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James Comey testimony: Trump had 'chilling effect' on Russia investigation – live James Comey hearing: Trump had 'chilling effect' on Russia investigation – live
(35 minutes later)
6.56pm BST
18:56
Times 'looking into' Comey dispute with story
While much of Comey’s testimony corroborated reporting by the New York Times and others about the Russia investigation, Comey said one Times story was “almost entirely wrong.”
We are looking into James Comey's statements, and we will report back with more information as soon as we can. https://t.co/v9OzWbbjUP
The story in question is a 14 February dispatch, “Trump campaign aides had repeated contacts with Russian intelligence.”
6.52pm BST
18:52
Reaction
Democratic senators:
Sen. Tom Udall: "I believe that is appropriate for President Trump’s actions to be investigated for obstruction of justice."
Sen. Murphy: “It’s hard to overstate the impact of Jim Comey’s testimony today … it seems like the walls are closing in on this president” pic.twitter.com/I0EyZvBi2z
Former US attorney Preet Bharara:
I'm not so sure I agree 100% with your police work there, Lindsey. And stop speculating about a hypothesis. https://t.co/4LbCoHmTpX
House speaker Paul Ryan, on Trump:
He’s just new to this” and “probably wasn’t steeped in long-running protocols.”
6.40pm BST
18:40
Here’s a live video stream of the upcoming Marc Kasowitz press conference:
6.39pm BST
18:39
‘I took it as a direction’
VIDEO: James Comey said he took Trump's "hope" that Flynn investigation would end as a directive. https://t.co/Y9bMFD5VsV pic.twitter.com/NKjGVQ2n2b
6.29pm BST
18:29
Trump lawyer to respond
Trump’s private lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, is due to give a press conference apparently before long replying to Comey. We’ll cover that here.
Trump on Comey: no comment.
Trump finishes his speech at the Faith and Freedom conference without a single reference to Comey or today's hearing.
Pence on Comey: no comment.
From a pool report:
Vice President Mike Pence did not address former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony, including his assertion that President Trump lied after firing him about the bureau being in disarray. He praised Trump’s leadership at several points during his remarks.
6.22pm BST
18:22
Former FBI director James Comey is done testifying in the open session. He now goes into a closed session with the senators.
Here’s what happened:
Comey said he understood an expression by Donald Trump of “hope” that he could shelve an investigation of Michael Flynn as a direction to do so.
Comey said Trump’s direction reminded him of Henry II ordering the murder of Becket: “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”
Comey said he believes when Trump fired him, “the endeavor was to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal, not just because it’s me...”
Comey said it was “a really significant fact to me” that Trump had asked senior White House officials to leave the room before bringing up Flynn.
Comey did not report the scene widely within the FBI for fear of “a real chilling effect” on the Russia investigation, he said.
Comey said Trump had not asked him to shelve the Russia investigation, apart from the Flynn piece.
Comey said Trump demanded three things: personal loyalty; that Comey let Flynn go; and that Comey state publicly that Trump was not personally under investigation.
While Comey declined to speculate on whether Trump had committed an obstruction of justice, saying that was special counsel Robert Mueller’s job, Trump opponents argued that Comey’s description of the Flynn affair and of his own firing had established just that.
Trump supporters pointed to Comey’s point-blank denial that Trump had ever asked him to shelve the Russia investigation as exculpatory for Trump.
Comey said Trump’s tweeted threat about tapes of their conversations led him to ask a friend to share memos he took of his meetings with Trump with the media.
Comey began taking the memos, he said, because “I was honestly concerned that he [Trump] might lie about the nature of our meeting.”
“The president surely knows whether he taped me, and if he did my feelings aren’t hurt,” Comey said. “Release all the tapes, I’m good with it.” “Lordy I hope there are tapes,” he said.
Comey raised an alarm about Russian tampering in the election, saying the effort was major, continuous and that “they’ll be back.”
Comey declined to comment on whether he thought Trump colluded with Russia. He acknowledged advising Trump that he was not personally under investigation.
Comey said there was information about attorney general Jeff Sessions “that would make his presence in a continued Russia investigation problematic” but he wouldn’t say what it was.
Comey began his testimony by saying that Trump had defamed him and smeared the FBI.
Comey said though not in so many words that Trump lied on national TV when he told NBC News that Comey had requested to meet him for dinner.
5.55pm BST5.55pm BST
17:5517:55
The committee leaders are speaking to the press.The committee leaders are speaking to the press.
"This is nowhere near the end of the investigation," @senatorburr tells reporters after #ComeyHearing pic.twitter.com/YFToKS8Nj4"This is nowhere near the end of the investigation," @senatorburr tells reporters after #ComeyHearing pic.twitter.com/YFToKS8Nj4
5.54pm BST5.54pm BST
17:5417:54
Here’s the view from Drudge:Here’s the view from Drudge:
DRUDGE just updated his headlines -- this is a good rundown of what narrative in pro-Trump universe will be like pic.twitter.com/BOc9264S6hDRUDGE just updated his headlines -- this is a good rundown of what narrative in pro-Trump universe will be like pic.twitter.com/BOc9264S6h
5.51pm BST5.51pm BST
17:5117:51
It's weird to see severs and bartenders hustling to get people their checks because a senate hearing has just ended. 🇺🇸It's weird to see severs and bartenders hustling to get people their checks because a senate hearing has just ended. 🇺🇸
Me looking at Twiiter as both sides call #ComeyDay a victory — pic.twitter.com/fNsJG7rNRKMe looking at Twiiter as both sides call #ComeyDay a victory — pic.twitter.com/fNsJG7rNRK
5.49pm BST5.49pm BST
17:4917:49
Here’s Comey interpreting the moment of awkward silence at dinner with Trump:Here’s Comey interpreting the moment of awkward silence at dinner with Trump:
Best part of hearing was Comey doing the trump eyebrow impression tbh pic.twitter.com/J721wNkTa1Best part of hearing was Comey doing the trump eyebrow impression tbh pic.twitter.com/J721wNkTa1
5.44pm BST
17:44
What do you think?
5.43pm BST
17:43
Comey hearing concludes
Burr closes the hearing with a rousing call for more closed hearings away from the prying eyes of the public the senators have been elected to serve.
Burr tells Comey thanks.
Warner echoes the thanks.
“There’s still a lot of unanswered questions, and we’re going to get to the bottom of this,” he says. He says the Russian threat is “real and continuous”.
Burr gavels it. Adjourned.
5.42pm BST
17:42
McCain refers to a passage in Comey’s written testimony:
He said he would do that and added, “Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know.” I did not reply or ask him what he meant by “that thing.” I said only that the way to handle it was to have the White House Counsel call the Acting Deputy Attorney General. He said that was what he would do and the call ended
McCain: Did that arouse your curiosity as to what ‘that thing’ was?
Comey: Yes.
McCain: Why didn’t you ask him?
Comey says he had an understanding of what was going on.
McCain: “Yes but I think it would intensely arouse my curiosity if the president of the United States said ‘you know we had that thing’.”
Comey says “I’ve had some conversations with humans over the years” and his read on it was that as Trump searched his memory he realized that his request for a loyalty pledge from Comey had been turned down.
McCain doesn’t really accept that.
McCain is getting gaveled.
5.35pm BST
17:35
McCain says he doesn’t understand how he can be done with the Clinton investigation but not the Russia investigation. “You reached the conclusion that there was no reason to bring charges against Mr Clinton.”
Then McCain refers to “president Comey.”
Ouch.
5.34pm BST
17:34
Republican John McCain is up. He returns to Hillary Clinton’s emails.
McCain:
I think that the American people have a whole lot of questions... obviously, she was a candidate for president at the time, so she was clearly involved in this whole... fake news...
Huh? We lost him.
Comey did too. “I’m a little confused,” he says.
5.33pm BST
17:33
New York drinkers watch Comey testimony
Amanda Holpuch
At sideBar in New York City, the typical din of flirting young people and cheering sports fans was exchanged for a silent crowd, hooked on the words of senators Mark Warner, Richard Blumenthal and Susan Collins.
The bar broadcast the hearing on 16 screens as bartenders hustled orders of avocado toast and bloody marys to patrons young and old. Some of the crowd was dressed in suits, others were dressed for a day out in the city.
More than two dozen people, excluding a handful of journalists, watched the hearing. Catherine Talese, a 49-year-old native New Yorker, said the sports bar setting did not reflect the gravity of the event.
“We’d prefer to have our president and government be just,” Talese said. “I don’t think we’re just enjoying politics as sports.”
Talese sat at the corner of the bar, discussing the testimony with the people sitting next to her, whom she had just met. She said she has always been interested in politics, but that interest escalated after Trump was elected president, which she said was “upsetting”.
Michael Ehrenreich and Robin Horne, who were visiting from Chicago and San Francisco respectively, sought out the bar to watch the hearing before checking-out the city’s tourist sites.
“Trump is clearly inept and corrupt and I think he threatens a lot of people with his policies,” said Horne, 33, who cited Trump’s policies towards immigration and his attitude towards women as particularly concerning.
“I think that there’s a little bit of schadenfreude – watching him squirm and be under this pressure is satisfying,” Horne said.
Ehrenreich, 28, agreed: “Everybody is salivating for an opportunity to see him [Trump] taken down a notch.”
The bar opened more than three hours early at the behest of tabloid news magazine Inside Edition, which hosted the event, which was called: “Covfefe and the City Hearing”, in reference to a typo in one of Trump’s recent tweets.
It was one of a handful of bars across the city broadcasting the hearing.
5.33pm BST
17:33
Comey judges circumstances of his firing to be 'a very big deal'
Comey:
“It’s my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation... the endeavor was to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal, not just because it’s me...” but because of the crucial independent nature of FBI investigations.
Comey continues:
If any Americans were part of helping the Russians do that to us, that is a very big deal, and I’m confident if that is the case that director Mueller will find that evidence.
Reed asks Comey whether Trump’s tweets about tapes was a threat.
“I’m not going to sit here and try to interpret the president’s tweets,” Comey says.
5.29pm BST
17:29
Comey describes the terms of his firing as he understands them:
I know I was fired because something about the way I was conducting the Russia investigation was some way putting pressure on him, was some way irritating him.
5.27pm BST
17:27
Now up: Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
He’s exploring Comey’s decision not to state publicly that Trump wasn’t under investigation. Was Comey concern that Trump might be entangled?
Comey says: In theory... the concern was... if you’re looking at potential collusion between the campaign and Russia, logically.. the person at the head of the campaign” may be implicated. It wasn’t his concern but a colleague’s concern.
5.23pm BST
17:23
Cornyn, by the way, is back to the Clinton emails investigation.