So I was able to watch about 95% of the hearing. My immediate take-aways …
… Public hearings are largely to let Senators posture in front of the press. That was on display here as usual, though they actually did seem to have actual questions that they wanted answered. I'd give a shiny nickel to see what goes on at the closed hearing.
… Comey did a good job of coming across as neutral. In some ways, the GOP bringing up the Clinton E-Mail stuff on repeated conversations worked to his favor in that.
… The emphasis of Trump's questions and requests to Comey always seemed to be about getting people off (unless they are guilty, but Flynn's a good guy, so he should get off) or fixing Trump's reputation problems. But he seemed to never ask Comey any broader questions about the Russian interference with the 2016 Election per se. He seems less interested in the Russian investigations as a whole "Hey, Russia is attacking us" thing, but more a "Hey, who's under investigation, and is it me, and it shouldn't be me" thing. It's all about "me."
… Comey seemed willing to call Trump a liar, directly and implicitly — in explaining Comey's firing, in concerns over why Comey wrote up notes to begin with, and in calling for any recordings Trump has of their discussions to be made public.
… Comey clearly felt he was under pressure from Trump. He declined to publicly interpret it as Obstruction of Justice (fobbing that task off to Mueller), but there's little question from his testimony he felt he was being pressured by his boss to do something extremely dodgy.
… Props to Sen. Angus King and Comey over the Henry II / Thomas Becket ("Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?") reference. Yeah, that's geeky, but it's the sort of thing that's goes directly to "When the boss indicates he'd really, really like something done, people take it as an order, not just a request or desire or wish."
… Comey kept being asked, "Well, why didn't you say something? Why didn't you leave? Why didn't you say no, this is improper? Why didn't you tell other people?" And all I could think of was those sorts of questions being asked of an abuse / harassment / rape victim.
… or, conversely, the person stuck with the crazy boss who figures out early on that Priority 1 keeping one's head down and ass covered before figuring out what further to do about it. Comey made it clear that his actions were not always the most "courageous," but they seemed very natural to me.
… The biggest loser this morning was … John McCain. He needed about another five cups of coffee. Or something. Because, like Comey, I had problems quite figuring out what he was on about (maybe that, if there's a broad investigation into Russian interference, then why would Trump be under investigation but the Clinton email investigation now be closed, which makes no sense from about five different angles).
In sum, I think (while admitting my own biases here) that the cherry-picking being done here will be more from the Right than the Left, and that ultimately (barring those "tapes" coming to light), this will come down to a question of he-said/he-said, regardless of the associated conclusions that come from the Russian election interference / collusion investigations. Which is one reason why a lot of the critique coming from the GOP is centered on discrediting Comey as a witness, as much as disputing whether this represents criminal actions by the US President (though some of the reactions [1,2] on that point have been … amusing.)
—–
[1] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lindsey-graham-half-of-what-trump-does-is-not-okay/
[2] http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/08/ryan-defends-trump-on-comey-the-presidents-new-at-this-239298
Comey on why he wrote Trump memos: “I was honestly concerned that he might lie”
“I thought it really important to document … It led me to believe I’ve got to write it down in a very detailed way,” former FBI chief says
McCain, I thought, was attempting to save face with his party. I'm sure he's taking flack over his recent criticisms of Trump. It was an attempt to obfuscate things and it was horribly executed I actually think this may lead to his ouster eventually.
The right will hold onto the leaking as a thing (even though it isn't a thing) but certainly the right's focus was to damage Comey's credibility. I'm shocked that Hillary's emails didn't come up more often. This testimony won't lead to anything, imho except more stupid commentary from the media.
Thank you. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thought McCain might be having a "senior" moment.
Doddering war criminal/rage machine McCain was doing his best to help out Trump, since he too met with the same Russians that are part of this investigation in Davos years ago.
Also, he is now the poster child for term limiting the congress critters.
Prediction: There really are tapes of that Comey/Trump conversation, but Trump will never admit it because they don't support his narrative.
+Peter Bauck Just to throw out a counter-conspiracy (because I'm sure someone in Team Trump will), there are no such recordings because the FBI sweeps the White House regularly and would know about such a system. Trump's tweet was a reference to FBI wiretapping. Comey was willing to up the rhetorical ante here because he knows he won't be contradicted by recordings that would exonerate Trump and show Comey is mischaracterizing their conversation.
I don't believe that for a moment, but …
If McCain doesn't understand that, "we looked into the Clinton server issue and found nothing criminal" isn't the same things as "we have evidence that the Russians interfered in our elections and that investigation can involve people who are in office now including the President" are not the same thing, he needs to be removed from office now.
Flynn's problems stem (stemmed?) from his Russian connections. Little as I like Trump, Russia interfering in our elections (and its continued desire to do so, according to Comey), is really a big issue, bigger than Dem vs Rep infighting.
+Peter Bauck I could totally see Trump releasing tapes because he thought they exonerated him when in fact they didn't.
My perspective, in brief, based upon my rightward bias (which isn't a Trump bias – that's a whole other issue altogether). Note that I only really listened to the first hour, and kinda sorta listened to the second hour and part of the third hour (I think McCain was the last Senator that I heard):
Burr appeared (to me at least) to be objective in his opening statement, while Warner was doing so much posturing that I began to think "shut up and let the witness speak already." But Warner's questions were a little less posturing.
Agree that Comey performed well. He reported both the actuality of what was being said, his interpretation of what was meant (while emphasizing that it was only his impression), refused to speak about either things affecting an ongoing investigation or things that could have changed since he was cut out of the loop, and admitting where he could have performed better (although I challenge anyone who thinks that it's easy to tell the President, in the Oval Office, that he's engaging in questionable activity).
I was listening to the testimony on KFI radio. While the station itself is conservative talk, the morning host Bill Handel calls them as he sees them. For the most part, his comments were minimal – noting why particular Senators were asking the questions that they asked (e.g. "Collins is a Republican who is opposed to Trump"), and noting where Trump himself would disagree with the statements that Senators (Republican and Democrat) were making (i.e., the unanimous conclusion of the intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the election).
However, when McCain started babbling, Handel went ahead and talked over him because we weren't missing anything important by not hearing what McCain was saying. This is the only time I've seen McCain so out of it, and I reflected that if he had won the 2008 Presidential election, he'd be out of office by now.
(Call me ageist, but this is a concern that we have to face when we consider the ages of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders, and when we consider Reagan's second term.)
McCain has (now that he's had a nap — he quipped that he'd been up very late watching a Diamondbacks game) clarified what he was driving at:
'What I was trying to get at was whether Mr. Comey believes that any of his interactions with the President rise to the level of obstruction of justice. In the case of Secretary Clinton’s emails, Mr. Comey was willing to step beyond his role as an investigator and state his belief about what ‘no reasonable prosecutor’ would conclude about the evidence. I wanted Mr. Comey to apply the same approach to the key question surrounding his interactions with President Trump — whether or not the President’s conduct constitutes obstruction of justice. While I missed an opportunity in today’s hearing, I still believe this question is important, and I intend to submit it in writing to Mr. Comey for the record.'
Except that's not really any more coherent. There's a significant difference between making a conclusion (even if that's unusual) at the end of an investigation, and making a legal conclusion about the actions of someone not actually under investigation (but who could be depending on how an investigation proceeded).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/06/08/sen-john-mccains-bizarre-questioning-of-comey/?utm_term=.b3e6424894c7
He's just not that coherent anymore…
Lets get one thing straight . Putin has tried hard get along with the international community . Has tried hard and offered to work with America others to combat terrorism . It hasnt happened because the CIA and Washington Yids dont want to work with Russia on anything . America has set fire to the middle east . Has paid for and tooled up ISIS along with the Wankers in Israel and Saudi . Next stop after Syria , then Iran . Then Russia . With Ukraine etc ongoing . I wish Vlad would just blow you cunts sky high .
Aah, yes. The "Russia is trying to do good in the world" perspective. RT and Sputnik have done wonders for their public image.
Sick of you propaganda absorbing retards regurgitate CNN and most media bullshit . Start thinking for yourself .
+Tom Dooley Hacking votes (and Qatar) and supporting insurgents in other countries is not "trying to get along". Russia is at war with he US and Europe. It's an online propaganda war, but it's a war nonetheless.
+Tom Dooley Yids? Cunts? I guess it's pretty obvious who's side you're on.
You're a disgrace to the name you've misappropriated.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Dooley_(song)
Wake up kee and linda . Dipshits ….Its the US thats at war with Russia . Wake up for fucks sake .
Fucking air heads .
+Tom Dooley Thank you for playing. You can pick up your check at the Russian Embassy. Knock at the side door.
Did he just call me Linda? O.o
+Dave Hill Psst. It's the rear door. Servants enter from the rear.
Linda, listen!
https://youtu.be/tkxvlq25Kqw
That is the best reply to any thread comment ever. I actually need to save this and I shall call everyone Linda.
+uosɐɾ Ⅎ No thank you.
+Lauchlin MacGregor Instead of "I am Spartacus," "I am Linda"?
+John E. Bredehoft ???
+John E. Bredehoft well, it would need to be a reply…they are Linda…I'm the lecture man. I've been called Laughlin, Lockland, Lockwood….etc. Never Linda.
Always a first, I guess.