The infamous "dirty dossier" of supposedly compromising material the Russians held on Donald Trump got a new shot of attention when fired FBI Director James Comey testified Thursday he couldn't discuss it in public.
In riveting detail, Comey this week has revealed conversations with Trump that include the president saying he hoped Comey could let go of the FBI's investigation of a former national security adviser. He twice said that's up to Special Counsel Robert Mueller to determine.
Comey also noted that he was sacked - by the president's own account - because of the Russian Federation investigation.
The ex-FBI director's testimony recounts his conversations with the apparent precision of a veteran lawman.
His face was frozen in a neutral, impenetrable gaze as he swore to tell the truth, then sat ramrod straight for almost three hours of riveting testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. "We also were aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open setting that would make [Sessions's] continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic". "And so I knew something was about to happen that I needed to pay very close attention to".
"Lordy, I hope there are tapes", Mr Comey said, suggesting such evidence would back up his account over the president's.
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. But even as the president refrained from commenting on the day's proceedings on Capitol Hill (despite suggestions earlier this week that he might take to Twitter during Comey's testimony), many attendees at the gathering of conservatives expressed concern over the drama that was unfolding less than 3 miles away.
The next month, after a counterterrorism briefing, Comey testified that Trump asked him to stay for a one-on-one conversation.
And now it will remain for Robert Mueller to determine if Trump's attempts to shut down an investigation of his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, or the firing of Comey himself - if meant to lift "the cloud" of the broader Russian Federation investigation - constitute an attempt to obstruct justice.
No smoking gun, but James Comey shows he's a straight shooter
Trump eluded to the possible existence of such tapes in a Twitter message after firing Comey last month. President Trump said , "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go".
Sen. Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican, pressed Comey to state that Trump never "directed" Comey to drop the Flynn investigation.
Others said they were encouraged by Comey's claim he was uncomfortable with President Trump and kept detailed notes about their meetings. Asked whether that February Oval Office discussion amounted to obstruction of justice, Comey said he expected that to be a matter for Mueller, the former FBI director who has taken over the Justice Department's investigation.
"The administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the Federal Bureau of Investigation by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader", Comey said.
Trump Jr also asked whether it was "a joke" that Comey asked a friend to share a memo about his conversation with the president. "I can definitively say the president's not a liar", she said.
"Sure", Comey said. "In any complex investigation, when you start turning over rocks, sometimes you find things that are unrelated to the primary investigation, that are criminal in nature". You look back in hindsight, if I looked back and said this isn't worth dying on so I just said the press is going to completely ignore it.
Trump, through his personal lawyer, wasted no time in declaring Comey to have lied about the demand for loyalty and the request to drop the Flynn investigation.
Trump, who spent time meeting with Kasowitz after returning from the speech, also declined to answer shouted questions about the testimony at a panel with governors and local government leaders who had come to the White House to talk infrastructure.
Mr Comey said Mr Trump himself called him to a dinner on January 27, during which he asked him for a pledge of loyalty. Dianne Feinstein of California asked: "Why didn't you stop and say, 'Mr".
Comments