Friday, June 9, 2017

Comey’s testimony was very bad news for Jeff Sessions

https://thinkprogress.org/comeys-testimony-was-very-bad-news-for-jeff-sessions-8fd68f8de50f
"During his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey indicated the FBI was aware of classified information that led bureau leadership to conclude Attorney General Jeff Sessions shouldn’t have been involved in Russia-related investigations even before his recusal. At one point during the hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) asked Comey, “In your statement, you said that you and the FBI leadership team decided not to discuss the president’s actions with Attorney General Sessions even though he had not recused himself. What was it about the attorney general’s own interactions with the Russians or his behavior with regard to the investigation that would have led the entire leadership of the FBI to make this decision?” Wyden was referring to Comey’s prepared testimony, which was released on Wednesday. In it, Comey writes about a February meeting with President Trump during which Trump asked him to drop a criminal investigation into Michael Flynn — a request numerous legal experts believe may have constituted obstruction of justice. With regard to the meeting with Trump, Comey writes that he and the FBI leadership team “concluded it made little sense to report it to Attorney General Sessions, who we expected would likely recuse himself from involvement in Russia-related investigations. (He did so two weeks later.)” In response to Wyden’s question, Comey said, “Our judgment, as I recall, was that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons. We also were aware of facts that I can’t discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic"."

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