clinton and the email investigation.

    Sammy Finkelman (375edc)

  103. Comey isn’t making his notes public, or turning them over to the committee, so he’d proably hiding something. But he’s probably not lying, at least not in a provable way. He seems to be pretty careful.

    Sammy Finkelman (375edc)

  104. 109… I heard this info this morning on a radio show… a phone interview of Philip Klein who shared what a friend of Comey had shared with him.

    Colonel Haiku (b6b19d)

  105. nk, I’m too lazy to find a link, but there was speculation, some of it allegedly encouraged by WH staffers leaking/spinning, that Trump was “considering” relying on executive privilege to block Comey’s testimony

    there’s literally no way for the cable news propaganda sluts to chew on this bone without at least implicitly allowing that each and every corrupt fbi sleaze-fart, including the director, is subordinate to the president

    someone was being very clever

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  106. 111. I don’t know what this could be, but it could be a false leak. Anyone can say he is “friend of Comey.” Maybe they want to get Republicans going off on a wild goose chase.

    Phillip Klein (not to be confused with Edward Klein) is the Managing Editor of the Washington Examiner.

    A quick oogle search reveals that last July, after Comey’s announcement, he wrote that Hillary Clinton is unfit to serve, but he also wrote that it was over for Trump after the third debate last year.

    I can find at least one previous doubtful story

    Sammy Finkelman (375edc)

  107. Comey confirms that they did not access to the DNC server.

    Sammy Finkelman (375edc)

  108. I may have confused the two, Sammeh, it was 5:30am and the coffee hadn’t kicked in yet. It’s the author, guy who has written books on Clinton and Obama, among others. This would be good enough to make the front pages of the NYT, WP, LAT and be top stories on CNN and MSLSD if it were a Republican. You know it, Bob Dole knows it and the American people know it.

    Colonel Haiku (d19b35)

  109. 113. No that doubtful story was by Edward Klein.

    Phillip Kelin was a never trumper who de-registered as a Republican after Trump won Indiana. He also thought Trump was unfit. He said he was also Never Hillary.

    Sammy Finkelman (375edc)

  110. Colonel Haiku:

    It’s the author, guy who has written books on Clinton and Obama, among others.

    That’s Edward Klein. Phillip Klein wrote a book about Obamacare called Overcoming Obamacare. He’s been critical of the Republicans there.

    I see an article from Slate about a book by Edward Klein called The Truth About Hillary which says

    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/juicy_bits/2005/06/the_truth_about_hillary.html

    Pages 91-92: Dolly Kyle Browning, who says she was Bill Clinton’s longtime mistress, tells Klein that Bill asked her to pray for Hillary to get pregnant. “He and Hillary never had much of a sexual relationship,” she explains. “Also, Billy had a low sperm count, and he and Hillary were going to a fertility specialist in California. They had been trying for quite a while without any success.”

    Now I find that sory very doubtful. I think they deliberately didn’t get pregnant and Hillary maybe even had an abortion or two. We wouldn’t know anything different. Bill Clinton has never bene explicit about any fertility problems. This si all probably lies.

    I’ve been skeptical of alot of things Edward Klein says (still attention must be paid because there’s a reason for everything he is told) and suspect he’s being used by Clintons.

    The Comey-Obama story may be an attempt to divert attention in the wrong direction.

    By the way, hasn’t Edward Klein said there was suppposed to ba a feud between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?

    He wrote a book called “Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas” and now Obama is supposed to have maybe wanted to cover up things for Hillary?

    This would be good enough to make the front pages of the NYT, WP, LAT and be top stories on CNN and MSLSD if it were a Republican. You know it, Bob Dole knows it and the American people know it.

    tghis probably false leak was intended only for partisan Republicans, to make them wrong.

    Sammy Finkelman (375edc)

  111. diane feinstein!

    get the look!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  112. oopers *dianne* feinstein i mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  113. Sammy:

    The firing of Comey was over the fact that he didn’t make it public that Trump, personally was not under investigation, but had only informed him, and Congress.

    Nobody but POTUS and his close inner circle really know for sure why Comey was fired and none of these folks have voiced that reasoning under oath. So we are all free to speculate. I do think the American people deserve to know why and my hope is we will eventually find out.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  114. this is really hard to stay focused on

    i might have better luck with a written transcript later

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  115. The firing of Comey was over the fact that he had lost all credibility with his Hillary shenanigans, inside the FBI, inside the government, and with the public. Nobody would trust anything he said, anymore.

    nk (9651fb)

  116. lil roobs thinks he brings credibility and integrity to the table here

    but he just sounds nervous and anxious to me

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  117. Comey just testified that he made a record of his conversations with Trump because he knew Trump was headed down the toilet. I would add that Comey wants to be the one to flush it. And he just may.

    Ironically, Hillary was cleared on the theory that she didn’t know better. Can Trump use the same defense?

    AZ Bob (f7a491)

  118. comey made a record cause he was/is part of a sleazy corrupt fbi cabal bent on subverting democracy and taking down a duly-elected president

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  119. wyden’s a good place to take a break i think

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  120. nk-

    The firing of Comey was over the fact that he had lost all credibility with his Hillary shenanigans, inside the FBI, inside the government, and with the public. Nobody would trust anything he said, anymore.

    Lol. That explanation didn’t last more than a day or two before POTUS himself contradicted it in a televised public interview.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  121. sleazy fbi slut comey acts like he wasn’t free to say no to dinner with the president

    but you know he talked to his co-conspirators and they decided this would be a good opportunity to further a narrative they could use to compromise the president

    so he went to dinner

    this is how sleazy fbi trash roll

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  122. “By the way, hasn’t Edward Klein said there was suppposed to ba a feud between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?”

    You don’t think there’s bad blood there, Sammeh? Pull the other one…

    Colonel Haiku (d19b35)

  123. @124/125. Comey ‘made a record’… Can’t imagine why. But he did.

    Now where have we seen that before…

    “Medical log on ‘Lieutenant Commander X-ray.’ The possibility appears to exist — that the commander of this ship may be mentally disturbed…” – Steve Maryk [Van Johnson] ‘The Caine Mutiny’ 1954.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  124. The most interesting bits of news to come out of the hearing:

    Comey stated that the following New York Times article was almost entirely wrong:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html

    And pther leaks were false too.

    Comey said that, back in 2016 (or was it 2015?) Attorney General Loretta Lynch told him to use the word “matter” rather than “investigation” (at a hearing with regard to what the FBI was doing vs a vs Clinton emails) which is the word the Clinton campaign was using. (they had also used “security review”) He said he decided that that was not a hill to die on, and anyway the news reports after the hearing all used the word investigation, (so that turned out all right.)

    He said there was no case against Hillary Clinton. That’s not what he said on July 5, 2016, when he said no prosecutor would prosecute (based on it not fitting some criteria he said were historically used)

    He did not give an answer as to wy no special counsel for Hillary Clinton except that that would take months or a year. (which means past teh election)

    He said he woke up in the middle of the night three days after Trump’s tweet about how Comey better hoping that there are not tapes, (Monday vs Friday May 12) and realized there could be corroboration of what is in the memoes, and decided to leak them. Or leak from them actually of course. He’s done his best to stop anyone from seeing the full text.

    He said that Benjamin Wittes was not the intermediary he used to leak the memoes to the New York times, but was “a law professor” at Columbia. He said he longer had the memoes (or apaprently copies of them) because he’d turned them over to Mueller, but admitted it was possible that the intermediary did. He said he didn’t do it directly because it would be like feeding seagulls.

    He said some were classified – the memo that he began to type on his laptop right after the meeting in Trump Tower on Friday January 6, was done on a classified laptop.

    One of his telephone conversations with President Trump was on a totally unrelated matter. something the FBBI was going to do and Trump wanted him to know how important he should consider it.

    He would not easily say what the Michael Flynn investigation that President Trump hoped he would clsoe was about and some Senators were slow to catch on but eventually did say it concerned statements to investigators.

    Marco Rubio brought out how Trump repeated the Michael Flynn request in public the next day at a press conference. He didn’t bring out how in fact the FBI closed the case, or at least somebody leaked it.

    The Senate committee evidently hasn’t yet discovered this story:

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politics/fbi-not-expected-to-pursue-charges-against-flynn/index.html

    He did not know exactly why he was fired but he presumed it had something to do with Russia. As John Dickerson says taht would mean

    Marco Rubio asked good questions; John McCain was an embarassment. Kamala Harris fired a few written questions at him which she knew he wouldn’t answer.

    Sammy Finkelman (ca4c0f)

  125. 129. Colonel Haiku (d19b35) — 6/8/2017 @ 9:04 am

    129.“By the way, hasn’t Edward Klein said there was suppposed to ba a feud between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?”

    You don’t think there’s bad blood there, Sammeh?

    Not really, but if here was thhan Obama wanting to talk to Comey about something wouldn’t obviously be for Comey to protect Hillary, but could be the opposite..

    Sammy Finkelman (ca4c0f)


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