James Comey's Hearing In The Senate: The Great Unpacking

Former FBI director James Comey accused the TRUMP administration of lies at a long-awaited public hearing before the US Senate Intelligence Commission in Washington, DC on June 8, 2017.

It was a high tension day for Donald Trump. Four top intelligence officials were interviewed Wednesday by the Senate's intelligence commission on Russia's role in the US election campaign. This Thursday, it was the turn of the former director of the FBI James Comey, brutally dismissed by the American president on May 9 last. In particular, James Comey revealed the pressure he felt to abandon his investigation.

In a room full of reporters, at a public hearing broadcast live on television, James Comey acknowledged to the senators that the US president had not explicitly asked him to stop the investigation, but that he had interpreted This request as an order to abandon it.

More specifically, during a conversation on February 14 in the Oval Office, Donald Trump would have said to him: "  I hope you can find a way to give up this, to let go of Flynn. He is a good man,  "in reference to the FBI's investigation of Michael Flynn, the former Security Advisor of Donald Trump, forced to resign on February 13, accused of lying on his relations With senior Russian officials.

James Comey said Thursday that the president had asked him to "dissipate the cloud" created by the Russian inquiry.

Dismissal related to Russian Interference Investigation

James Comey has clearly said he thought the reason for his dismissal was linked to the investigation of Russian interference, so the FBI is changing the way the survey was conducted, " which is very serious," a-t- He insists.

He accused the Trump administration of having defamed him and the FBI, saying that the agency was failing, that it was poorly managed, and that its employees had lost confidence in their director. " These are pure lies," said the former director of the FBI.

According to his statements, Donald Trump would have asked him in January to show loyalty. "  My common sense told me that he wanted something in return for my request to remain in my post," he told the senators. For his part, Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, hastened to declare at a press conference after the hearing that "on the merits and in form, the president never said James Comey: "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty."

Memos on the content of each conversation with Trump

At the hearing, James Comey stated that he felt obliged to protect himself by recording each individual meeting with Donald Trump in writing. He never did it with Barack Obama, nor with George W. Bush. But this time, he felt the need, because he could not record the conversations.

The former director of the FBI met nine times with Donald Trump, he told senators, starting on January 6, just before the president's inauguration. That day, he was alone with the president-elect at Trump Tower in New York. The conversation focused on the investigation of Russian interference. "I honestly feared he would lie about the nature of our encounters," he insisted.

A White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, immediately reacted: "I can say with certainty that the president is not a liar and, frankly, I feel insulted by this question."

Detailed notes to defend themselves

James Comey said that these notes after each one-on-one meeting with Donald Trump could serve him one day to defend himself and defend the integrity of the FBI as an institution, he said. His hearing.

James Comey also admitted to organizing leaks in the press himself, calling one of his friends to spread information about his memos, as he thought " this would push for the appointment of an independent " special prosecutor. And this is what happened, as former FBI director Robert Mueller is now in charge of the investigation to shed light on Russian interference in the election. Donald Trump's lawyer reacted to these revelations, citing possible lawsuits against the former director of the FBI, for these leaks organized to the press.

Did Donald Trump obstruct justice?

At the hearing, James Comey stated that it was not for him to say whether Donald Trump had attempted to obstruct justice, nor would he say at the public hearing whether Thought that there was collusion between Trump and Russia.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, uses James Comey's statements to his advantage: according to his lawyers, the American president is satisfied because what James Comey said confirms that he is not himself as president By investigating possible collusion with Russia.

The opposition politicians, the Democrats, want to use this argument of obstruction of justice to trigger a procedure of dismissal. An uncertain procedure, because Congress is dominated by Republicans.

To close the public hearing, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on Intelligence, Richard Burr thanked James Comey for his professionalism. " This is a key hearing in our investigation," he said. James Comey was later to hand over classified details to a meeting of the Senate Committee, this time in camera.