The BBC headlines its report on Comey’s testimony with this..
Comey: Trump White House ‘lied’ about the FBI
Oh really…in what way?
Ex-FBI chief James Comey told Congress that the Trump administration’s comments about him and the FBI were “lies plain and simple”.
Mr Comey told a Senate committee they were wrong to denigrate the agency and its leadership.
He told the panel that the White House “chose to defame me, and more importantly the FBI” by claiming the agency was “poorly led”.
“Those were lies, plain and simple. And I’m so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them,” he continued.
Hmmm…that’s purely subjective and the angry view of someone sacked from his job…someone who was pilloried for his behaviour by both sides of the House.
So why does the BBC headline with such a line? After all isn’t the big story that Obama tried to downplay or stop the investigation into Clinton’s email scandal? Was this not ‘obstruction of justice’? After all Comey admitted he was very troubled by pressure put on him by the Democrats, so much so he had to step away …and we know it was subsequently canned….Clinton remarkably exonerated.
“The attorney general was looking to align campaign language with our language, which… gave me a queasy feeling.” said Comey.
Loretta Lynch, the former attorney general under Barack Obama, pressured former FBI Director James Comey to downplay the Clinton email server investigation and only refer to it as a “matter,” Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
Comey said that when he asked Lynch if she was going to authorize him to confirm the existence of the Clinton email investigation, her answer was, “Yes but don’t call it that. Call it a matter.” When Comey asked why, he said, Lynch wouldn’t give him an explanation. “Just call it a matter,” she said.
I don’t know whether it was intentional or not but it gave the impression that the attorney general [Lynch] was looking to align the way we talked about our work with the way the political campaign was describing the same activity, which was inaccurate,” Comey added.
Comey complied, in his words, because it “wasn’t a hill worth dying on.” In February 2016, the FBI confirmed in a letter that the agency was “working on matters related to former Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email server.”
Comey cited that pressure from Lynch to downplay the investigation as one of the reasons he held a press conference to recommend the Department of Justice not seek to indict Clinton.
Comey also cited Lynch’s secret tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton as a reason he chose to hold the press conference, he said, as he was concerned about preserving the independence of the FBI.
Obama tries to interfere in an investigation, Comey is worried about the independence of the FBI and nothing from the BBC, but Trump is claimed to have tried to stop one, despite in the testimony Comey admitting he hadn’t, it was merely his own interpretation, and memory, of Trump’s words, and the BBC is talking up impeachment.
Even Comey himself says that his claim that Trump ‘ordered’ him to drop the investigation is questionable as based solely on his own interpetation…
Comey: I don’t know well enough to answer. And the reason I keep saying his words is, I took it as a direction.
Risch: Right.
Comey: I mean, it’s the President of the United States with me alone, saying, “I hope this.” I took it as this is what he wants me to do. I didn’t obey that, but that’s the way I took it.
Risch: You may have taken it as a direction, but that’s not what he said.
Comey: Correct.
Look at this from Zurcher…..
‘Staggering blow’ for Trump – Anthony Zurcher, BBC News
For Donald Trump the good news from James Comey’s testimony is that the former FBI director clearly said the president was not directly under FBI investigation at the time he was fired. The bad news was, well, everything else.
The White House may claim today’s testimony is a technical exoneration. Politically, however, it’s a staggering blow. And when it comes to the presidency, politics is everything.
That’s just nonsense, utter, utter bilge...as we showed yesterday after reading Comey’s written testimony. If anything the testimony backs Trump and damns both Comey and the Democrats….and it is clear now that it was Comey, not some independent witness, who leaked the memo written by himself from memory about Trump’s alleged attempt to stop the investigation into Flynn.
Compare the BBC’s effort to this one by the Wall Street journal which takes a more nuanced and critical look at Comey as the BBC turns Comey into a heroic seeker of justice…‘He stood before a Senate committee not just to defend himself, but also the honour of the FBI.’….From the WSJ….
The ‘Independent’ Mr. Comey
His prepared testimony shows why he deserved to be fired.
The BBC tries to spin its story even more by suggesting Trump may be under investigation now…despite Comey saying he hadn’t been…and no evidence to suggest he is…pure BBC speculation and mud-flinging….
Since Mr Comey is no longer in charge of the FBI, and the investigation has now been passed to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, it is possible that Mr Trump is now being investigated after all.
As for the accuracy and truthfulness of the anti-Trump press that the BBC relies upon for its anti-Trump ‘scoops’?….
New York Times report titled, “Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence.”
Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) on Thursday asked Comey if he remembered the article.
Comey said he did; “It was about allegedly extensive electronic surveillance,” he said.
Risch noted that after the report came out, Comey “sought out both Republican and Democrat senators to tell them that, hey, I don’t know where this is coming from, but this is not factual.”
Risch told Comey: “So the American people can understand this, that report by the New York Times was not true. Is that a fair statement?”
“In the main – it was not true,” Comey said. “The challenge — and I’m not picking on reporters — about writing stories about classified information is that people talking about it often don’t really know what is going on. And those of us who actually know what’s going on aren’t talking about it. And we don’t call the press to say, hey, you got that thing wrong about this sensitive topic. We just have to leave it there.”
Comey was asked why he hadn’t spoken out against President Trump at the time he was allegedly ( that is all it is ) being asked to drop the case in their private meeting, he stated ‘If I was a stronger person perhaps I would have done’ .. really! the head of the FBI is not a strong person and was prepared apparently to be compromised….. absolutely right he was fired, what an open goal the man keeps making of himself.