50 Notable Moments And Takeaways From The Comey Hearing

1. When questioned about Trump’s “tapes” tweet , Comey said, “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.”
2. The same tweet prompted Comey to leak his memo in hopes of an independent council being appointed.
3. Comey did not explicitly say Trump obstructed justice, but said he will leave that ruling to the special council.
4. Comey felt bad about leaving his position so abruptly, and he apologized to his former colleagues for doing so.
5. Comey said it is possible collusion connected to other elections could be found in the process of the investigation.
6. Comey does not regret how the handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
7. Comey was concerned that Trump would lie about the content of their meetings, which is why he wrote detailed notes on each encounter.
8. Comey took Trump’s “I hope you can let this go” comment as a direction, but he did not obey it.
9. Comey thinks the Russian meddling is a “ big deal” and that there should be “no fuzz on this.”
10. Comey believes he was fired because of the Russia investigation—because the president said so .
11. Comey said Russia is “coming after America” and that they “want to undermine our credibility in the face of the world.”
12. Comey still thinks the U.S. is a “shining city on a hill.”
13. Comey said Trump outright lied about the FBI losing faith in him (Comey).
14. Comey said the Trump administration “chose to defame [him]” and the FBI.
15. Comey refused to comment on the validity of the infamous and as-of-yet-unverified dossier .
16. Comey thinks lead prosecutor of the special council Bob Mueller is well-equipped to handle the investigation.
17. Comey said that when he was FBI director there was no active investigation against Donald Trump.
18. Comey never announced that Trump wasn’t under investigation because a potential “duty to correct” would have complicated the situation.
19. Comey said a New York Times article  published on Feb, 14th about the Trump campaign having repeated contacts with Russia was inaccurate.
20. Comey said he and Trump’s relationship started on “the wrong foot” due to his July 5th announcement  stating there would be no charges filed in the Clinton email investigation.
21. Senator Dianne Feinstein thinks Comey is “big and strong.”
22. Comey was deeply troubled when Trump kicked Sessions and Kushner out of the Oval Office before speaking with him about Michael Flynn.
23. Comey never stood up to the president and expressed his concern following the meeting in the Oval Office over Michael Flynn because he was “stunned by the conversation.”
24. Comey got the sense that his job “was contingent upon how [President Trump] felt I conducted myself, and whether I demonstrated loyalty.”
25. Comey was “seriously concerned” with the way the president was interacting with the FBI.
26. Comey had an hour-long meeting once with President Obama discussing law enforcement and race.
27. Comey said he always tried to be “open and fair and transparent and accurate.”
28. Comey said the risk of a Russian back channel would “make it a whole lot easier for [Russia] to capture all of [our] conversations.”
29. Comey said to Jeff Sessions that “it’s very important you be between me and the White House.”
30. Comey stated that he leaked his memo on the Flynn meeting through his friend, a Columbia Law School Professor subsequently identified as Daniel Richman.
31. When asked if Russia’s meddling was an ongoing threat, Comey said “they’ll be back” and that “they’re going to come for whatever party they choose to try to work on behalf of.”
32. No one in the White House staff besides the president insinuated Comey should drop the Russia investigation.
33. Rubio used a large portion of his time to reiterate that President Trump wasn’t under investigation.
34. Before the “I hope you can let this go” Michael Flynn-centered conversation with Trump, Comey got the impression that Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Jared Kushner were uneasy leaving Trump alone with him.
35. Senator James Risch thinks Comey’s legal writing is “as good as it gets.”  He was so impressed he felt the need to spend a significant part of his time talking about it.
36. Trump said Comey initiated a dinner meeting to speak about staying on as FBI director, Comey denied this outright.
37. Senator Angus King and James Comey share a fondness for the Henry II quote “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest.”
38. Trump called Comey a few weeks before he fired him to tell him he was “doing an awesome job.”
39. Comey could not say whether or not he would’ve been fired if Clinton had won the presidency.
40. Comey said the Clinton email investigation was an  “extraordinarily difficult and painful time.”
41. Comey refused to answer whether or not Michael Flynn attempted to deceive the FBI in any way.
42. Jeff Sessions consulted with “career ethics officials” before deciding to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
43. When asked by Senator Kamala Harris whether or not it was appropriate for Jeff Sessions to be involved in the firing of the chief investigator of the Russia investigation after recusing himself, Comey said he didn’t have enough information to answer the question.
44. Comey never spoke with Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the Russia investigation.
45. Comey said the appointment of a special council should be a”great comfort to Americans” regardless of political affiliation.
46. Comey said his firing, especially given the appointment of Bob Mueller, would not impede the Russia investigation.
47. Then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch asked Comey to refer to the Clinton investigation as a “matter” rather than an investigation.
48. Due to this (above) and the meeting between Lynch and former President Bill Clinton on the tarmac in Arizona, Comey decided to comment publicly on the Clinton investigation.
49. When the Arizona Diamondbacks have a late game, Senator John McCain won’t be able to string together a coherent sentence the next day.
50. Really, no one had any idea what McCain was talking about.

Previously published on The Overgrown .

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