Ousted Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) chief James Comey accused President Donald Trump’s White House of lies and defamation Thursday, in wounding sworn testimony that plunged his already troubled presidency deeper into peril.<\/b>
\nOusted Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) chief James Comey accused President Donald Trump\u2019s White House of lies and defamation Thursday, in wounding sworn testimony that plunged his already troubled presidency deeper into peril.
During almost three hours of extraordinarily frank televised statements, Comey described himself as \u201cstunned\u201d by Trump\u2019s \u201cvery disturbing\u201d and \u201cvery concerning\u201d behavior in several private meetings.
Detailing one-on-one talks with a sitting president, which under normal circumstances would never see the light of day, Comey said he took painstaking notes for fear Trump might \u201clie\u201d about the extraordinary encounters.
That account painted a devastating picture of an untrustworthy president, who at best unknowingly shred the norms of office by pressing him on the probe into Russian election meddling, and at worst may have criminally obstructed justice.
During one White House dinner, Comey recalled that the president asked him for \u201cloyalty\u201d and to lay off his former national security advisor Mike Flynn\u2014who is under criminal investigation over his Russia ties\u2014imploring Comey to \u201clet this go.\u201d
Comey indicated that it was now up to a high-powered special prosecutor to determine whether that behavior, and his own sacking, constituted an obstruction of justice, a potentially impeachable offense.
\u201cIt\u2019s my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation, \u201d he told senators. \u201cI was fired in some way to change, or the endeavor was to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal.\u201d
Easing months of speculation, Comey did confirm that Trump was not personally the subject of a counterterror or criminal probe when he left the FBI last month.
The White House and Trump\u2019s lawyers expressed vindication at some parts of Comey\u2019s testimony and lashed out at others.
\u201cI can definitely say the president is not a liar and frankly am insulted by that question, \u201d said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The president, said lawyer Marc Kasowitz, \u201cnever told Mr. Comey \u2018I need loyalty, I expect loyalty\u2019 in form or substance, \u201d rejecting a key allegation made by the sacked FBI director.
Deploying Trump\u2019s trademark bareknuckle style, Kasowitz also suggested the ousted lawman should be prosecuted for leaking \u201cprivileged information.\u201d
Trump avoided directly responding to the explosive accusations, defiantly telling supporters at a religious event in the capital: \u201cWe are going to fight and win.\u201d
Lies, plain and simple
After solemnly raising his right hand and vowing to tell the whole truth, a visibly aggrieved Comey kicked-off his testimony with a bid to set the record straight about the state of the bureau he led until he was sacked last month.
\u201cAlthough the law requires no reason at all to fire an FBI director, the administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the work force had lost confidence in its leader, \u201d he charged.
\u201cThose were lies plain and simple, \u201d Comey said, firing a shot of tension through hearing room 216 of the Senate\u2019s Hart building, which stood silent except for the shutter clicks of a phalanx of photographers capturing the moment of pure political theater.
Lawmakers started the hearing with a call for unity of purpose but the pretense of bipartisanship soon fell away.
Democrats are intent on determining whether Trump\u2019s actions amounted to obstruction of justice, while Republicans have zeroed in on Comey\u2019s admission he assured the president he was not personally an FBI investigation target.
Trump abruptly fired Comey as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on May 9, admitting later that the Russia probe was on his mind at the time.
In his written statement, Comey described his mounting discomfort in the weeks leading up to his dismissal as Trump pulled him aside in person and phoned to press him on the probe into his campaign associates and possible collusion with a Russian effort to tilt the 2016 vote in the Republican\u2019s favor.
A big deal
At a private White House dinner on January 27, just days after the billionaire took office, Comey said Trump appeared to want to \u201ccreate some sort of patronage relationship\u201d with him.
\u201cThe president said, \u2018I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.\u2019 I didn\u2019 t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed, \u201d Comey said.
In an Oval Office tete-a-tete the following month Comey said Trump pressed him to drop the FBI investigation into Flynn, who had been fired for lying to the vice president about his unreported conversations with the Russian ambassador.
And he described trying to insulate himself and the FBI from political pressure, as the president complained about the Russian probe and labeled it \u201cfake news.\u201d
Harvard law School professor Mark Tushnet said onlookers should keep in mind that Comey knows much more than he can say.
\u201cHe\u2019s saying that when he looks at all the evidence that he knows, that he draws the conclusion that the president was trying to pull him off the investigation of Flynn.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty powerful statement that an investigator with his background, (says) when I look at this investigation, this is what I conclude. So his statement is a big deal.\u201d
Networks and cable news stations provided blanket coverage of the testimony, and hundreds of people turned out at Washington bars for watch parties, glued to live TV broadcasts of the hearing.
\u2018There\u2019s been so much media hype, it\u2019s good to actually hear this from the source,\u2019 said Sadie Cornelius, 33. \u201cIt\u2019s good to hear the facts.\u201d JPV<\/p>\n

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