https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrbZx6ANvcE
The focus of the mainstream media for the past several weeks has been on whether the Trump administration obstructed the pursuit of justice as it relates to the Russian Investigation. Specifically, whether the president told FBI Director James Comey to back off potential “collusion”or campaign connections to Russian officials.
In his testimony, Comey said:
"Again, I take the president's words. I know I was fired because of something about the way I was conducting the Russia investigation was in some way putting pressure on him, in some way irritating him, and he decided to fire me because of that." - James Comey, former FBI director
We've also known for weeks, thanks to previous Comey testimony, that the former FBI director’s calculus changed when he discovered former president Bill Clinton met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on an airplane in Arizona during the 2016 campaign.
The meeting was presumably to discuss the criminal investigation the FBI was conducting into the email scandal that plagued the Clinton campaign.
ALSO READ: DC Deceit: White House, Comey Trade Accusations
In his first testimony before the Intelligence committee, Comey stated he knew he had to go public with his concerns in light of the very inappropriate meeting.
Thursday’s testimony shed more light on that subject.
Comey said he pushed back on Lynch’s directive last year to refer to the then-ongoing probe into Hillary Clinton’s email practices as a “matter,” not an investigation. He stated that he was directed by the attorney general to parrot the campaign language and ignore any reference that it was an “investigation.”
Comey said he figured the media would ignore the difference in language, “and that’s what happened.” Comey said the entire episode, “gave me a queasy feeling.”
It wouldn’t be a stretch if the former Attorney General and/or Hillary Clinton were issued subpoenas in the coming weeks.
