Watching Comey: For some, it’s a party
Politics-obsessed Americans gathered at bars and restaurants Thursday with an excitement normally reserved for the Super Bowl or the World Series, ordering FBI sandwiches and morning shots of Russian vodka as James Comey testified about his dealings with President Donald Trump.
Shaw’s Tavern in Washington opened early and attracted a line of waiting customers seeking to watch the former FBI director’s congressional appearance. A special menu was offered for occasion, with the sandwich, the vodka and Covfefe coffee — a coffee with whipped cream and cinnamon. The hearing blared on televisions mounted throughout the bar and on the patio.
“This is massive,” said Dani Robillard, 42, of San Francisco, who lined up outside Shaw’s. She said she was in town to officiate a wedding and wanted to watch the hearing with people. Like others in line, she said she did not support Trump.
A look at some other scenes as people paused from their weekday routines to take in perhaps the most anticipated congressional hearing since the 1970s.
Todd Shaffer, 55, a commercial real estate agent in the crowd at Shaw’s, predicted that little would get done in the nation’s workplaces.
“No one is working today,” he said.
That was true for Stephanie Williams, 22, of McLean, Virginia, who took the day off from her job as a public health intern.
“This is the kind of thing our children are going to be talking about in history classes,” she said.
Orlando Lopez, 32, a self-employed Lyft driver, said he took time off as well.
“I think there was obstruction of justice,” he said. “I would like to see that come to light.”
Asked what he planned to order at Shaw’s, he said: “I’d like to get a white Russian.”
The crowd grew quiet when the hearing began, but patrons reacted to key moments, with some applauding when Comey said Trump’s administration spread “lies, plain and simple” and “defamed” him and the FBI.
“When he called the president a liar basically, that was impressive,” said Caitrin McKee, 35, of Silver Spring, Maryland. “I think (Trump) deserves to be impeached, and this could be the beginning.”
It was standing room only at the Brooklyn coffeehouse Building on Bond, which started broadcasting the hearing beginning at 9 a.m.
Marjorie Sweeney, a freelance writer who lives nearby, had high hopes for Comey’s ability to take down Trump.
“Hopefully, he’ll redeem himself after blowing up the election,” said Sweeney, who supported Bernie Sanders in last year’s Democratic primary and voted for Hillary Clinton in November.
Of Comey, she said, “He’s working a few moves ahead of our soon-to-be impeached chief executive.”