{"id":343132,"date":"2017-06-09T01:10:33","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T17:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1501248"},"modified":"2017-06-09T01:10:33","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T17:10:33","slug":"highlights-from-james-comeys-first-testimony-since-trump-fired-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/highlights-from-james-comeys-first-testimony-since-trump-fired-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights from James Comey\u2019s first testimony since Trump fired him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/513197974.jpg?w=738\" class=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\">Today, the former FBI director who ran afoul of President Trump appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee in its ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It was James Comey\u2019s first appearance since he was fired from his role as the director of the FBI.<\/p>\n<p>Providing a useful framework for the hearing, Comey issued a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intelligence.senate.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/os-jcomey-060817.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">written opening statement<\/a> a day before his testimony, laying out the facts of his meetings with President Trump and a timeline of those events.\u00a0Comey\u2019s collected, at times self-deprecating, style and his talent at composing his thoughts clearly under pressure means that the hearing was strewn with small, remarkable moments.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some highlights from today\u2019s open hearing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cIt confused me when I saw on television that the president said he actually fired me because of the Russia investigation,\u201d Comey said of Trump\u2019s motives for his termination.<\/li>\n<li>After being fired by Trump, Comey himself leaked his memo about his dinner with Trump <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/05\/11\/us\/politics\/trump-comey-firing.html\" rel=\"noopener\">to the press<\/a> through Daniel Richman, a friend at Columbia University. Comey noted that he wanted to create interest in a special counsel.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cLordy, I hope there are tapes,\u201d Comey said of the possibility that Trump recorded their interactions.<\/li>\n<li>On his decision to keep detailed notes on each meeting with the president: \u201cI was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of the meeting.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Asked if the president\u2019s actions amount to obstruction of justice: \u201cI don\u2019t know. That\u2019s Bob Mueller\u2019s job to sort that out.\u201d After Comey\u2019s firing, Mueller was named to a special counsel role in which he will investigate the possible connection between the Trump campaign and Russia.<\/li>\n<li>Comey felt \u201cqueasy\u201d when former Attorney General Loretta Lynch directed him to call the email investigation into Hillary Clinton a \u201cmatter\u201d instead of an investigation.<\/li>\n<li>In response to the question \u201cDo you believe Donald Trump colluded with Russia?\u201d Comey says that he should not answer that question in a hearing open to the public, though clarifies he didn\u2019t mean to imply anything \u201cnefarious.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Comey suggested that Vice President Pence was aware of concerns around former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.<\/li>\n<li>Comey will provide his notes and memos to the Senate committee.<\/li>\n<li>Some lines of questioning suggested that Jeff Sessions may have acted improperly if he was involved in Comey\u2019s termination after recusing himself from matters around Russia.<\/li>\n<li>Comey revealed that he had expressed his concerns about Trump to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, who was aware that Comey was about to be fired, authored the memo that the White House used in the firing.<\/li>\n<li>Comey again stressed the gravity of Russia\u2019s involvement in the U.S. political process, calling it \u201cabout as un-fake\u201d as it gets.<\/li>\n<li>Comey declined to answer a number of questions in a hearing open to the public, and presumably will save many of those answers for the closed session to follow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While these revelations are noteworthy, Comey spent the bulk of his time laying out his timeline of events and dismissing some of President Trump\u2019s claims as \u201clies, plain and simple.\u201d Coming from a former director of the FBI with a distinguished career and bipartisan respect, that alone might be the most remarkable takeaway from Comey\u2019s historic testimony.<\/p>\n<p><small>Featured Image: Drew Angerer\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"453\" src=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/513197974.jpg?w=680\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/513197974.jpg?w=680 680w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/513197974.jpg?w=1360 1360w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/513197974.jpg?w=150 150w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/513197974.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/513197974.jpg?w=768 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/>&nbsp;Today, the former FBI director who ran afoul of President Trump appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee in its ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It was James Comey&#8217;s first appearance since he was fired from his role as the director of the FBI. <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2017\/06\/08\/former-fbi-director-comey-testimony-senate-hearing-june\/?ncid=rss\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=depVpVfl8Fo:9SBBZc_vIFY:2mJPEYqXBVI\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=2mJPEYqXBVI\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=depVpVfl8Fo:9SBBZc_vIFY:7Q72WNTAKBA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=7Q72WNTAKBA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=depVpVfl8Fo:9SBBZc_vIFY:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=depVpVfl8Fo:9SBBZc_vIFY:-BTjWOF_DHI\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?i=depVpVfl8Fo:9SBBZc_vIFY:-BTjWOF_DHI\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=depVpVfl8Fo:9SBBZc_vIFY:D7DqB2pKExk\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?i=depVpVfl8Fo:9SBBZc_vIFY:D7DqB2pKExk\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=depVpVfl8Fo:9SBBZc_vIFY:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/Techcrunch\/~4\/depVpVfl8Fo\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-343132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}