The Comey memos were released and sent to Republican Congressional intelligence officials. It took exactly 39 minutes for the 15 pages of documents to leak to the media.
The memos cover meetings between former FBI director James Comey and President Trump. The Comey memos don’t help Comey’s case at all. In fact, they hurt it a great deal. They don’t show us anything we didn’t already know, but they undercut the case that Comey was being pressured in any serious fashion by Trump.
James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION. Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 20, 2018
Comey states in his memos that at the private dinner, which came eight days after Trump was sworn in as president, Trump told him that he “needed loyalty and expected loyalty.” In response to Trump’s alleged statement, Comey claims in his memos that he “did not reply, or even nod or change my facial expression, which [Trump] noted because we came back to it later.”
The conversation also covered leaks by the press. “The President … [returned] to the issue of finding leakers … I said something about the value of putting a head on a pike as a message. He replied by saying it may involve putting reporters in jail. ‘They spend a couple days in jail, make a new friend, and they are ready to talk.’ I laughed.”
Trump allegedly told Comey that he had serious reservations about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s judgment, saying during a private January 2017 dinner with Comey that “[Flynn] has serious judgment issues.” Recalling the President’s comments about Flynn at the dinner, Comey wrote, “I did not comment at any point during this topic and there was no mention or acknowledgment of any FBI interest in or contact with General Flynn.”
“I said, the Russians allegedly had tapes involving him and prostitutes at the Presidential Suite at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow from about 2013. He interjected, ‘there were no prostitutes; there were never prostitutes,’” Comey wrote, adding that, “I said I wasn’t saying this was true, only that I wanted him to know both that it had been reported and that the reports were in many hands. I said media like CNN had them and were looking for a news hook.”
Comey claims that Trump “turned to what he called the ‘golden showers thing’ and recounted much of what he had said previously on that topic. He repeated that it was a complete fabrication and ‘fake news.'” Comey also wrote that Trump said that he hadn’t stayed overnight in Russia during the Miss Universe trip. Trump allegedly told Comey that “‘the hookers thing’ is nonsense,” but that “Putin had told him ‘we have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world.’”
Trump once again dismissed the idea that he ever made contact with hookers, saying that he had a beautiful wife and that the whole experience had been very painful to him and his family. Comey claims that Trump asked him what he could do to lift the cloud from the Russia investigation, saying that the collusion allegations didn’t make any sense because he was bad for Russia as he was committed to producing more oil and rebuilding America’s nuclear arsenal.
Here are the take-aways from the memos:
Comey leaked the memos in the first place to trigger a Special Counsel. Immediately after being fired, Comey leaked the memos to a “close friend,” who in turn gave them to the media. They were intended to show that Comey was on to something in regards to Trump and Russia. They were also meant to show that Trump fired Comey to obstruct justice. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee in June 2017, “I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. I didn’t do it myself for a variety of reasons but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.” Not only was there nothing in the memos to indicate that Trump obstructed justice, they instead show that Comey leaked classified intelligence. It backfired.
The letter from the Department of Justice to Congress is redacted in places and indicates that portions of the memos were classified. The whole premise by Comey for giving the memos to a third party was that they were unclassified personal “recollection.” But that is not what the letter from the DOJ to Congress indicates. “Therefore, pursuant to your request, we are providing the requested memoranda in both redacted and unredacted formats for your convenience…The unredacted documents are classified, and we will provide those in a separate, secure transmittal to the House Security office tomorrow.” This indicates that Comey broke the law and violated the Espionage Act. However, Comey claims he only leaked one unclassified memo to the third party.
It appears the DOJ lied about the importance of the memos. The Department of Justice refused to turn over the memos when requested under the Freedom of Information Act. They stated it would interfere with the Mueller investigation, but there is nothing in the memos that suggests this is true. Even if that were true, then why would the DOJ release the memos at all to Congress, knowing full well that they would be leaked within minutes?
Nothing in the memos suggest obstruction of justice. After the release of the memos, Reps. Devin Nunes (R-CA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), and Trey Gowdy (R-SC) tore into Comey. They stated that the memos “show the President made clear he wanted allegations of collusion, coordination, and conspiracy between his campaign and Russia fully investigated.” The memos clearly demonstrate that Trump didn’t want the Russia election interference investigation ended. And as the Congressmen point out, “The memos also show former Director Comey never wrote that he felt obstructed or threatened.”
It is now obvious that Comey was holding President Trump to a different standard than Obama officials. He stated that he interfered in the Hillary Clinton email investigation in an unprecedented way because he felt that Attorney General Loretta Lynch had undercut the credibility of the DOJ. But he never addressed that in his memos. He only did so for President Trump, which now appears to be an attempt to target and entrap the President. As the Congressmen point out: “He chose not to memorialize conversations with President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, Secretary Clinton, Andrew McCabe or others, but he immediately began to memorialize conversations with President Trump…These memos also lay bare the notion that former Director Comey is not motivated by animus.”
Comey also never bothered to try to launch a Special Counsel investigation against Lynch and Clinton. In fact, although he claims he is not political, he claims the Republican Party left him. However, he is proud that he, his wife and children were all ardent supporters of Hillary Clinton. And he adored Barack Obama.
Comey defended McCabe over and over again. He repeatedly defended his deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe from attacks by President Trump and said that McCabe was a consummate professional. Now McCabe may be indicted for criminal activity for leaking material to the press without Comey’s permission or say-so. He has now been referred for prosecution for repeatedly lying as well.
2018-4-19 Comey Memo – Enclosure Unclassified by Fox News on Scribd
The release of #Comey Memos are further proof of @realDonaldTrump’s contempt for the rule of law. His attempts to intimidate, circumvent the law & undermine integrity of law enforcement investigations demand immediate action to protect the Mueller investigation. #FollowTheFacts
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) April 20, 2018
BREAKING: Memo: Trump told Comey he had "serious reservations about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's judgment.
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 20, 2018
JUST IN: The Comey memos have been sent to Congress. pic.twitter.com/MGbPlXWGgs
— Matt Zapotosky (@mattzap) April 19, 2018
If you're keeping score at home, it took 39 minutes for the Comey memos to get leaked.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) April 20, 2018
BREAKING: DOJ tells Congress that parts of the 'Comey memo' leaked to the media were classified.
— Wired Sources (@WiredSources) April 19, 2018
The AP has uploaded the Comey memos here. https://t.co/oIkbqTRp9e
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 20, 2018
BREAKING: Comey memo: Trump said Vladimir Putin told him, 'We have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world'
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 20, 2018
Looks like @Comey lied to POTUS. pic.twitter.com/cF6XQbgSTM
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) April 20, 2018
SOURCES: The Daily Wire, Breitbart,
The post Comey Memos Leaked: Here’s What’s In Them appeared first on Joe For America.