Some of the drama of James Comey’s testimony on Thursday was overshadowed by his release on Wednesday of a statement covering what his upcoming testimony would be. Comey, former head of the FBI until fired by Trump, apparently was concerned that Trump or Republicans might try to stop or limit his public testimony. Under the circumstances it was a smart move: After that it would have been difficult for anyone to limit what Comey said.
No former FBI director has ever stated that the President was a liar – yet that is part of what Comey did on Thursday. Consider for a moment how unprecedented that is. Continuing with the theme, Comey said that he kept written records of his conversations with Trump – something Comey said he never did with Presidents Bush and Obama – because “I was honestly concerned he [Trump] might lie.”
Comey confirmed what seemed clear, that “I got the sense my job [as head of the FBI] would be contingent upon…whether I demonstrated loyalty” to Trump. He was very right about that.
One surprise was that Comey stated that he had his memos of his conversations with Trump delivered to the press in order to spur the appointment of a Special Counsel. Obviously, that was successful, as Robert Mueller was appointed Special Counsel immediately after. Again, it was a smart move (unlike how he handled the Hillary Clinton investigation during the election).
Comey also implicated Trump’s former security advisor Michael Flynn, Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Vice President Mike Pence.
Comey confirmed that Flynn is under “criminal investigation” for contacts with Russia. Note that’s “criminal investigation”, not an administrative investigative or a civil investigation.
Regarding Attorney General Sessions, Comey said that he was “aware of facts that I can't discuss in an opening setting that would make his [Sessions’] continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic.” Oh, like the current Russia-related investigation? This is apparently something that has not been made public…yet. Perhaps this will be the next shoe to drop from the centipede. Sessions is set to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, but unfortunately it will be a closed session not open to the public.
With respect to Vice President Pence, Comey said that Pence was aware of concerns regarding Flynn’s Russia connections as early as the transition period before Trump took office. Pence was in charge of that transition. Previously Pence had said that he first learned about this “on Feb. 9, a full two weeks after other White House officials were briefed on the matter….” Obviously that is not true.
It’s an extreme longshot, but if the Democrats were to win both the House and the Senate in 2018 and impeached and convicted both Trump and Pence, Nancy Pelosi as (Democratic) Speaker of the House would become President.