9 big takeaways from the Comey Hearing

[jtssrx]

 

By:

Ben Shapiro

June 8, 2017

 

Former FBI director James Comey’s big moment in the spotlight came and went on Thursday. It wasn’t the bombshell the left hoped it would be; it did provide them with some decent headlines, but it also ripped apart their narrative of a president who colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 election, then fired Comey to shut down the investigation. It also wasn’t the complete exoneration the right hoped it would be; Comey testified that Trump acted extraordinarily improperly, even though Comey himself didn’t act with pristine honor.

So, here are some takeaways.

1. Trump Didn’t Try To Kill The Russia Investigation. According to Comey’s testimony both yesterday and today, Trump didn’t attempt to kill the investigation into Russian election meddling. In fact, he even asked Comey to look into associations between campaign “satellites” and the Russian government. Comey was asked directly whether Trupm asked him to stop the Russia investigation, and said “no.” That crushes the left’s biggest narrative – and the one they find most important, since it would alleviate Hillary of responsibility for her devastating 2016 loss.

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2. Loretta Lynch Acted Improperly, And Comey Found It Troubling. Comey testified that Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch asked him to stop calling an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails an “investigation,” but rather a “matter.” In actuality, The New York Times reported this in April, but Comey’s testimony deepened the inquiry: he stated that Lynch’s activity “confused and concerned me…that was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude I have to step away from the [Justice] Department if we’re to close this case credibly.”

3. President Trump Acted Improperly, And Comey Found It Troubling. Comey testified repeatedly that Trump edged around quid pro quo language more than once. At their January 27 meeting, Comey stated that Trump asked him for a loyalty oath, and that at their February 14 meeting, Trump said he “hoped” Comey could find a way to drop the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s Russian phone calls. Comey also testified that President Trump told him in April that he remembered “the thing” – an easy way to interpret this would be as a quid pro quo. (Quick note here: if you’re disturbed at Lynch’s activities, you should be disturbed by Trump’s as well.)

4. Trump’s Actions May Earn Him An Investigation For Obstruction. Comey said he believed that special counsel Robert Mueller would look into potential obstruction of justice against Trump as part of the Russia probe. Comey added, “I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct.”

5. Trump Probably Fired Comey Out Of Personal Pique. As I predicted in May, the story seems to be that Trump wanted Comey to publicly clear him – a not unreasonable request, given that Comey was privately telling him he wasn’t under investigation. In fact, in May, Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) reported that Trump wasn’t under personal investigation. But Comey refused to say so publicly, explaining that if Trump later fell under investigation, he’d have to announce it. That’s ridiculous.

6. Comey Thinks Trump Is A Liar Who “Defamed” Him And The FBI, And Challenged His Credibility Over Tapes. The big headline from the left today is that Comey kept contemporaneous notes on Trump because he thought Trump was a liar from the get-go. He also testified that Trump defamed him and the FBI by constantly insulting them. This could be read as a dog whistle to current intelligence community members upset with Trump to keep on leaking.

7. There Some Information About Attorney General Sessions’ Contact With The Russians We Still Don’t Know. Comey said there were “facts” that led to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Trump-Russia investigation that are not yet public. Comey stated, “We also were aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic.” This leading to more wild speculation, as seems to be the pattern with this entire story.

8. Comey Leaked His Memos To Prompt The Naming Of A Special Counsel. This is pretty amazing. Comey stated that he leaked the news of his contemporaneous notes after reading President Trump’s tweets stating that there could be tapes of the meetings between the two of them. He said he did so in order to prompt the appointment of a special counsel, since he didn’t trust the administration to perform the investigation. “Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Comey said. It’s worth noting here that although Comey testified that he found Lynch’s conduct regarding the Hillary investigation suspicious, his response wasn’t to out Lynch or call for a special counsel, but to instead clear Hillary himself.

9. Comey Didn’t Quit When He Should Have. If Comey thought that Trump was continuously threatening his job, he should have gone public with it or quit. He certainly should have told the president that his conduct was inappropriate. He didn’t. That leaves him in a catch-22: he can’t openly claim obstruction, but say he didn’t feel obstructed enough to leave the administration. Comey’s defenders may claim that Comey’s ouster represented the final act of obstruction by Trump, but it’s not technically obstruction (as Alan Dershowitz has pointed out), and there’s no evidence that any investigation has slowed or closed as a result of Comey’s firing.

 

 

[Snoslinger]

"but it also ripped apart their narrative of a president who colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 election"

 how so?

 

[jtssrx]

24 minutes ago, Snoslinger said:

"but it also ripped apart their narrative of a president who colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 election"

 how so?

 

There is no proof he colluded. Their not even investigating him. 

[Snake]

Trump 'pressures' Comey.... the republic is dead.

Lynch pressures Comey, Comey capitulates.... nothing to see here.

[Kivalo]

I would like to see a full scale investigation of Trump at this point.  Just like with Clinton, too much smoke for their not to be a fire.

[Snake]

36 minutes ago, Snoslinger said:

"but it also ripped apart their narrative of a president who colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 election"

 how so?

 

"The assumption of the critics of the president, of his pursuers, you might say, is that somewhere along the line in the last year is the president had something to do with colluding with the Russians … to affect the election in some way," Matthews said on MSNBC, following the testimony.

"And yet what came apart this morning was that theory," Matthews said, listing two reasons why. First, he said Comey revealed that "Flynn wasn't central to the Russian investigation," and secondly, he said that kills the idea that Flynn might have been in a position to testify against Trump.

[Snoslinger]

51 minutes ago, jtssrx said:

There is no proof he colluded. Their not even investigating him. 

jesus christ dude, you're a freaking mess.

[jtssrx]

7 minutes ago, Snoslinger said:

jesus christ dude, you're a freaking mess.

Lay out your proof 

[Zambroski]

2 minutes ago, jtssrx said:

Lay out your proof 

He already did.  He called you a name.  

 

 

[Zambroski]

57 minutes ago, Kivalo said:

I would like to see a full scale investigation of Trump at this point.  Just like with Clinton, too much smoke for their not to be a fire.

Well, it's not just like Clinton....at all.  And if they can find enough proof to implicate him, they will have an investigation.  And should.

[Snoslinger]

2 minutes ago, jtssrx said:

Lay out your proof 

go back to fucking sleep. you obviously have about as much knowledge on today's hearing, and other related matters, as you do science.

waste

of

time

 

 

[Rod]

Poor snot 

[jtssrx]

20 minutes ago, Snoslinger said:

go back to fucking sleep. you obviously have about as much knowledge on today's hearing, and other related matters, as you do science.

waste

of

time

 

 

Translation I have no proof so I'll bring up Science to deflect my lack of proof.

 

FYI just because CNN and MSNBC say he colluded doesn't make it so.

[Rod]

24 minutes ago, jtssrx said:

Translation I have no proof so I'll bring up Science to deflect my lack of proof.

 

FYI just because CNN and MSNBC say he colluded doesn't make it so.

CNN actually admitted there's no evidence of collusion. That pissed snot right the fuck off  

[ActionfigureJoe]

1 hour ago, Kivalo said:

I would like to see a full scale investigation of Trump at this point.  Just like with Clinton, too much smoke for their not to be a fire.

there's already an investigation ongoing. it just expanded.   i love this shit. comey and others know how crafty trump can be. i's dotted and t's crossed. this ain't going away. in fact it just got worse. 

[oleroule]

9 minutes ago, ActionfigureJoe said:

there's already an investigation ongoing. it just expanded.   i love this shit. comey and others know how crafty trump can be. i's dotted and t's crossed. this ain't going away. in fact it just got worse. 

it will get expanded right into an investigation of dnc/clinton/comey/lynch collusion/obstruction.

#winning

Edited June 8, 2017 by oleroule

[ActionfigureJoe]

9 minutes ago, oleroule said:

it will get expanded right into an investigation of dnc/clinton/comey/lynch collusion/obstruction.

#winning

i'm sure some of the republicans would like that. but that's up to the special prosecutor. there's definitely enough here to pursue obstruction against trump. which is satisfactory. 

 

.....more to come. 

[Snoslinger]

 

1 hour ago, jtssrx said:

Translation I have no proof so I'll bring up Science to deflect my lack of proof.

 

FYI just because CNN and MSNBC say he colluded doesn't make it so.

I wasn't laughing at your collusion remark, dumb ass. the entire world knows there's no proof of collusion yet, otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion. I'm laughing at your remark about no investigation.

 

[Snoslinger]

38 minutes ago, oleroule said:

it will get expanded right into an investigation of dnc/clinton/comey/lynch collusion/obstruction.

#winning

 

[Momorider]

Comey fucked himself with the leaked memos after he said how bad leaks are then he does it himself and did it to try and push for a special prosecuter.  That is a very high level of fuckery, like there is any question what a political POS the cocksucker is  

[Carlos Danger]

23 minutes ago, ActionfigureJoe said:

i'm sure some of the republicans would like that. but that's up to the special prosecutor. there's definitely enough here to pursue obstruction against trump. which is satisfactory. 

 

.....more to come. 

Always a bridesmaid.    Maybe in year two or three of the Trump administration someone in his campaign gets a stern rebuke but on the whole Trump had a good day today.  

[Snoslinger]

49 minutes ago, Rod Johnson said:

CNN actually admitted there's no evidence of collusion. That pissed snot right the fuck off  

is that breaking news sludgey? more evidence you're just not very bright

 

 

[Mileage Psycho]

2 hours ago, Kivalo said:

I would like to see a full scale investigation of Trump at this point.  Just like with Clinton, too much smoke for their not to be a fire.

It's already happening.

37 minutes ago, ActionfigureJoe said:

there's already an investigation ongoing. it just expanded.   i love this shit. comey and others know how crafty trump can be. i's dotted and t's crossed. this ain't going away. in fact it just got worse. 

It was interesting that the "dossier" was brought up to Trump in private, I'm thinking Vlad has HD porn of an old man with young some youngins  

As I said the other day, I don't think Trump colluded with the Russians but there is mounting evidence that some of his team did, but to add to that I'm believing that Vlad does have video   

[Mileage Psycho]

2 minutes ago, Momorider said:

Comey fucked himself with the leaked memos after he said how bad leaks are then he does it himself and did it to try and push for a special prosecuter.  That is a very high level of fuckery, like there is any question what a political POS the cocksucker is  

Hey Moron, those were unclassified memo's  

[Snoslinger]

4 minutes ago, Carlos Danger said:

Always a bridesmaid.    Maybe in year two or three of the Trump administration someone in his campaign gets a stern rebuke but on the whole Trump had a good day today.  

here, maybe fox news could put in a better perpective for you. it was that bad...

 

“Politically, I thought it was very damaging to the president,” Wallace said on Fox shortly after Comey’s testimony ended. “Repeatedly, James Comey called the president a liar, said that he lied that the FBI was in disarray, that he defamed him, defamed the FBI. [He] said that the reason he kept those kinds of notes in the first place was because this was the kind of man who would lie about those kinds of things.”

Wallace also noted that it was wholly inappropriate not only for Trump to ask Comey to drop the Flynn investigation, but also to kick Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions out of the room before doing so.

“It’s not good stuff to have said on national television,” he said."

 

 

Edited June 8, 2017 by Snoslinger