Ex-FBI head Comey accuses Trump of pressure on Russia probe

[dutchisaan]

46 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

A respected tv commentator called it nothingburger....so he was trolling on live tv too? Are you kidding about the likes?

[tomacht8]

The whole is to be seen in context.

"I need loyalty. I expect loyalty."
During the dinner, the president asked him if he wanted to stay on as FBI director,
Sounds like a threat.
When you do not do what I want, I throw you out.

what "we could do to lift the cloud"

"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."

You're fired

What is the official reason for Comeys termination?
About what shortcomings Comey was then officially accused?
He would be able to defend himself against an unjustified dismissal.

The FBI director is there to protect the law and the population against crime.
The division of powers and control mechanisms are there, or is now an FBI Director the personal fulfillment helper of the President?

I also see here the obstruction of justice.
Even a president is not authorized to intervene in investigations for which others are appointed and commissioned.

 

[Prbkk]

Wall Street up because " no Comey smoking gun"....geez, it looked pretty smokey to me. 

The other rather sad takeaway was John McCain...he needs to retire gracefully while his dignity is more or less intact. 

[pegman]

You seriously have to wonder what kind of people would vote for anyone like a Trump.  

[johnnywishbone]

Comey lacks credibility.
Loretta Lynch and Clintons destroyed him.
YMMV


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[55Jay]

4 minutes ago, Prbkk said:

Wall Street up because " no Comey smoking gun"....geez, it looked pretty smokey to me. 

The other rather sad takeaway was John McCain...he needs to retire gracefully while his dignity is more or less intact. 

Oh dear, yes, agree on Sen McCain.

[JHolmesJr]

Yawn.

 

Cant believe I stayed up to watch the Nothingburger Chronicles.

 

My first cut and paste effort of some excerpts:

 

"Comey also characterized as largely false at least one New York Times report allegedly multiple contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials before the election."

 

"Comey acknowledged publicly for the first time the controversial manner in which he handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation was influenced by a meeting on an airport tarmac last fall between Bill Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. He also admitted that Lynch pushed him to characterize the Clinton probe publicly as a “matter” instead of an investigation."

 

"The FBI was not investigating Trump when the president fired Comey on May 9."

 

"Comey is unwilling to accuse Trump of obstruction of justice, though he thinks the special counsel that’s taken over the FBI’s Russian probe will look into the matter. “I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct.”

 

"Comey encouraged a friend to leak to The New York Times information about his dealings with President Donald Trump so pressure would build for the appointment of a special counsel to handle the Russian probe." (so donald had nothing to do with it)

 

Wow…cut and paste ain't so bad after all.

 

 

[55Jay]

Thought it was good testimony. 

 

Comey did honk the "I'm a victim" horn a couple times.  He is, of course.  But I did take away the belief that he was playing politics with HRC and Trump.  He stuck his innocent civil servant's toe in the deep end and had it bitten off by one of the sharks. 

[dunroaming]

Not enough to impeach by a long way, but Comey more than credible.  Trump should be having sleepless nights but is he savvy enough to see it?  Who will the world believe Comey or Trump....no brainer it is Comey every time!

[JHolmesJr]

 

 

[jcsmith]

Somewhat anticlimactic since what was covered was basically what had been given to the press yesterday. But the main takeaways from the Comey situation for me were:
 

• Asking everyone to leave before he brought up the Flynn issue and then saying he hoped he could let it go, that imo is obstruction. You can't say it was unintentional when he asked everyone else to leave. It's not enough to convict him but if that is combined with other similar situations (which has been reported in the press but which the individuals said they couldn't comment on in a public hearing yesterday) then each of those adds up to build a case towards that.
• The cloud over his head thing is also a smaller thing that feeds into the obstruction narrative, along with Trump asking him multiple times if he was personally under investigation. 
• The biggest bit of the obstruction case though is the fact that Trump a) Got Sessions involved (who was recused) and got Rosenstein to write that memo of excuses for firing Comey. Had all of his people go out and claim that it was due to mistreatment of Clinton or poor performance by Comey, but then himself admitted that he fired him because of the Russia probe. 
• On the positive for Trump, Comey has confirmed that he did tell Trump multiple times that he was not under investigation at that time, which helps Trump's credibility for that weird assertation in the middle of his firing Comey letter.
• None of this is a smoking gun by itself. But it helps to build a case.

 

[Jingthing]

40 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

Not enough to impeach by a long way, but Comey more than credible.  Trump should be having sleepless nights but is he savvy enough to see it?  Who will the world believe Comey or Trump....no brainer it is Comey every time!

Don't be so sure, dude.

You don't know what's going on in the private session.

You can't possibly know what's going to happen with the independent council, which could easily take a year.

In any case, trump has been badly POLITICALLY damaged by the testimony.

Comey is credible with a long reputation as one of the most honest players in the government. trump is a sleazeball con man that lies more than any president in American history.  Only very hard core trumpist fanatics would believe the clown over Comey.

 

Remember trump himself openly confessed he fired Comey over "Russia" and soon after was schmoozing with the Russkies in the oval office, trashing Comey. 

Quote

 

James Comey lays out the case that President Trump obstructed justice

...

“Trump made his wishes clear and fired Comey when his wishes weren’t respected,” Ohlin said. “It doesn’t matter whether it was an order or not. What matters is the action that Trump took when it became clear that Comey was continuing the investigation.”

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/james-b-comey-lays-out-the-case-that-president-trump-obstructed-justice/2017/06/08/e7f49a42-4c4d-11e7-bc1b-fddbd8359dee_story.html

 

 

Edited June 8, 2017 by Jingthing

[55Jay]

I think the obstruction issue has been answered sufficiently in the unclass session, and is dead. 

Edited June 8, 2017 by 55Jay

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, 55Jay said:

I think the obstruction issue has been answered sufficiently in the unclass session, and is dead. 

It definitely is not dead.

 

[Luckysilk]

5 hours ago, 55Jay said:

I think the obstruction issue has been answered sufficiently in the unclass session, and is dead. 

Yep most decent Americans will see it was merely a witch hunt and let the President get back to work.

 

Done, except for those who are fragile and lose sleep over President Trump.

[tmifune]

23 minutes ago, Luckysilk said:

Done, except for those who are fragile and lose sleep over President Trump.

Done? Its just getting started. You ain't seen nothing yet folks. 

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.  

[thaibeachlovers]

13 hours ago, dunroaming said:

Or saying I will sack you if you don't tow the line!

Well, Comey didn't say that happened.

[55Jay]

10 hours ago, Jingthing said:

It definitely is not dead.

 

Just turning the puter on.  I clicked on your response first and mulling it over last night, have to agree with you.  Dead suggests too much finality. 

 

I think Trump will have to answer for this in the future but if there are more damaging bombshells we don't know about (but the government does - Flynn), this obstruction matter won't be the coup de gras that takes Trump down.    If there are none, expect the narrative to circle back around and focus on it again.

 

End of the day, Trump was way out of his league with Comey. 

 

Well see how this pans out over the coming days and weeks. 

 

Edited June 9, 2017 by 55Jay