Read James Comey's Prepared Statement For Today's Senate Hearing
Former FBI director James Comey is scheduled to testify before the Senate Select Committee On Intelligence today, and he just released his prepared introductory statement, which contains a lot of salacious details about his interactions with President Trump. Here are the highlights:
Their First Meeting Was About The Pee Tape
In their first meeting, Comey briefed Trump on the dossier that alleges that the Russians have evidence of President Trump's engagement with Russian prostitutes. He did so alone as to not embarrass the president:
I remained alone with the President Elect to brief him on some personally sensitive aspects of the information assembled during the assessment… The IC leadership thought it important, for a variety of reasons, to alert the incoming President to the existence of this material, even though it was salacious and unverified. Among those reasons were: (1) we knew the media was about to publicly report the material and we believed the IC should not keep knowledge of the material and its imminent release from the President-Elect; and (2) to the extent there was some effort to compromise an incoming President, we could blunt any such effort with a defensive briefing… We also agreed I would do it alone to minimize potential embarrassment to the President-Elect.
Comey Told Trump He Wasn't Under Investigation In Their First Meeting
[P]rior to the January 6 meeting, I discussed with the FBI's leadership team whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally. That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him. We agreed I should do so if circumstances warranted. During our one-on-one meeting at Trump Tower, based on President Elect Trump's reaction to the briefing and without him directly asking the question, I offered that assurance.
Comey Has Memos Documenting The Nine One-On-One Conversations He Had With Trump
I felt compelled to document my first conversation with the President-Elect in a memo. To ensure accuracy, I began to type it on a laptop in an FBI vehicle outside Trump Tower the moment I walked out of the meeting. Creating written records immediately after one-on-one conversations with Mr. Trump was my practice from that point forward… I can recall nine one-on-one conversations with President Trump in four months — three in person and six on the phone.
In Their Second Meeting, Trump Seemed To Threaten Comey's Position
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… 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.
Trump Demanded 'Loyalty' Twice
A few moments later, the President said, "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty." I didn't move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence. The conversation then moved on, but he returned to the subject near the end of our dinner… He then said, "I need loyalty." I replied, "You will always get honesty from me." He paused and then said, "That's what I want, honest loyalty." I paused, and then said, "You will get that from me."
Trump Wanted To Investigate The Pee Tape To Prove That It Isn't Real
[T]he President returned to the salacious material I had briefed him about on January 6, and, as he had done previously, expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them. He said he was considering ordering me to investigate the alleged incident to prove it didn't happen.
In Their Third Meeting, Trump Defended Flynn's Call To The Russians And Explicitly Asked Comey To Drop The Investigation
The President began by saying Flynn hadn't done anything wrong in speaking with the Russians, but he had to let him go because he 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."
The FBI Didn't Reveal What Trump Had Asked Because They Couldn't Corroborate It And They Did Not Want To Influence The Investigation
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. We also concluded that, given that it was a one-on-one conversation, there was nothing available to corroborate my account. We concluded it made little sense to report it to Attorney General Sessions, who we expected would likely recuse himself from involvement in Russia-related investigations… After discussing the matter, we decided to keep it very closely held, resolving to figure out what to do with it down the road as our investigation progressed.
Comey Did Ask Jeff Sessions To Prevent Further One-On-One Meetings Between Him And The President
Shortly afterwards, I spoke with Attorney General Sessions in person to pass along the President's concerns about leaks. I took the opportunity to implore the Attorney General to prevent any future direct communication between the President and me.
Trump Asked Comey To 'Lift The Cloud' Of The Russia Investigation, While Denying Hiring Russian 'Hookers'
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. He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia. He asked what we could do to "lift the cloud.
Trump Pressured Comey To Make Public That He Wasn't Personally Under Investigation, Which He Wasn't
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." … The President went on to say that if there were some "satellite" associates of his who did something wrong, it would be good to find that out, but that he hadn't done anything wrong and hoped I would find a way to get it out that we weren't investigating him… He finished by stressing "the cloud" that was interfering with his ability to make deals for the country and said he hoped I could find a way to get out that he wasn't being investigated.
In His Last Call With Comey, Trump Opened His Conversation By Asking What Comey Had Done To Publicize His Innocence
On the morning of April 11, the President called me and asked what I had done about his request that I "get out" that he is not personally under investigation. I replied that I had passed his request to the Acting Deputy Attorney General, but I had not heard back. He replied that "the cloud" was getting in the way of his ability to do his job…He said he would do that and added, "Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know."
Read the whole thing here:
