James Comey testimony: I was fired because of Russia investigation
WASHINGTON — Speaking publicly for the first time since his abrupt firing, former FBI director James Comey told a Senate panel Thursday that he took President Trump's words as "a direction" to drop the investigation of ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn's ties to Russia.
"I didn’t obey that," Comey said to the Senate Intelligence Committee. "But that’s what I thought."
Comey said he now believes Trump fired him to relieve pressure from the ongoing FBI investigation into possible collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russia. The U.S. intelligence community has accused Moscow of seeking to influence the 2016 presidential election by hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign.
“I was fired in some way to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted,’’ Comey said. “That is a big deal. On top of that, the Russia investigation itself is vital because of the threat. And if any American were part of that, that is a very big deal.’’
The White House initially said Comey was fired because of his controversial handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server, on the recommendation of Justice Department leadership.
Yet in an interview soon after with NBC, Trump called Comey a "showboat" and a "grandstander" and confirmed that the Russia investigation was indeed on his mind when he fired Comey, adding he would have fired the FBI chief regardless of the Justice Department's recommendation. Comey said he was "confused" to learn on television that the president "actually" fired him because of the Russia investigation.
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At the center of the testimony was a Feb. 14 meeting at the White House. In that meeting, Comey said Trump strongly defended Flynn, arguing that his former national security adviser “hadn’t done anything wrong’’ in his prior contact with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn had been fired the day before for lying to administration officials, including Vice President Pence, about his communications with Kislyak.
“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go," Comey quoted the president as saying. "He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go."
Comey told the senators that he was "so stunned by the conversation that I just took it in."
He also said that he hoped the president was serious when he tweeted that there might be tapes of the conversation. "Lordy, I hope there are tapes," Comey said, later promising to consent to the release of them if they exist. "The president surely knows whether he taped me, and if he did, my feelings aren’t hurt. Release all the tapes. I’m good with it.”
However, Comey said he could not say whether Trump engaged in obstruction of justice when the president asked him to drop the FBI's investigation of Flynn. Comey said questions of obstruction would be investigated by Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who was appointed to be special counsel of the Russia investigation in the wake of Comey's firing.
Comey did say Flynn was in "legal jeopardy" at the time that Trump made his appeal.
The fired FBI chief said he was never asked by Trump or others in the administration to stop the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, though he did say Trump’s request that he drop the inquiry related to Flynn "disturbed" him.
Among of the most stunning and consistent themes running throughout more than two hours of testimony was that Comey believed the president could not be trusted.
The concern, rooted in Comey's first Jan 6 meeting at Trump Tower with then-president-elect Trump, compelled the former director to compose written records of his communications with the president because he worried Trump might “lie’’ about what transpired.
After leaving that tense initial briefing, Comey said he immediately created a written record of it.
“It was the subject matter and the person I was interacting with," he said. “It was the nature of the person. I was honestly concerned that he would lie about the nature of our meeting. I felt I've got to write it down and I've got to write it down in a detailed way. I knew there might come a day when I would need a written record to defend me and the FBI.’’
White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders declined to comment on the testimony, deferring to a forthcoming statement by Trump's attorney Marc Kasowitz, though she did dispute at least one aspect of Comey's testimony. "I can definitely say the president is not a liar," Sanders said, calling the question "insulting."
After Trump suggested in a tweet there might be “tapes” of his conversations with Comey, the former director said he moved to make aspects of his memos public by enlisting a friend, a Columbia Law School professor, to share the content of his own notes with a reporter.
Comey said he hoped news reports would prompt the appointment of a special counsel. Indeed, the Justice Department appointed Mueller as special counsel to oversee the Russia probe just one day after the existence of the memos was disclosed.
For her part, Sanders also said she has "no idea" whether there is a taping system in the White House.
Notably, Comey said Trump made several public statements that were false after he was fired. Among them, Comey said, was the president's denial at a White House news conference last month that he had ever asked the FBI inquiry into Flynn to be shut down.
Comey also said Trump “defamed me and the FBI’’ after the president dismissed him last month. "Those were lies, plain and simple, and I am so sorry the FBI workforce had to hear them, and the American people were told them," Comey said.
Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C. said it's important for Americans to hear Comey's story. "The American people need to hear your side of the story, just as they need to hear the President’s description of events," Burr said in his opening statement.
After the hearing, Burr said, "This is nowhere near the end of our investigation."
He said he is more confident now that the committee can work together in a bipartisan way to conduct its overall investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. In addition to the FBI investigation, there are four congressional panels conducting their own probes into Russia's campaign of cyber attacks and fake news to undermine the election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate panel, said: "The most important message I hope all Americans will take home is recognizing how significant the Russian interference in our democracy was. And that we've got to be in a better defensive position next year."
Warner described Comey’s prepared testimony as “disturbing.’’
"I do want to emphasize what is happening here,’" Warner said in a statement Thursday. "The president of the United States is asking the FBI director to drop an ongoing investigation into the president’s former National Security Advisor."
"In further violation of clear guidelines put in place after Watergate to prevent any whiff of political interference by the White House into FBI investigations, the president then called the FBI director on two separate occasions (March 30 and April 11) and asked him to ‘lift the cloud’ of the Russia investigation," Warner said.
Warner also cited Trump’s request for “loyalty’’ at a Jan. 27 dinner as particularly troubling.
Comey's written testimony described how the president told him at that dinner, "I need loyalty. I expect loyalty."
"I didn’t move, speak or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed," Comey said of the exchange.
Several Republican senators attempted to take the focus of the hearing off of Trump, asking Comey questions about his investigation last year of Hillary Clinton's use of an email server while she was secretary of State.
Trump's defenders pointed to Comey's statement to underscore the president's assertion that the former director had assured him that he wasn't under investigation as part of the Russia probe.
Comey's statement says that he told Trump at their first meeting on Jan. 6 in New York City that the FBI wasn't investigating him personally.
"Prior to the January 6 meeting, I discussed with the FBI’s leadership team whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally. That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him," Comey said in his statement. "We agreed I should do so if circumstances warranted. During our one-on-one meeting at Trump Tower, based on President Elect Trump’s reaction to the briefing and without him directly asking the question, I offered that assurance."
Trump's lawyer said that was a public acknowledgement that Trump "was not under investigation in any Russian probe.''
"The President feels completely and totally vindicated,'' Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz said in a written statement Wednesday. "He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda.''
Comey's testimony has become a huge political spectacle, attracting crowds at the Capitol and at bars showing the event live.
Spectators, most of them young congressional staffers, began lining up outside the Senate Intelligence Committee's hearing room hours before the doors opened. Seven folding tables reserved spots for more than 100 reporters were positioned just behind the witness table.
Among the group of Comey supporters seated just behind the witness table was former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Earlier this year, Bharara was famously fired by Trump during an abrupt purge of top Justice Department prosecutors.
Comey met in closed session with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday afternoon.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions disputed some elements of Comey's testimony Thursday. In particular, Sessions denied keeping silent.
"During his testimony, Mr. Comey confirmed that he did not inform the Attorney General of his concerns about the substance of any one-on-one conversation he had with the President," Ian Prior, a Justice Department spokesman, said in a statement. "Mr. Comey said, following a morning threat briefing, that he wanted to ensure he and his FBI staff were following proper communications protocol with the White House . . . The Attorney General was not silent; he responded to this comment by saying that the FBI and Department of Justice needed to be careful about following appropriate policies regarding contacts with the White House."
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