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James Comey testimony: former FBI director goes before Senate – live updates James Comey testimony: 'I was concerned Trump might lie' – live updates
(35 minutes later)
3.26pm BST 3.59pm BST
15:26 15:59
Burr asked Comey whether the special counsel, Robert Mueller, reviewed his testimony. Comey: 'Lordy I hope there are tapes'
No. Comey goes further into the president’s request that he let the Flynn investigation go.
Comey says he has “no doubt” that the Russian government was behind various intrusions in the election and attempts to tamper. “I was so stunned by the conversation that I just took it in... I was playing in my mind” his response.
Are you confident that no votes... were altered? Comey continues:
Comey: “I’m confident.” I saw the tweet about the tapes, Lordy I hope there are tapes. I remember saying ‘I agree he’s a good guy,’ as a way of saying ‘I’m not agreeing with what you asked me to just do.’
Did the president ask you to stop the Russia investigation? 3.57pm BST
Not to my understanding, no. 15:57
3.24pm BST Donald Trump Jr picks up on Risch’s parsing of Trump’s words. “I hope [you do this],” Trump said, not “go do this.”
15:24 Comey says he understood Trump’s words to represent a direction.
In a poignant moment, Comey tells his former colleagues he is “so sorry” he wasn’t able to say goodbye to them. Hoping and telling are two very different things, you would think that a guy like Comey would know that. #givemeabreak
Then he offers his testimonial: 3.56pm BST
“The FBI is honest, the FBI is strong, and the FBI is and always will be independent.” 15:56
3.23pm BST California Democrat Dianne Feinstein asks Comey whether the Russia investigation figured into his firing, in his opinion.
15:23 Comey: “Yes, because I’ve seen the president say so.”
Comey says White House 'chose to defame me' 3.55pm BST
Comey says he won’t repeat his opening statement which again is here. 15:55
Comey says “I understood that I could be fired by a president for any reason or for no reason at all.” Comey says he took Trump's comments about Flynn 'as a direction'
“The shifting explanations confused me and increasingly concerned me.” Risch is now parsing Trump’s words in relation to Flynn, Trump saying he “hopes” Comey can let the Flynn investigation go.
“He had repeatedly told me I was doing a great job and he hoped I would stay... Risch: “He did not direct you to let it go?”
“He told me repeatedly that he had talked to lots of people about me... and had learned that I was doing a great job... A: Not in his words, no.
“So it confused me when I saw on television that the president fired me because of the Russia investigation... and relieved great pressure on the Russia investigation...” Q: Again those words are not an order? He said ‘I hope.’
Comey now indicates that he was angry that Trump trashed his reputation after firing him. A: The reason I keep saying his words is, I took it as a direction. This is the president of the United States. I took it as a direction.
“The [White House] then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI.... Q: You don’t know anyone who has been charged for hoping something?
“Those were lies, plane and simple.” A: As I sit here I don’t.
3.20pm BST 3.53pm BST
15:20 15:53
Comey begins testifying Fox News and the Republican National Committee are emphasizing the part of Comey’s testimony in which Comey said Trump did not tell him to shut down the Russia investigation.
Comey moves his chair back. Then Burr asks him to swear an oath. Which is why he’d moved his chair. He stands up, all 6ft8in of him, and takes the oath. 3.50pm BST
15:50
Trump disputes two points in Comey testimony – report
Via Reuters:
President Donald Trump disputes two key points in the written testimony provided by former FBI Director James Comey, a source familiar with Trump’s thinking said on Thursday.
Comey testified that Trump asked him to let go of the probe into his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and also said that Trump asked for his loyalty. Trump disputes those points, the source said.
UpdatedUpdated
at 3.23pm BST at 3.52pm BST
3.18pm BST 3.50pm BST
15:18 15:50
Now this is going too far. Democrats: 'Trump did lie'
COMEY YOGA at the Comey watch party in L.A. pic.twitter.com/1QcnPdoiMt The Democrats are moving fast, putting out a series of quotes from Trump in which the president’s statements have been contradicted by Comey in his testimony today and his written statement yesterday. Their email is headed: “COMEY WAS RIGHT – TRUMP AND THE WHITE HOUSE DID LIE.”
3.18pm BST Here’s an edited version:
15:18 Trump lied when he denied asking Comey to drop the Flynn investigation.
Comey is listening intently to Warner. Blinking, impassive. QUESTION: “Did you at any time urge former FBI Director James Comey in any way, shape, or form to close or to back down the investigation into Michael Flynn?”
Imagine playing poker against James Comey. TRUMP: “No. No. Next question.”
3.16pm BST Trump lied when he denied that Trump had asked Comey to pledge his loyalty to Trump.
15:16 PIRRO: “Did you ask that question?”
Warner mentions three Trump associates who had contacts with Russia: attorney general Jeff Sessions, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and son-in-law Jared Kushner. TRUMP: “No. No, I didn‘t, but I don‘t think it would be a bad question to ask. I think loyalty to the country, loyalty to the United States is important. I don‘t know how that got there because I didn‘t ask that question.”
He says Trump “expressed an odd and unexplained affection for the Russian dictator while calling for the hacking of his opponent.” Trump lied when he claimed that Comey had asked to have dinner with him because he wanted to keep his job.
Warner says that Comey’s status as leader of the Russian investigation “might explain why you’re sitting now as a private citizen.” The implication being that Comey’s firing was intended to pull the plug on the investigation. TRUMP: “I had a dinner with him. He wanted to have dinner because he wanted to stay on.”
3.13pm BST Sean Spicer lied when he denied that Trump had asked Comey to pledge his loyalty to Trump.
15:13 QUESTION: “Sean, in the dinner that the president had with James Comey earlier in—in January, did the president implore him to pledge his loyalty to the president? Is that true?”
Warner is describing the Russian attempt to tamper in the 2016 presidential election. “And that’s not just this senator’s opinion. It is the unanimous conclusion of the entire US intelligence community.” SPICER: “No.”
He says we must determine what the Russians did and determine the necessary steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Sarah Sanders lied when she denied that Trump had asked Comey to pledge his loyalty to Trump
“Simply put, we cannot let anything or anyone prevent us from getting to the bottom of this,” Warner says. “We don’t believe this to be an accurate account…The integrity of our law enforcement agencies and their leadership is of the utmost importance to President Trump. He would never even suggest the expectation of personal loyalty, only loyalty to our country and its great people.”
3.11pm BST
15:11
Here’s Mark Warner now, the ranking Democrat. Warner’s opening remarks were previously excerpted in the blog here.
3.10pm BST
15:10
Burr says there are some unanswered questions out there.
One, did Comey “alter his approach” as a result of the president’s actions.
Two, did Russia and people in the Trump orbit cooperating “rise to the level of collusion.”
Three, why did Comey publicly announce in July 2016 that he would not back bringing criminal charges in the Clinton email investigation?
There it is, the Clinton emails. The issue has been a dependable Republican red herring for years. Why stop now?
3.08pm BST
15:08
Burr says “allegations have been swirling in the press... and today’s your opportunity to set the record straight.”
The indication is that the record is straight. Comey’s testimony appears to corroborate the news reports, Trump’s blathering about “fake news” notwithstanding.
“The American people need to hear your side of the story just as they need to hear the president’s description of events,” Burr says.
“We will establish the facts separate from rampant speculation,” Burr says. What rampant speculation? All those reports appear to have been accurate.
UpdatedUpdated
at 3.10pm BST at 3.51pm BST
3.06pm BST 3.49pm BST
15:06 15:49
Comey hearing begins Republican Senator James Risch of Idaho is up. He thanks Comey. He read Comey’s opening testimony. He says it was well-written. We’ll get back to you when he gets to the point.
Richard Burr, the chairman, Republican senator from North Carolina, gavels the hearing to order.
He thanks Comey for coming and says “I’m looking forward to a very open and candid discussion today.”
They’ll reconvene for a closed session at 1pm today. So this thing will be relatively rushed. And some of the crucial bits may be hidden from public view.
UpdatedUpdated
at 3.07pm BST at 3.57pm BST
3.47pm BST
15:47
Comey talks about Trump dismissing the attorney general and Jared Kushner before bringing up Flynn with Comey. It was just weird, Comey says, and he says he thought Sessions knew it and even Kushner picked up on it.
“I knew something was about to happen that I needed to pay very close attention to,” Comey says. “I remember thinking that that was a very disturbing development.”
So he decided to write it down.
“My thinking was, if I write it in such a way that I don’t include anything that would trigger a classification, that would make it easier for us to discuss.”
3.45pm BST
15:45
Comey: 'Common sense told me' Trump was looking to make a deal
Comey describes dinner with Trump, and what he meant by his sense that Trump was trying to establish a “patronage relationship.”
My common sense told me that what was going on is, either he thought or someone told him, ‘you’ve already asked Comey to stay, and you didn’t get anything for it.’ And the dinner was an attempt to build loyalty...
What the president whispered in my ear was, I really look forward to working with you...
I’m sitting there thinking, three times we’ve already talked about me staying. My common sense told me, he’s looking to get something in exchange...
Updated
at 3.57pm BST
3.44pm BST
15:44
Comey says one FBI leader thought Comey should not say Trump was NOT under investigation.
Comey later discussed with his team the matter again, and the same colleague advised against saying that Trump was not under investigation.
Comey:
“Although literally true, his concern was it could be misleading, because the nature of the investigation was such that it would obviously touch the campaign, and the head of the campaign was the candidate.
3.40pm BST
15:40
Comey continues:
I knew that there might come a day when I needed a record of what happened, not just to defend myself but to defend the FBI...
I interacted with president Obama. I spoke only twice in three years and didn’t document it... I had one one-on-one meeting with President Bush... but I didn’t feel with president Bush the need to document it in that way.”
Warner: “I think that that is very significant.”
The committee has requested the Comey memos.