Ex-FBI chief’s ire over Trump laid bare in testimony

But Comey’s explosive testimony delivered at a Senate hearing that became must-see TV should remind patriots across the political spectrum of the gravity of this moment.

The fact that information about Sessions was classified and Comey couldn’t answer “means there’s something out there that he knows about that the public doesn’t, and that he thinks bears on a need for Sessions to recuse himself in matters that relate to Russian Federation”, said Sen.

Comey talked for close to three hours, answering a range of questions about the FBI’s Russian Federation investigation, and his private interactions with Trump and his thinking about how he handled the Hillary Clinton email probe.

Comey also noted that he had already provided his memos of his private conversations to Trump and that they were the subject of the special counsel’s probe.

“I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting and so I thought it really important to document”, Mr Comey said.

Prior, the Justice Department spokesman, disputed that account and said that Comey told Sessions that he “wanted to ensure that he and his Federal Bureau of Investigation staff were following proper communications protocol with the White House”.

Comey clearly intimated that Trump’s conduct toward him was an effort to obstruct justice when it came to the investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn – and that special counsel Robert Mueller would be just the guy to get to the bottom of what is clearly an impeachable offense.

But Trump contradicted those officials in a television interview and said he had actually made a decision to fire Comey on his own and it was because of the Russian Federation investigation.

After that meeting, Comey told Sessions that he did not want to be alone anymore with Trump and “it can’t happen that you get kicked out of the room and the president talks to me”.

“I’ve tried to be open, fair, transparent and accurate”, he said, encouraging senators to examine the two men’s “consistency track record, demeanor, record over time, that sort of thing”.

Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s personal lawyer, said after Comey’s testimony that “the president never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone”.

Trump’s combative personality and methods of operation can be a “double-edged sword”, Arrington said.

I hope so, too, but I would be surprised if such recordings exist.

“These scandals are a huge distraction for the White House, both in terms of the legislative agenda, as well as attracting talent to the White House and federal agencies to make the Trump Administration’s agenda a reality”, Mahaffee told Xinhua.

The White House may claim today’s testimony is a technical exoneration.

Neither Rep. David Young, R-Iowa, nor Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., offered comments about Comey’s testimony. His rationale was that his role as a high-profile surrogate and advisor for the Trump campaign made it inappropriate for him to be involved in an investigation of that same campaign, a rationale which received little pushback, except reportedly from the president himself.

Comey: That’s a question I don’t think I should answer in an opening setting.

Others in Washington should follow his lead. How that must have frustrated Trump the social media fiend.

Comey was sacked on May 9, when Trump expressed his deep frustration with the continuing probe into whether members of his presidential election campaign had tied up with Russian hackers against the billionaire tycoon’s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

There were some lighter, and literary, moments in Comey’s testimony.

Comey: Correct. I’m not going to go into the details but whether there were false statements made to government investigators, as well.

Comey’s memos about his meetings with Trump are now in Mueller’s hands.

Comey replied with a quotation attributed to King Henry II of England, who was at odds with Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury.

“Yes. It rings in my ear as, well, ‘Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?'”

“That is a very big deal, and not just because it involves me”. “And the next day, he (Becket) was killed”.