United States House of Representatives

“ In the tweet I read, President Trump appears to be directly demanding that the Department of Justice launch an investigation into his political opponents. You've already stated the answer to a request like that would be hell no. And why is that, Mr. Comey?
Mr. Comey. Because that represents the final corruption and destruction of our system of justice. If we start investigating people by fiat from the leader because of their political affiliation, what are we anymore, which is why it has been so dispiriting not to see both sides of the political aisle react to this with shock and loud voices. ”

“ How serious of a national security risk is it to have the national security advisor lying about his contacts with a foreign government adversary to the FBI and the American people?
Mr. Comey. Mr. Cummings, I don't think I can answer the last part of that question because it touches on the work of the special counsel.
I can answer the first part, which is, the reason it's a big deal is you have an adversary nation attacking America. If Americans in our country are assisting them, it's aiding and abetting the enemy in attacking our country. ”

“ What factors would he take into consideration if he were to be involved in overseeing the special counsel investigation?
Mr. Comey. Well, most importantly you want to consider, any time you are a leader of an institution of justice, whether there's a reasonable appearance that you lack the impartiality necessary to be involved in a particular case. And so you'd want to look at prior statements, prior engagement in litigation, those kinds of things to see whether reasonable folks could have a doubt about whether you are calling it as you see it or on one team or the other. ”

“ Mr. Comey. No, and I've been hearing that for 30 years. Crimes that involve investigation -- that involve attacks on the criminal justice system, perjury, false statements, obstruction of justice, jury tampering, are things -- are statutes that Congress passed to protect the core of this country's rule of law, and so I never think of them as process crimes. They're serious and important Federal crimes.
Ms. Plaskett. And how important do you think it would be if the President of the United States attempted to impede a criminal investigation into his associates or his campaign? ”

“ Comey. Well, our consolation should be the depth and strength of America's values. The FBI will be fine. It will snap back, as will the rest of our institutions. There will be short-term damage, which worries me a great deal, but in the long run, no politician, no president can, in a lasting way, damage those institutions, because their values are too strong. The American military, the intelligence community, the law enforcement community, it would take generations to screw them up in a permanent way. ”

“ Comey. My recollection was he was -- the conclusion of the investigators was he was obviously lying, but they saw none of the normal common indicia of deception: that is, hesitancy to answer, shifting in seat, sweating, all the things that you might associate with someone who is conscious and manifesting that they are being -- they're telling falsehoods. There's no doubt he was lying, but that those indicators weren't there.
Mr. Gowdy. When you say "lying," I generally think of an intent to deceive as opposed to someone just uttering a false statement. ”

“ And there's been a growing narrative amongst conservative media that obstruction of justice is a mere process crime, that even if President Trump did obstruct justice, it really isn't that big of a deal if Special Counsel Mueller can't also demonstrate that he committed the ostensible underlying crime of colluding with or aiding and abetting with Russia to interfere with the election. ”

“ Gowdy. Mr. Chairman, I think -- I do intend to comply with the representations we made to this witness. I would encourage all of my colleagues to do so. There's a reason that we have something called the rule of completeness. It is manifestly unfair to take part of what someone says and disregard the whole. I also think there's an argument to be made that when the chairman of a committee makes a representation to a witness, that it should not only bind the members of the committee, but it also reflects poorly on the House as an institution to not abide by what the chairman represented. ”

“ On November 27th, President Trump tweeted in reference to the special counsel, quote: The fake news media builds Bob Mueller up as a saint, when in actuality, he's the exact opposite. He is doing tremendous damage to our criminal justice system where he's only looking at one side and not the other. Heroes will come of this and it won't be Mueller and his terrible gang of angry Democrats. Look at their past and look where they come from. And now a $30 million witch hunt continues and they have got nothing but ruined lives. Where is the server? ”

“ We take it seriously when people were helping German saboteurs infiltrate Long Island during World War II. We take it seriously when scientists are selling secrets to the Soviets about our nuclear capabilities. I take it just as seriously if there are Americans who were -- and I'm not saying that there were -- but if there were Americans who were assisting this attack on our democracy, it's of the same type, which is why I said it's so obvious.
Mr. Cummings. The President's national security advisor has access to our country's most closely held secrets. ”

“ Comey. Not talk about any particular person.
A big part of the FBI's counterintelligence work in the United States is trying to understand whether foreign adversaries have gained any leverage over anyone in a position to influence a policy of the United States Government or to reveal its secrets. And so it's at the heart of our counterintelligence work, because that's how the bad guys overseas hurt us. One of the ways is they co-opt people, recruit them, or coerce them into giving up information that's inconsistent with American interest. ”

“ I don't know of a crime that involves collusion. I think in terms of conspiracy or aiding and abetting.
Mr. Gowdy. With counterintelligence investigations, is there always a criminal component or sometimes a criminal component?
Mr. Comey. Counterintelligence investigations involve an effort to understand the plans and intentions and activities of a foreign adversary. Sometimes that leads to the use of criminal tools to disrupt. Sometimes it involves other tools to disrupt. So criminal is an element of counterintelligence investigations always because it's a potential tool to disrupt. ”

“ I don't know exactly what the word "insidious" means, so I'm not saying that one. It's as important as actual bias because the faith and confidence of the American people that your work is done in an independent, fair, and competent way matters enormously. And so a reasonable appearance of bias can corrupt that faith in your work as much as actual bias can.
Mr. Gowdy. Had you known about the texts contemporaneously, would you have allowed Peter Strzok and Lisa Page to move from the Espionage Act or mishandling investigation to the Russia investigation?
Mr. Comey. ”

“ Comey. Our national security turns upon the ability of an FBI agent to convince the girlfriend of a jihadi that we will protect her if she cooperates with us. If we're seen as a political group of one kind or another, an untrustworthy group, that trust is eroded and the agent loses the ability to make that case. ”

“ Mr. Gowdy. Right. I really am going to let John go now. He lied to the FBI; that is a crime. Lying to the public is not, as we've established. But is it not evidence of intent and/or consciousness of guilt? I mean, Secretary Clinton told the public that no classified information traversed her server, and that was false, right?
Mr. Comey. She maintained that -- as I recall, that she did not -- she thought she had successfully talked around the classified subjects. And the challenge for the prosecutors and investigators was proving that is false. ”

“ Mr. Ratcliffe. Let's see if I can find what -- Mr. Baker -- well, let me -- do we have the Baker transcript?
Mr. Jordan. Director, I'm just curious, where did the names Midyear Exam and Crossfire Hurricane come from?
Mr. Comey. I don't know for sure. What I was long told is that the names for all of these things came from some random name generator in the bowels of the Counterintelligence Division. I never had any information to the contrary, but occasionally I would see names that seemed like they couldn't be random. Those both seem kind of random to me. ”

“ Mr. Comey. It was an impression that kept popping into my head when I interacted with President Trump, and particularly it started when I watched him interact as President-elect that first week of January at Trump Tower, and I kept trying to push it away because it seemed too dramatic. But his leadership style -- I'm not trying to suggest he's out robbing banks -- but his leadership style reminded me of that of a mafia boss, of a Cosa Nostra boss, because it's all about me, what you can do for me, it's all about your loyalty to me. It's not about any higher values or institutional values. ”

“ Here's the concern, Director Comey. If no one's been held accountable, especially from the New York field office, and if there are leaks from the New York field office to potentially people like Rudy Giuliani, who's the current lawyer for the President, then they have an active window into the investigation of them, and that's why I think a lot of people are concerned about whether that investigation concluded or not. ”

“ Mr. Gowdy. Well, I'm sure you can see, because a smart guy and a good lawyer, the next question is, how can you begin to even draft a non-pros memo if you haven't interviewed two dozen witnesses, including the target, but you're already drafting a non-pros, but the moment you find out that there may be a computer you have not accessed, you reopen the investigation; whatever you found on Weiner's computer, could you not have also found when you were interviewing the two dozen witnesses?
Mr. Comey. Potentially. ”

“ The carelessness involved in having a system that a bad guy could hack into is a different sort, and so that's not what I was talking about earlier.
Mr. Gowdy. Did all of Secretary Clinton's attorneys have the requisite security clearances?
Mr. Comey. Not to my knowledge. Not all of them, no.
Mr. Gowdy. Do you recall which ones did not, and would they have been any of the ones who actually culled through her emails?
Mr. Comey. I don't recall as to people. I have some recollection that maybe David Kendall from another case had a clearance or something. ”

“ Gowdy. What do you give up? What investigatory advantage do you lose? If you have a choice between a voluntary interview and a grand jury appearance, what are you risking losing with the grand jury interview?
Mr. Comey. A number of things. If you're going to talk about TS/SCI information, you have a real problem with the grand jury. You'll have to clear a grand jury, which is really tricky, and both because of the intrusion on their private lives and just how difficult it is to clear 23 U.S. citizens who have been summoned for jury duty. ”