Comey Testimony Is BURYING Jeff Sessions, Y'All

Comey has been a fantastic witness this morning.

James Comey (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

James Comey (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

James Comey is setting down a standard for “best witness ever” at the Trump/Russia Senate hearings. Lawyers should use this Comey tape as witness prep.

Based on the reaction to Comey’s opening statement, the Republican strategy is clear: they want to highlight the fact that Trump wasn’t under “personal investigation” by the F.B.I. for potentially colluding with the Russians. The Republicans’ questions have been laser focused on that. For some reason, they think that’s all that matters.

Of course, if Trump wasn’t under investigation for colluding with the Russians, he will now surely be under investigation for obstruction of justice. Comey’s testimony has been damning. He testified that Trump said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

The Republican defense for this has been, frankly, pathetic. Senator Marco Rubio asked Comey if he could, off the top of his head, recall a situation where a person has been prosecuted for obstruction of justice based on “hoping” that an investigation would end. Comey couldn’t recall. It took Adam Liptak about five seconds to shut Rubio down on Twitter.

Given that the Republicans have decided to parse “I hope” as different from “I order you,” I expect most coverage to focus on that. James Comey and Senator Angus King have both already made “will no one rid me of this turbulent priest” jokes. This will be fun.

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The other main line of Republican defense is a bit more complicated. They’re essentially arguing that Comey couldn’t have been too spooked by the president’s potential obstruction of justice because he didn’t tell any of his superiors about the potential obstruction, or immediately resign his position.

But Comey has two answers for that, and they’re both fantastic.

1. He’s basically called himself a coward. This is why he’s been such an amazing witness. Most people, when pressed on why they weren’t better at their jobs, get defensive. Comey isn’t playing that game. He’s testified that maybe he could have been “stronger.” He testified that he’s not “Captain Courageous.” He testified, “I hope I never have the opportunity to do it again, but maybe I’d do it differently.”

Republicans are trying to suggest that Comey wasn’t actually worried about Trump’s behavior, while Comey is saying that he was so stunned by it that he lost his nerve. Point: Comey.

2. Comey also testifies that he didn’t know which one of his superiors he could go to. He said that going to his direct superior, Jeff Sessions, was a non-starter. Comey said that he knew that Sessions would have to likely recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

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To me, the “bombshell” testimony today was when Comey was pressed on that point. How did Comey know that Sessions would have to recuse himself weeks before Sessions actually recused himself? Comey’s response? “I can’t talk about that in an open setting.”

Guys… what in the hell does Comey know about Jeff Sessions’s involvement to make him feel like he couldn’t tell the Attorney General that the president had improperly asked him to drop the Mike Flynn investigation? What does he know that he can’t talk about in public? Remember, we allegedly already know “why” Sessions recused himself. Sessions met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and didn’t disclose the meetings.

That’s supposed to be it, and if that’s all Comey knew, then there would be no problem with him testifying to it today. Somewhat obviously now, Sessions would seem more deeply involved.

But wait, there’s more: Before Trump told Comey he hoped someone would drop the Flynn investigation, Trump cleared the room. That included making Jeff Sessions leave the room. Comey testified that Sessions was lingering around, like he knew it was wrong, but eventually left.

Comey testifies that he later went directly to Sessions, not about the Flynn investigation, but to tell him that he could never be “left alone in a room” with the president.

Senator Kamala Harris pressed Comey hard on Sessions’s actions. She asked Comey if Sessions did or said anything after he told him that he couldn’t be left alone with Trump. Comey’s response:

“I have a recollection of him looking at me,… I may be projecting but his body language was like ‘What am I going to do?’ He didn’t say anything.”

And then there’s all the problems with Sessions’s recusal. Comey has been asked by multiple senators if it was appropriate for Sessions to be involved in the firing of James Comey. Comey’s consistent response? “That’s a good question.”

In their rush to defend Donald Trump, the Republican senators seem to have forgotten about their boy, Jeff Sessions. The argument basically boils down to: “Donald Trump is too stupid to know that he was obstructing justice.” That works for Trump (I guess), but it doesn’t work for all those who should know better.

Honestly, I don’t see how Sessions is just supposed to walk away from this.

  • He’s so deep in the Russia thing that the F.B.I. director knew he was going to recuse himself before Sessions did.
  • He seems to have totally failed in his duty to preserve the independence of the F.B.I., which directly reports to him.
  • He seems to not understand what “recusal” means.
  • He knows, or should have known, that the president was putting improper pressure on the director of the F.B.I.

If I were Donald Trump (and thank Jesus I’m not), Sessions is the next guy to go under the bus. Comey is killing him, and Republicans are so myopically focused on things that matter to Trump’s ego that they’re not even defending him.


Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.