7 takeaways from testimony

1.Comey is pretty sure Trump inappropriately interfered in the investigation — but Trump didn’t ask the FBI to drop it entirely

The way Comey understoodhis conversations with the president, Trump asked Comey for three things:

•To give his loyalty while appearing to threaten his job security;

•To“lift the cloud” of any perception the president was under investigation;

•To drop the FBI’ s investigationinto Trump’ s fired national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

2.Comey thinks the president is a liar

“I was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our meeting ,” Comey said, as to why he left Trump Tower, hopped in an FBI car, opened a laptop and started writing down every detail he could recall about his first meeting with the president .“I knew that there might come a day where I might need a record of what happened, not just to defend myself and FBI and the integrity of our situation, and the independence of our function.”

3.The way Trump handled Comey’s firing is what prompted Comey to speak out

First, Comey found out he was fired by watching TV. Second, Comey said he was confused about why he was fired.

The president changed his narrative several times, ultimately settling on“that Russia thing .” Then, Comey read in the press that the president told Russians Comey was a “nutjob.”

4.Democrats are pretty sure Comey’s firing is the key to what the president did wrong

“I believe the timing of your firing st inks ,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Sen. Mark R. Warner, Va ., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called Comey’s firing “ultimately shocking .”

5.Republicans aren’t really trying to defend the president One GOP senator tried to argue, OK, what Trump did was wrong, but is it really obstruction of justice?

“He said ,‘ I hope ’( when he asked you to drop the Flynn investigation ),” said Sen. James E. Risch, R-Idaho, a Trump ally .“You don’t know of anyone that’ s ever been charged for hoping something ?”

Comey said he didn’ t.

6.Republicans are critical of why Comey didn’t speak up sooner “The president never should have cleared the room ,” said Sen. Susan Collins,R-Maine, of a key Oval Office private meetingbetween Come ya nd Trump. “And he never should have asked you to let( the investigationinto Flynn) go.

“But I remain puzzled by your response. Your response was ,‘ I agree that Michael Flynn was a good guy .’ You could have said: ‘Mr. President, this meeting is inappropriate. This response could compromise the investigation.’”

7.No side comes off well in Comey’s telling of events

To hear Comey tell it, Republicans pressured him to shape his Republicans are in charge and the FBI was investigating Republicans. Democrats pressured him to shape his investigation when Democrats were in charge and he was investigating Democrats.

This is new—and suggests no side was immune to meddling in the FBI’ s investigations.