Former FBI Director James Comey Says "I Was Fired Because Of The Russia Investigation"
These are Comey’s first public comments since being fired last month.
- Here's Comey's biggest line of the day: "I was fired because of the Russia investigation ... to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal."
- And to back things up, and remind you why we're all here. Trump fired Comey as FBI director. Comey says that happened because Trump wanted him to bury the investigation into one of his top aides ties to Russia. Trump says Comey was doing a bad job and was a "nutjob." It turns out Comey wrote detailed memos of his interactions with Trump, which are not flattering to the president.
- Comey outright said he made the detailed memos because he was afraid Trump would "lie" about their private conversations. He also said the administration "chose to defame me" about why he was fired.
- The former FBI director also revealed he was the one who leaked his memo, through a Columbia University professor, about Trump demanding "loyalty" to him over dinner.
- He also played chicken with Trump. The president tweeted that he may have secretly taped his conversations with Comey. In response, Comey called for Trump to "release" them.
- And, of course, the Hillary Clinton email investigation came up. Comey said former Attorney General Loretta Lynch instructed him to not call it an investigation, but a "matter" which "concerned" him. Right-wing media says this is the big story of the day.
- Comey released his opening statement yesterday, which read like a damn spy novel. You can read more about that here.
- In the middle of Comey's testimony, Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders held a press conference saying "I can definitively say the president is not a liar" — but said she didn't know if the president has a taping system in the White House.
- This hearing gripped Washington and the nation. People watched it at bars like it was the goddamed Super Bowl, and also made plenty of jokes on Twitter.
- Reporting by Emma Loop from the Senate hearing room; Mary Ann Georgantopoulos and Talal Ansari in New York; and Zoe Tillman, and Lissandra Villa in Washington, DC.
Comey started out with a big statement — accusing the Trump administration of spreading lies about him
Comey began his testimony by saying that the Trump administration lied “plain and simple” when it gave reasons for his firing last month.
“The administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI by saying the organization was in disarray; that it was poorly led; and that the workforce had lost confidence in leader,” Comey said. “Those were lies, plain and simple. And I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them and I’m so sorry that the American people were told them.”
Comey went on to say that he was confused and concerned about the shifting explanations on why he was fired, because Comey said the president had repeatedly told him he was doing a good job leading the FBI.
He said he was confused when his handling of the Clinton email investigation was the reason given for his firing.
“That did not make sense to me,” Comey said.
Comey ended: "And now to my former colleagues, if I may, I am so sorry I didn't get the chance to say good bye to you properly. It was the honor of my life to serve beside you, to be part of the FBI family and I will miss it for the rest of my life. Thank you for standing watch, thank you for doing so much good for this country. Do that good as long as ever you can."
Then he said he made memos of his conversations with Trump because he was afraid the president would "lie" about them later:
Comeysaid one reason he began documenting his encounters with Trump was because of his “nature” and that he was “honestly concerned” that President would lie.
“And then the nature of the person,” Comey said, categorically going through the numerous reasons he wrote memos. “I was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our meeting so I thought it important to document. That combination of things I had never experienced before but it led me to believe I gotta write it down and I gotta write it down in a detailed way.
Later, Comey said he also wrote memos as a way to keep a record to defend himself, as well as the FBI, as an institution.
“I knew there might come a day where I might need a record to defend not just myself but the FBI, and our integrity and the independent,” Comey said. “That's what made it so difficult. It was a combination of circumstances, subject matter and a particular person,” Comey added, referring to President Trump. Conversely, Comey said, he didn’t feel the same need to document conversations with former President Obama and President Bush in the same way he did with President Trump.
Comey also recalled another occasion in which he claims President Trump asked him about “loyalty” and the topic of keeping his role as the Director of the FBI.
“In fact, I just remembered sitting here a third one, you've seen the picture of me walking across the Blue Room. And what the president whispered in my ear was, “I really look forward to working with you,” Comey said.
Comey said just days later, at a dinner with the President the following Friday from the whispering, the President Trump again spoke to him about his role as FBI Director.
“And so I'm sitting there thinking, wait a minute, three times you've asked me to stay or talked about me staying. I could be wrong, but my common sense told me what's going on here is, he's looking to get something in exchange for granting my requests to stay in the job,” Comey said.
Comey told the committee that these multiple encounters about his job made him uneasy, and that the reason for a 10-year term for the FBI Director is so that the FBI remains independent and “without political loyalty owed to any particular person.”
When Senator Warner asked if he found it strange that the President asked a room full of people, including the Attorney General, to leave before talking to him about former General Flynn, Comey said multiple things about that moment made him believe there was something amiss.
“My impression was something big was about to happen,” Comey said. “Again, I could be wrong. I'm 56 years old, I've been — seen a few things. My sense was the attorney general knew he shouldn't be leaving which is why he was lingering.” Comey said Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also may have “picked up on the same” feeling
“I knew something was about to happen and needed to pay close attention to,” Comey said. Video of that moment right here.