Quote:
Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage
I guess I'm a moron. I don't read anything in there to get excited about.
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Since you don't see anything to get excited about, let me help you out.
Comey's remarks in red.
January 27 Dinner
The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director, which I found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him that I intended to.
My instincts told me that the one-on-one setting, and the pretense that this was our first discussion about my position, meant the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship. That concerned me greatly, given the FBI’s traditionally independent status in the executive branch.
Despite a tradition of FBI independence, Trump is trying to get Comey to feel beholden to him.
A few moments later, the President said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”
Typical Trump. It's always about him. Member's of the President's staff should be loyal-even then loyalty to the Constitution comes first. The FBI Director is not a member of the President's staff.
February 14 Oval Office Meeting
The President signaled the end of the briefing by thanking the group and telling them all that he wanted to speak to me alone. I stayed in my chair. As the participants started to leave the Oval Office, the Attorney General lingered by my chair, but the President thanked him and said he wanted to speak only with me.
The FBI director reports to the Attorney General, not the President. This is so the President can not influence an investigation. Excluding the AG from any conversation between Trump and Comey, gives rise to suspicions about the propriety of such conversations.
The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn, saying, “He is a good guy and has been through a lot.” He repeated that Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President. He then said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
Whether this is obstruction of justice is something for legal experts to decide. It is certainly close to it.
I immediately prepared an unclassified memo of the conversation about Flynn and discussed the matter with FBI senior leadership. I had understood the President to be requesting that we drop any investigation of Flynn in connection with false statements about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in December. The FBI leadership team agreed with me that it was important not to infect the investigative team with the President’s request, which we did not intend to abide.
Clearly, at least one legal expert was concerned.
March 30 Phone Call
On the morning of March 30, the President called me at the FBI. He described the Russia investigation as “a cloud” that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country. I explained that we had briefed the leadership of Congress on exactly which individuals we were investigating and that we had told those Congressional leaders that we were not personally investigating President Trump. I reminded him I had previously told him that. He repeatedly told me, “We need to get that fact out.” (I did not tell the President that the FBI and the Department of Justice had been reluctant to make public statements that we did not have an open case on President Trump for a number of reasons, most importantly because it would create a duty to correct, should that change.)
There , in that last sentence-the one in parentheses-is the most important fact. President Trump was not under investigation, AT THE MOMENT-but that could change as different facts came to light. Also, Comey earlier said this.
That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him.
Comey's assurances to Trump involved a counter intelligence case. He said nothing about a criminal case.
To summarize for those who have not been paying attention or who have limited comprehension skills; Trump tried to persuade the FBI Director to be loyal to him rather than to the country or Constitution. He tried to obtain information on an investigation which he was not entitled to have. He tried to shut down that investigation.
That is what we should be excited about.
