Watching the hearing . .

[ex-khobar Andy]

Comey says that one of the reasons he immediately documented the meeting in Trump Tower was that he thought that Trump might lie bout the conversation.

[Guinevere]

Love that he started with the flat out statement that Trump lied.

He is a very good witness. Calm. Cool. Collected. Confident.

[BoSoxGal]

Why can't we have a Republican like James Comey in the White House?

[ex-khobar Andy]

I still think that he materially affected the outcome of the election through his e-mail interjections. But I do believe that he was between a Scylla and a Charybdis and there was no safe outlet. An honest man can make a wrong decision, and that's what happened there.

[Crackpot]

But I do believe that he was between a Scylla and a Charybdis...

Accurately describes the last election

[BoSoxGal]

I still think that he materially affected the outcome of the election through his e-mail interjections. But I do believe that he was between a Scylla and a Charybdis and there was no safe outlet. An honest man can make a wrong decision, and that's what happened there.

He was questioned about and addressed that, and pointed to the Clinton/Lynch meeting on the tarmac as the primary reason he felt compelled to address the public on the agency's findings and recommendations, to preserve the integrity of the investigation and the DOJ. I don't disagree with that reasoning - had he remained silent and Lynch's office alone addressed the decision that there was nothing legally actionable, the right would have screamed about that 10x worse than they already did.

Bill Clinton fucked up royally, as he often has.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I have no clue what McCain is getting at. He seems to be conflating theRussia/Trump investigation with the Clinton e-mail thing. Makes no sense.

[Bicycle Bill]

From the NY Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/us/politics/james-comey-testimony-hearing.html)

As the hearing unfolded, Speaker Paul D. Ryan offered an explanation of sorts for how the president spoke with Mr. Comey.

“The president’s new at this,” Mr. Ryan said at a news conference.  “He’s new to government.  And so he probably wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between D.O.J., F.B.I. and White Houses.  He’s just new to this.”

That has got to be one of the most tactful ways of trying to excuse the fact that Donald J. Trump is an unqualified dumbfuck who doesn't know what he's doing — without actually coming out and saying so in so many words — that I have even seen.

Good boy, Ryan.  Come here and Daddy Donny will give you your doggie treat.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

“The president’s new at this,” Mr. Ryan said at a news conference. “He’s new to government. And so he probably wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between D.O.J., F.B.I. and White Houses. He’s just new to this.”

Of course it's his job to get advisors who will make sure he abides by those protocols and/or learn them before he takes office, isn't it? And do you really thin he believed threatening the job of the FBI director or asking him to curtail investigations/lie was perfectly fine? I don't think Trump's all that bright, but he's not that stupid either. Ryan earned his dog treat after parroting that idiocy.

[Sue U]

"New to Presidenting" is not a valid defense to obstruction of justice. Trump knew exactly what he was doing and why. The fact that not-so-veiled threats and demands for boot-licking loyalty are his standard M.O. is not an excuse for trying to deep-six an FBI investigation that's making him look bad (or potentially criminal).

[Burning Petard]

I think McCain was getting at a very valid point--this was about Russian interference. According the the testimony this morning the FBI found lots of evidence that it was going on--but as MeCain highlighted, the FBI did not look for any of this Russian activity in the Clinton campaign.

I found the 'questions' from Senator Rubio very interesting. He asked (paraphrasing) This committee has established many solid facts about this issue. ALL of these facts have been leaked to the American public--except one, that you told the president three times that he was not a target of the investigation. Why was this one fact not leaked? Does not the American public deserve to know this?

Well Mario, what do you mean by 'leak'? All of the facts you list as true but leaked were announced in the public hearings. The one fact you cite as not leaked was publicly announced by the president. If the American people do not know this is a fact, it is because, like Comey, they think the president is a liar.

snailgate

[BoSoxGal]

Right, but if the Russian hacking leads to evidence of collusion with the Clinton campaign the FBI would certainly follow that evidence. It's illogical that her campaign would have colluded to damage itself, but nevertheless, I'm sure FBI agents aren't ignoring any links to the Russian hacking.

When Comey declared the investigation of Clinton complete, he meant the email investigation that focused on Clinton. A totally different matter.

McCain was just being obtuse, but made himself look like a fool. Sad.

[Lord Jim]

Trump's personal liar lawyer Marc Kasowitz told a number of easily proven lies in his statement about Comey's testimony:

1. He said that Comey's claim that he had his friend provide the memo content to the NYT in response to Trump's tweet hinting at the existence of tapes was false, because the NYT published it the day before the tweet.

This is a lie. The tweet took place on May 12th, and the NYT story was published on May 16th. (Exactly the timeline Comey testified to.)

2. He said Comey admitted that one of the memos contained classified information.

This is a lie. In fact his testimony was exactly the opposite; he said he took care to craft the memos in such a way as to avoid including anything that could be considered classified.

3.He repeatedly referred to Comey "leaking" "privileged" communications with Trump.

This is a lie. No claim of privilege was ever made; in fact Trump specifically declined to exert any such claim.

4.He said Comey “admitted that there is no evidence that a single vote changed as a result of any Russian interference.”

This is a lie. Comey testified that he had seen no evidence that the Russians had successfully tampered with any voting machines; he said absolutely nothing about any effect the Russian interference had on changing people's votes.

5.He claimed that Comey “admitted that he leaked to friends of his purported memos.”

This is a lie. Comey admitted to giving one memo to one friend.

So this lying lawyer comes out and lies repeatedly for his client, (a well known lying liar who lies non-stop) and we're supposed to believe him when he accuses James Comey of being the liar...

[Lord Jim]

“The president’s new at this,” Mr. Ryan said at a news conference. “He’s new to government. And so he probably wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between D.O.J., F.B.I. and White Houses. He’s just new to this.”

Sorry Paul, but that's a horseshit explanation...

Not only is "I was too ignorant of how to do my job to avoid obstructing justice" not an acceptable excuse, in this case it's demonstrably false. He had to know what he was trying to do with Comey was inappropriate, because he took such care to make sure that he and Comey were alone when he did it. (Inviting him to a dinner with no one else there, throwing other people out of the room before raising these subjects, making unannounced private phone calls)

One can argue about whether or not any one of these particular efforts by Trump rises to the level of attempting to obstruct justice, or if they were just grossly inappropriate...

"The smoking gun" for an impeachment charge of attempting to obstruct justice, is the fact that after all these efforts to influence and coerce Comey (the attempt to get a loyalty pledge from him, the "request" that he drop the Flynn investigation, the "request" that Comey help "lift the cloud" of the investigation from his Presidency) failed, Trump FIRED Comey, and then admitted on national television that he fired him because of the Russia investigation...

That's not a "he said/he said" ; that's an uncoerced taped confession...

[MajGenl.Meade]

5.He claimed that Comey “admitted that he leaked to friends of his purported memos.”

This is a lie. Comey admitted to giving one memo to one friend

To me, this is also an example of how language can be editorially slanted to bring about a false unconscious narrative of "wrongness". The lawyer's word "admitted" even infects LJ's refutation. [This is not a shot agin ya, LJ]

I didn't watch the entire thing

Did Comey "admit" something? Or did he testify to something?

Did he "confess" something? Or did he confirm something?

I know - it seems a small thing. But I don't think we should ever adopt the biased language of the enemy, even in defense of a friend.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Total agreement with your points, LJ. All we need to know about Kasowitz is that he has been Trump's lawyer for 15 years which means that he is a very loyal chap. Presumably he knows where all the Trump University bodies are buried and a lot more.

BTW I wish they would stop talking about 'tapes.' Whatever recording system is in place, and I find it difficult to believe that Trump does not routinely record his conversations, will be digital. And Trump could, I think, make a (Bill) Clintonian denial "There are no tapes."

[Sue U]

Or as our friends at Wonkette put it:

good try bro
Idiot Trump Lawyer (And Alex Jones!) NAILS James Comey
For Leaking *Unclassified* Information. LOL!

***

So that is some lawyering! But it’s not good lawyering. Kasowitz says Comey “[made] clear that the President never sought to impede the investigation,” because apparently we are going to split hairs over the EXACT WORDS Trump used. Trump said he “hoped” Comey could find a way to stop investigating Michael Flynn. It wasn’t an order or anything! It’s not like Donald Trump is the president, oh wait he is, at least technically. Comey, of course, testified that he took it as a directive, because ANY SANE PERSON IN A MEETING IN THE OVAL OFFICE would take it that way, ESPECIALLY if the president had just shooed everybody else out of the room so he could grab the FBI director by the pussy in private.

Kasowitz straight up denies that Trump asked for Comey’s loyalty, to which we will just echo Comey’s testimony, when he said, “Lordy I hope there are tapes” of their conversations. Why? Because Donald Trump is a known fucking liar, and there is no reason to believe he’s told his lawyer the truth.

But that’s not the most LOL part. The most LOL part is about how James Comey IS THE REAL LEAKER!!!!!11111ELEVEN!!!1! We’ll transcribe, so we can laugh at it REALLY LOUDLY:

• Mr. Comey admitted that he unilaterally and surreptitiously made unauthorized disclosures to the press of privileged communications with the President. […] Mr. Comey admitted that he leaked to his friends his purported memos of these privileged conversations, one of which he testified was classified. […] We will leave it the [sic] appropriate authorities to determine whether this [sic] leaks should be investigated …

Oh. My. God.

Comey testified SPECIFICALLY that he wrote certain memos in an unclassified way, so that if they needed to be shared, there wouldn’t be a ton of red tape. Let’s go to the transcript:

• WARNER: I found it very interesting that, that in the memo that you wrote after this February 14th pull-aside, you made clear that you wrote that memo in a way that was unclassified. If you affirmatively made the decision to write a memo that was unclassified, was that because you felt at some point, the facts of that meeting would have to come clean and come clear, and actually be able to be cleared in a way that could be shared with the American people?
  
  COMEY: Well, I remember thinking, this is a very disturbing development, really important to our work. I need to document it and preserve it in a way, and this committee gets this but sometimes when things are classified, it tangled them up. […]
  
  If I write it such a way that doesn’t include anything of a classification, that would make it easier for to us discuss within the FBI and the government, and to hold onto it in a way that makes it accessible to us.

In later questioning, sexxxy Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico asked for clarification as to whether all the memos were unclassified. Comey said nah, some were classified. A bit after that, idiot Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt sought clarification, to make sure Comey didn’t leak CLASSIFIED memos to his pal, which then ended up in the New York Times:

• COMEY: Not the classified documents. Unclassified. I don’t have any of them anymore. I gave them to the special counsel. My view was that the content of those unclassified memorializations of those conversations was my recollection recorded.

So, since they are UNCLASSIFIED and Trump was Twitter-sharting about “Comey better hope I don’t have tapes,” there was literally NOTHING illegal or untoward about him giving his UNCLASSIFIED memo about his OWN RECOLLECTIONS to his FRIEND. We know lawyers like to speak lawyer-ese, but this is just fucking stupid. Maybe the sorts of “best people” who are willing to represent Donald Trump are impressed by that sort of logic, but not GOOD lawyers, or people with IQ’s over 100. Bad job, Marc Kasowitz!

***

Source: Wonket

[Lord Jim]

Comey “[made] clear that the President never sought to impede the investigation,”

Oh, I forgot to include that one...

That's not just a lie, it's a Big Fat Lie...

Throughout his testimony, Comey repeatedly made clear that he believed the exact opposite, including this when asked about why he believes he was fired:

Former FBI Director James Comey has said he has "no doubt" President Donald Trump fired him because of his department's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

“I take the president at his word that I was fired because of the Russia investigation,” Mr Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee in a public hearing. “Something about the way I was conducting it, the president felt, created pressure on him he wanted to relieve.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/News/world ... 79646.html

ETA:

Speaking of Big Fat Lies:

In an off-screen press briefing on Thursday the White House deputy press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said that President Trump is not a liar, despite earlier testimony from former FBI Director James Comey in which he said that the president had, in fact, lied.

“I can definitively say the president is not a liar,” Sanders said. [Wow Sarah, I hope you're wearing your asbestos knickers, because you pants just burst into flames] “It’s frankly insulting that the question would be asked.”

http://www.salon.com/2017/06/08/i-can-d ... end-trump/

Saying "it's frankly insulting" that anyone would think Trump is a liar is rather like:

"It's frankly insulting that anyone would say my friend looks like a gorilla"

[Econoline]

The Onion fact-checks Comey's testimony.

[Lord Jim]

McCain explains what he was trying to ask Comey

After his questions to former FBI director James B. Comey baffled everyone, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) later joked that he’d stayed up too late and attempted to clarify his point.

“I get the sense from Twitter that my line of questioning today went over people’s heads,” [that's the kind of dry humor that McCain is famous for] McCain said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon. “Maybe going forward I shouldn’t stay up late watching the Diamondbacks night games. What I was trying to get at was whether Mr. Comey believes that any of his interactions with the President rise to the level of obstruction of justice.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pow ... 905d234722

Now compare that good humored, self-deprecating follow-up to the kind of thing that Trump would have said:

"My question made perfect sense. It was a fantastic question, in fact many people are saying it was the greatest question anyone has ever asked. But the lying fake-news press just won't admit what a fantastically great question it is, and they're trying to pretend that it didn't make sense. These people are absolutely horrible. "