This will be pretty simple--James Comey is either a liar or the people speaking to the news media on his behalf are liars. There is no middle ground. The issue? Did Donald Trump or someone else in his Administration try to obstruct the FBI investigation into "Russian" influence in the Trump campaign and Presidency?
Comey was asked that very question under oath during a May 3rd hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee by Hawaii's Senator Hirono:
HIRONO: So if the Attorney General or senior officials at the Department of Justice opposes a specific investigation, can they halt that FBI investigation?
COMEY: In theory yes.
HIRONO: Has it happened?
COMEY: Not in my experience. Because it would be a big deal to tell the FBI to stop doing something that -- without an appropriate purpose. I mean where oftentimes they give us opinions that we don't see a case there and so you ought to stop investing resources in it. But I'm talking about a situation where we were told to stop something for a political reason, that would be a very big deal. It's not happened in my experience.
In other words, no one at Trump's DOJ tried to halt the FBI investigation. Very simple.
But that's not a story that CNN and the rest of the anti-Trump media want to push. CNN is up today with this screamer:
Comey now believes Trump was trying to influence him, source says
If Trump was trying to get Comey to back down on the investigation of Flynn or any other aspect of the so-called Russian case then Comey had a sworn duty to inform Congress. He was under oath on the 3rd. He did not even give a hint that President Trump was acting in an unusual or even illegal fashion with respect to the FBI investigation of the Trump Campaign.
CNN must be on crack or something. I simply cannot fathom a scenario in which Comey will risk perjuring himself. If he now testifies that Trump was trying to influence the investigation then it cannot be passed off as a simple misunderstanding of Senator Hirono's question on May 3rd.
Jack,
Corrine Brown would disagree on the part about laws not applying to Congress:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/corrine-brown-former-florida-congresswoman-found-guilty-sham-charity/
Huma's husband would agree. Perhaps soon so will Huma
Posted by: Fred | 21 May 2017 at 10:32 AM
Lars,
We should also see the memos he wrote after his meetings with President Obama and AG Lynch.
Posted by: Fred | 21 May 2017 at 10:34 AM
Stumpy,
One of the reasons for my vote too but now Sonny Boy Kursh engineered the weapons sales to benefit Israel if Daudia Arabia attack Iran.
Also, Comey was investigating said Sonny Boy. Damn!
Posted by: Cee | 21 May 2017 at 10:38 AM
Tyler,
Kim Dotcom helped Rich leak evidence of DNC crimes and will be seeing his lawyer Monday...if he lives.
Posted by: Cee | 21 May 2017 at 10:43 AM
Congratulations Trumpists. You'll be finishing off the American experiment at the behest of the Saudi Monarchy.
What do you think, a hot war with Iran in under a year?
Posted by: GregB | 21 May 2017 at 11:02 AM
According to The Hill, Trump in his speech today is set to characterize the terrorism conflict as a war between good and evil, independent of faith/confession:
Q:
President Trump in a speech in Saudi Arabia on Sunday is expected to characterize the fight against “Islamic extremism” as a battle against “barbaric criminals” instead of one between different faiths.
“This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects, or different civilizations,” Trump is expected to say in Riyadh, according to excerpts released by the White House.
“This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it. This is a battle between good and evil.”
The excerpts provided by the White House do not include the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism,” which Trump used frequently on the campaign trail.
UQ
Posted by: FourthAndLong | 21 May 2017 at 11:11 AM
When you're reduced to Talmudic hair splitting to support your mendacity as the new converts to Comeyism are in order to prop up their new avatar, you're pretty much admitting you don't have an argument.
Posted by: Tyler | 21 May 2017 at 01:01 PM
FAL,
The news media being maliciously pedantic because he didn't use the single specific phrase they seem to want?
And they wonder why they're so hated.
Posted by: Tyler | 21 May 2017 at 01:03 PM
GregB,
You mean the war Hilary was going to give us in 2017? Feel free to "resist".
BTW does all that bling Saudi gave Hilary belong to her or the US Govt.?
Posted by: Fred | 21 May 2017 at 02:08 PM
In the realm of reality it helps to see the subtle difference between bombast and bombs away in a public figure's speech to a foreign audience in their own land. Tell them what they want to hear and do what is in your own interests.
Posted by: Thomas | 21 May 2017 at 02:25 PM
The Saudi Chief of Protocol must have a twisted sense of humor. They seated Steve Bannon right next to a noted Salafi, Saleh bin Abdul-Aziz Al ash-Sheikh, who is the Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs.
Posted by: Gene O. | 21 May 2017 at 02:57 PM
Lavrov, the Russian ambassador, who was at the meeting with Trump (and the NYT and WP were not), says there was no discussion of Comey at all. More fake news, methinks.
Posted by: Westcoaster | 21 May 2017 at 03:19 PM
This thread has brought out a bunch of new voices decrying Publiases interpretation about Comey's testimony. (I sort of agree that lawerly weasel words will prevent his ever being indicted for perjury). But it also brought out a number of comments blasting Trump for kowtowing to the Saudis. As if that will have any influence of the regular readers of sst. Every president since FDR have been doing that. There is no one on this site that support SA. Nor did any of us (Trump supporters or not) expected Trump to be any different. We all know how important the petro dollar is to maintaining the US dollar as the reserve currency. Abandon that at the risk of a terrible financial crisis.
Posted by: ToivoS | 21 May 2017 at 04:04 PM
ToivoS,
I really was hoping and believing that he would reverse and cancel the "HanniHill Lecter" Clinton policy that Assad Must Go.
The parts of the speech bearing indirectly on Syria sound like he is offering and pledging firm support against the "Iran-backed terrorist militias" in Syria. President Trump would absolutely reject my interpretation of what he said around Syria, but I interpret his words to mean that he has committed America to supporting the Global Axis of Jihad and the Cannibal Liver Eating Jihadis to overthrow Assad and take over Syria.
He would see it differently, of course. But that is what he has now pledged to support. Can the R + 6 exterminate all traces of rebellion within Syria before the DC FedRegime can get the balance tipped towards the GAJ and the CLEJ? Can the R + 6 at least exterminate all traces of rebellion within all of Idlib before the DC FedRegime helps make the Idlib cancer-beachhead secure and ready for the CLEJs to break out from? Again, that was NOT what I voted for.
Posted by: different clue | 21 May 2017 at 05:25 PM
Kim has a long memory and scores to settle:
" Hillary Clinton personally signed the request to extradite me from New Zealand. @HillaryClinton "
Watch this space ;-)
Posted by: DavidKNZ | 21 May 2017 at 06:41 PM
Obama didn't. He had the insight and guts to tack toward Iran and away from KSA despite tremendous pressure from inside the beltway.
Robert C.
Posted by: Robert C | 21 May 2017 at 08:08 PM
I don't get the thesis. Trump is not DOJ.
Posted by: bks | 21 May 2017 at 09:06 PM
Seriously, who in the WH is denying that Trump called Comey a Nut Job? - not Spicer when asked. Not even the Russians have come to their little buddy's defense on that issue. Trump has remained tweetless. So, the source is irrelevant if the WH actively or tacitly sustains it. Moreover, POTUS is noted for such bullying bravado. It is not as if somebody who brags to the press about groping genitals is above calling a senior official a nut job. The action is even worse now that the WH has confirmed that Trump's bravado declassified intel, siphoning off a lot of future intel.
So, sir, I would challenge that questioning who is putting stuff out, or who should be locked up for leaking intelligence is not relevant to the growing concerns about a loose cannon in the WH.
Posted by: Tomonthebeach | 21 May 2017 at 09:18 PM
Laws apply to those that the powers that be, the establishment, whatever you want to call it, want them to.
Otherwise, those same laws don't apply.
Posted by: sid_finster | 21 May 2017 at 09:31 PM
Are you trying to tell us that Obama never visited the Saudis? That he and Hillary approved over 100 billion dollars of arms shipments to the Saudis? That Hillary in her first two years as SoS doubled the size of arms deals than had any previous admin?
It is true that Obama cut a deal with Iran and that was the reason the Saudis turned on him. That deal was the only positive thing that Obama did as president (and he had to get rid of Hillary before he could carry that out).
Posted by: ToivoS | 22 May 2017 at 01:18 AM
different clue,
Trump is "the devil we don't know". So Trump voters will regret the choice they have made at the ballot box.
Posted by: TonyL | 22 May 2017 at 06:31 AM
egl,
of course we should not worry about his testimony. We should be asking about that statement of findings from the email server investigation - the document that explains why Hilary should not have been indicted.
Posted by: Fred | 22 May 2017 at 08:59 AM
sid,
I agree. As Spencer Tracy's character put it in "Judgement at Nuremberg" when he was first elected judge he knew there were some people in town he wasn't supposed to go after.
Posted by: Fred | 22 May 2017 at 09:01 AM
bks,
DOJ is part of the Executive Branch. How is it hard to understand that DOJ employees all work for him now?
Posted by: Fred | 22 May 2017 at 09:02 AM
You just said what I said.
Posted by: Robert C | 22 May 2017 at 09:06 AM