“In general, this done through the book is appropriate and must be done,” Comey said, though he acknowledged that there were parts of it that were cause for concern.
Comey the publication of the FBI investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and Russia’s ties to members of the Trump campaign, called ”Hurricane Crossfire”. Trump fired Comey in May 2017, prompting the FBI’s investigation into Russia, prompting Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel.
Since his overthrow, Comey has been one of Trump’s favorite political goals. The president described Comey as a villain who orchestrated a “deep state” effort to thwart his presidency.
The hearing was the most recent in a series organized through Senate Judiciary President Lindsey Graham, who examined the activities of investigators involved in “Hurricane Crossfire. “Democrats accused Graham of using the committee as a political tool in the months leading up to the president’s election. claims he had been an unfair target through Obama management officials investigating his campaign.
Graham defended his investigation as a result of a separate review of the Russia investigation through Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who presented a series of errors through FBI agents involved in surveillance of Trump’s former crusader assistant, Carter Page, while resolving the investigation. in Russia as a total introduced with a smart cause.
Among Graham’s problems, Horowitz criticized the FBI for his reliance on Page’s Surveillance in a record compiled through former British christopher Steele that included lascive accusations that Trump had been compromised through Russia. Attorney General William Barr recently declassified for Graham’s committee revealing that Steele’s main resources for the case had already been investigated for his ties to Russian intelligence.
However, the FBI did rely primarily on the Steele case in its broader investigation into Trump’s campaign’s ties to Russia, Senator Dianne Feinstein said at the hearing.
Comey distanced himself from the surveillance procedure at the hearing, first learned of the Steele case “towards the end of September 2016. “
“How is it possible that the FBI director doesn’t know all this?” Graham pressured Comey to trade.
“I can only speculate because I can’t, ” said Comey. ” And like I said, research as an incredibly important total. The piece you’re focusing on is notoriously important, but a much smaller component of all this. “
The hearing also followed an ordinary disclosure Tuesday through National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe that he declassified an unverified and potentially fabricated investigation of Russian intelligence in 2016 for Graham’s committee that Hillary Clinton was running to link Trump to Russia and divert attention from the controversy over it. personal email server.
Intelligence had reportedly already been governed through a separate Senate investigation and was described as “Russian de-war” through the rank member and view of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Ratcliffe then denied that it was a Russian mistelation and said he would soon inform members of Congress about the nature of the narrative.
When asked through Graham about the intelligence report, Comey said she never remembered ever seeing an investigative reference like this in her tenure as FBI director.
“It doesn’t tell me anything,” Comey said.
Comey also asked about a key episode in the FBI investigation into former national security actor Michael Flynn.
Flynn’s lawyers and the Justice Department, in their efforts on the case opposing Flynn, cited an Oval Office assembly on January 5, 2017 in which Comey first briefed President Barack Obama on the FBI’s investigation into Flynn’s contacts with the former Russian ambassador, who Flynn later lied to in an interview with the FBI.
Notes taken through former FBI attorney Peter Strzok imply that Comey described to Obama that the interceptions of Flynn’s calls with the ambassador were “legitimate,” to which Flynn’s lawyers clung, meant that Comey thought the calls were appropriate.
But Comey countered this argument in his testimony, stating that if he described them as “legitimate” at the time, it meant that he called them “authentic” and fabricated.
When asked through Democrats, Comey agreed with his trump complaint and feared he would seek foreign help in the existing presidential election opposed to former Vice President Joe Biden.
He also said Obama and Biden had “never” asked him to investigate a political rival, which Trump has done in public requests to the Justice Department on Twitter and in speeches.
“This would jeopardize the independence of the Justice Department and FBI paintings,” Comey said. “This would introduce politics into what would be a fact-based process. “
Comey also pointed to Attorney General Barr for Barr’s comments that the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s crusade was “completely unfounded” and never conducted.
“He says I have no idea what he’s talking about, ” said Comey. “This is a well-founded investigation that needed to be opened and was generally conducted in the right way and conducted through the special prosecutor, resulting in the indictment of dozens of other people and a conclusion through his colleagues in the Senate that the Trump Crusader is a “serious threat of counterintelligence” because he passed data to a well-known Russian intelligence officer. “
Comey added: “I’m baffled by the idea of the Attorney General considering it an illegitimate attempt to investigate. “
Comey also said the president’s habit since he took office has led him to speculate in person that the Russians would possibly still have some kind of compromising data about Trump.
Pressured by Republican Senator Mike Lee, who branded Comey’s hypothesis absurd, Comey said he believed it, “because I have eyes and ears,” and cited examples like Trump’s press convention with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki when he agreed Putin’s refusal to interfere with U. S. intelligence agencies.
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