James Comey

“ On September 5th, President Trump brought up Special Counsel Mueller in an interview with The Daily Caller stating, quote: And he's Comey's best friend, and I could give you a hundred pictures of him and Comey hugging and kissing each other. You know he's Comey's best friend, close quote.
Are you best friends with Robert Mueller?
Mr. Comey. I am not. I admire the heck out of the man, but I don't know his phone number, I've never been to his house, I don't know his children's names. I think I had a meal once alone with him in a restaurant. I like him. ”

“ Because, obviously, when the President of the United States speaks, and though you're in an independent agency, he might believe that work should begin on responding to his request.
Mr. Comey. I don't know what he believed. I never spoke to him about it again.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Did you feel a certain pressure?
Mr. Comey. I felt that he was asking me, directing me to drop a criminal investigation, which I thought was improper, so I went back, wrote a memo about it, briefed the leadership of the FBI so we could figure out what to do about it. ”

“ Mr. Comey. Am I aware that he had a working relationship with Bruce Ohr? No.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Are you aware of any communications or contact between Christopher Steele and Bruce Ohr?
Mr. Comey. I am not aware.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Who is Bruce Ohr?
Mr. Comey. He's a lawyer for the Department of Justice, who I don't know exactly what his job was. I remember him from the Southern District of New York. But a DOJ lawyer.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Would you expect a DOJ lawyer to be part of the chain of custody of evidence relating to the Steele dossier or a FISA application?
Mr. Comey. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ Ms. Jackson Lee. Is there any need to further investigate Hillary Clinton's emails based upon the decision that you made not to prosecute?
Mr. Comey. Not that I can possibly see.
Ms. Jackson Lee. You consider this case closed?
Mr. Comey. Yes. There's no serious person who thinks there's a prosecutable case there. And so, not that can I see.
Ms. Jackson Lee. I yield. Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Director Comey, Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the Oversight Committee.
You've already testified to Congress about the Russia investigation a number of times. ”

“ Trump that you would be loyal and drop that investigation? How did it make you feel?
Mr. Comey. Well, there was no chance at all that I was going to abide that direction to let that go. When I saw the public accounts of his plea and cooperation, I felt, as a citizen, glad that he was held accountable for his crimes and that he was assisting the United States. So it seemed to me like a just outcome.
Mr. Cohen. Did Mr. Trump or anybody else in the administration ever ask you anything about specifics about the Russia involvement in the 2016 election? ”

“ 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. Gowdy. What other investigatory tools did you have other than a voluntary interview?
Mr. Comey. With respect to?
Mr. Gowdy. Either Mills, Samuelson, Kendall, Pagliano, Combetta.
Mr. Comey. Conceivably, you could -- lots of investigative tools, but the closest to an interview would be a grand jury subpoena, questioning someone in the grand jury.
Mr. Gowdy. And tell me why that was not done for any of the witnesses.
Mr. Comey. I don't know for sure. ”

“ Mr. Gowdy. Director Comey, can you tell us the factual predicate that may have led to the launching of that counterintelligence investigation?
Mr. Comey. I don't think that I can describe the factual predicate for two reasons: I don't remember precisely; and to the extent I remember, I think those are classified facts that implicate the concern the Bureau just expressed.
Mr. Gowdy. Some of our friends in the media use the word "collusion" from time to time. What is the crime of collusion?
Mr. Comey. What is the crime of collusion? I do not know. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And I think very highly of him. I mean, I used to work for him. I probably know him better than I know Bob Mueller. I probably just damned him by saying he's a friend of mine, but I respect him. I just don't know what he meant by that.
Mr. Gomez. Do you think Bill Barr may be acting out of political motivation when suggesting a new Clinton probe?
Mr. Comey. I don't know. ”

“ Is there an obstruction of justice investigation?
Ms. Bessee. I believe there is an investigation that the special counsel is looking into.
Mr. Gowdy. Well, we all know that. Is it an obstruction of justice investigation?
Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, can you rephrase the question, please?
Mr. Gowdy. Yes. We all know that. Is it an obstruction of justice investigation?
Ms. Bessee. Can you rephrase the question for the witness?
Mr. Gowdy. Yes. Director Comey, you're familiar with the memo drafted by Rod Rosenstein. You have not talked to Rod Rosenstein, as I understand your testimony. ”

“ Mr. Comey. Well, it depends upon the person. Some people will try to walk back things, others not.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Were you also worried that it would hurt the FBI's credibility and reputation for independence?
Mr. Comey. Yes.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you.
Mr. Comey. Thank you.
Mr. Raskin. Mr. Comey, I'm Jamie Raskin from Maryland. I want to start, Director Comey, with your written testimony of the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8th of 2017, when you wrote about your famous dinner with President Trump at the White House on January 27th. ”

“ And how confident are you that he will do things the right way with respect to the special counsel investigation?
Mr. Comey. There are not many things I would bet my life on. I would bet my life that Bob Mueller will do things the right way, the way we would all want, whether we're Republicans or Democrats, the way Americans should want. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Mr. Comey. In general, I think that's right. You want to present to the judge reviewing your application a complete picture of the evidence, both its flaws and its strengths.
Mr. Ratcliffe. What's a defensive briefing?
Mr. Comey. In the counterintelligence world, it's a mechanism by which the FBI will alert somebody to a counterintelligence threat that might tend to defeat the threat. ”

“ Director Comey, do you agree with Mr. Baker that the initial allegation in the FBI's counterintelligence operation into the Trump campaign's potential coordination with the Russian Government, quote/unquote, had nothing to do with the Steele dossier?
Mr. Comey. Yes. That's correct. ”

“ Mr. Comey. That's right. I try as a leader always to be open to things I might be missing, but absent something like that, I think it's likely -- again, it's hard to live a life you didn't live. But it's likely I wouldn't have kept them on the case for that reason, the reasons I said.
Mr. Gowdy. If you had gained familiarity with a text from Lisa Page where she said, "Please tell me Trump won't ever be President," and Strzok responded, "No, no, he won't, we'll stop it," do you think you would have kept them on the investigation? ”

“ Ratcliffe. So, as you've already mentioned, one of the things you thought might happen or you wanted to find out was whether or not Hillary Clinton might lie during that interview. Knowingly making a false statement to the FBI is a crime, correct?
Mr. Comey. That is correct.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Making a false public statement ordinarily is not a crime, correct?
Mr. Comey. That is correct. Thank goodness, for a lot of people.
Mr. Ratcliffe. But false statements made in public can be evidence of knowledge or intent, absence of mistake, or provide all kinds of other evidentiary context, correct? ”

“ And, therefore, you'd believe that the current political rhetoric endorsed by the President and his allies, such as I've quoted, is potentially damaging to law enforcement's ability to keep Americans safe?
Mr. Comey. I do. I'm not against criticizing law enforcement organizations or law enforcement leaders. I've been criticized, I think, reasonably. But when you attack the fiber of the institution and say it's corrupt and untrustworthy and aiming at political enemies, you do lasting damage to an institution this country relies upon, and everybody should realize that's a mistake. ”

“ Mr. Comey. Well, I can answer in general, because I don't know that case. The entire sensitive investigative matter process is designed to be respectful of the privileges that might be touched by a search on a lawyer's office.
Mr. Raskin. Okay. President Trump has kept up his drum beat against his former lawyer. Most recently, the attacks were in response Mr. Cohen's plea deal with the special counsel's office in which he admitted to lying about the Trump Tower Moscow project in contact with Russian Government officials during the 2016 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. ”

“ 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. ”