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Forums - Politics Discussion - Ex-FBI Chief Comey to Testify to Senate Panel in Public Session

LivingMetal on 09 June 2017
JWeinCom said:
Wow... I think a lot of people either intentionally or unintentionally missed the entire point of this hearing. Just a few things to sum up.

1. A lot of people are harping on the fact that there was no investigation of Trump. Which Comey confirmed that there wasn't, unless he just committed perjury which seems doubtful.

As Comey pointed out several times, there was no current investigation of Trump directly at the time, but there were investigations of other members of his campaign. He specifically said that some within the FBI did not want to give public assurances that Trump was not under investigation because he may have been in the future.

It's not a confirmation of Trump's innocence, but at least as of Comey's firing Trump wasn't a direct suspect.

2. The point of the hearing (at least the public part) was not really to discuss whether or not there was collusion between Trump and/or his campaign and Russia. The point was to discuss Comey's interactions with Trump, to detail actions which Comey felt were inappropriate and could possibly be construed as obstruction of Justice.

3. Comey claimed he was asked to pledge his loyalty to Trump. If that is the case, that's a pretty serious ethical concern.

4. Comey claimed that Trump asked the Attorney General, Comey's direct supervisor, to leave the room before saying that he hoped he would let the Flynn investigation go. That is wildly inappropriate. That can be construed as obstruction of justice.

5. The president was seemingly unconcerned with a foreign entity interfering in the US elections process. Not illegal in any way shape or form, but very troubling.

6. John McCain had a senior moment... to put it kindly.

7. James Comey claims not to have taped any conversations, which makes it puzzling that Trump alluded to tapes. Both men have claimed that tapes will vindicate them.

8. Trump privately praised Comey's job several times, which went along with public praise. This makes the move to fire Comey questionably. Comey believes the firing was explicitly due to the investigation of Russia, as Trump claimed in an interview with Lester Holt.

9. Comey has claimed that several leaked stories are untrue. He did not specify which ones.

10. Comey was concerned about directions he was given by the former attorney general (I think) regarding how to publicly address the Clinton email investigation, which is Comey's justification for going public with it.

Basically, Comey just confirmed that what was in the memo that (we now know) he leaked himself was accurate (of course according to him). We didn't learn anything really new. The conference was just about establishing the credibility of the account, and the credibility of Comey as a witness. Based on what I saw, I believe that Mueller will likely accept Comey's account as accurate. Whether or not that will be considered obstruction is still up in the air.

Ah... So no collusion.  Thanks. 



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Soonerman on 09 June 2017
JWeinCom said:
Wow... I think a lot of people either intentionally or unintentionally missed the entire point of this hearing. Just a few things to sum up.

1. A lot of people are harping on the fact that there was no investigation of Trump. Which Comey confirmed that there wasn't, unless he just committed perjury which seems doubtful.

As Comey pointed out several times, there was no current investigation of Trump directly at the time, but there were investigations of other members of his campaign. He specifically said that some within the FBI did not want to give public assurances that Trump was not under investigation because he may have been in the future.

It's not a confirmation of Trump's innocence, but at least as of Comey's firing Trump wasn't a direct suspect.

2. The point of the hearing (at least the public part) was not really to discuss whether or not there was collusion between Trump and/or his campaign and Russia. The point was to discuss Comey's interactions with Trump, to detail actions which Comey felt were inappropriate and could possibly be construed as obstruction of Justice.

3. Comey claimed he was asked to pledge his loyalty to Trump. If that is the case, that's a pretty serious ethical concern.

4. Comey claimed that Trump asked the Attorney General, Comey's direct supervisor, to leave the room before saying that he hoped he would let the Flynn investigation go. That is wildly inappropriate. That can be construed as obstruction of justice.

5. The president was seemingly unconcerned with a foreign entity interfering in the US elections process. Not illegal in any way shape or form, but very troubling.

6. John McCain had a senior moment... to put it kindly.

7. James Comey claims not to have taped any conversations, which makes it puzzling that Trump alluded to tapes. Both men have claimed that tapes will vindicate them.

8. Trump privately praised Comey's job several times, which went along with public praise. This makes the move to fire Comey questionably. Comey believes the firing was explicitly due to the investigation of Russia, as Trump claimed in an interview with Lester Holt.

9. Comey has claimed that several leaked stories are untrue. He did not specify which ones.

10. Comey was concerned about directions he was given by the former attorney general (I think) regarding how to publicly address the Clinton email investigation, which is Comey's justification for going public with it.

Basically, Comey just confirmed that what was in the memo that (we now know) he leaked himself was accurate (of course according to him). We didn't learn anything really new. The conference was just about establishing the credibility of the account, and the credibility of Comey as a witness. Based on what I saw, I believe that Mueller will likely accept Comey's account as accurate. Whether or not that will be considered obstruction is still up in the air.

You forgot the most important fact and the onw that totally blew the liberal left..... that everything the news reported is indeed fake news and that thwy don't call them.out on it because thats not the FBI job



Locknuts on 09 June 2017

Trump dindunufin.



JWeinCom on 09 June 2017
LivingMetal said:

Ah... So no collusion.  Thanks. 

No... that's not what Comey said or what I said.  I guess you just see what you want to.

Soonerman said:

You forgot the most important fact and the onw that totally blew the liberal left..... that everything the news reported is indeed fake news and that thwy don't call them.out on it because thats not the FBI job

No... that is not what he said.  He said that some stories were inaccurate.  He also confirmed other stories that have been in the news.  And he also called Trump a liar several times.  



LivingMetal on 09 June 2017
JWeinCom said:
LivingMetal said:

Ah... So no collusion.  Thanks. 

No... that's not what Comey said or what I said.  I guess you just see what you want to.

Soonerman said:

You forgot the most important fact and the onw that totally blew the liberal left..... that everything the news reported is indeed fake news and that thwy don't call them.out on it because thats not the FBI job

No... that is not what he said.  He said that some stories were inaccurate.  He also confirmed other stories that have been in the news.  And he also called Trump a liar several times.  

And Comey is a leaker. Thanks.



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Brii on 09 June 2017
LivingMetal said:
JWeinCom said:

No... that's not what Comey said or what I said.  I guess you just see what you want to.

No... that is not what he said.  He said that some stories were inaccurate.  He also confirmed other stories that have been in the news.  And he also called Trump a liar several times.  

And Comey is a leaker. Thanks.

In response to the collusion, that's not what the hearing was about. It was about Comey's communications with the president and if it could be considered obstruction of the investigation. Many times Comey expressed that he could not speak about the details of the Russia Probe in an open seeting and declined to respond to questions relating to it. Saying that anything here proves or disproves collusion is incorrect. Transcripts are available online to read regarding exactly what was confirmed and denied, and what Comey declined to repond to.

As for the leak, it was Comey's own memos and unclassified documents, in his words. He is free to share these interactions however he pleases. He chose to do so through a friend as the media was hounding him at the time.



numberwang on 09 June 2017

Is the 'Russian hacking' story over now? The msm had their audience set up for a disappointment.



LivingMetal on 09 June 2017
numberwang said:
Is the 'Russian hacking' story over now? The msm had their audience set up for a disappointment.

There's always Loretta Lynch.



Locknuts on 10 June 2017
LivingMetal said:
numberwang said:
Is the 'Russian hacking' story over now? The msm had their audience set up for a disappointment.

There's always Loretta Lynch.

Why the hell didn't Comey 'take notes' when Loretta Lynch directed him to refer to Clinton's criminal investigation as 'a matter'?

Pretty sure they're not the Federal Bureau of Matters.

Probably because he agreed to, and he's quite obviously left leaning. No wonder Trump fired him.



StarOcean on 10 June 2017
numberwang said:
Is the 'Russian hacking' story over now? The msm had their audience set up for a disappointment.

Why would that suddenly be over..? Comey quite clearly stated there was interference, more than once... only thing he brought up that the Russians didn't do was make fake voters or mess with the overall outcome. But this was already public knowledge