Comey may spell trouble for Trump
Former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony that US President Donald Trump expected loyalty and hoped Comey would drop an investigation of a former top aide could bolster obstruction of justice allegations against Trump, according to experts. Such allegations might be used for impeachment proceedings.
WASHINGTON— Former FBI Director James Comey said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump asked him to drop an investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn as part of a probe into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
In a written testimony released the day before he was scheduled to appear before the Senate intelligence committee, Comey said Trump told him at a meeting in the White House in February: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.”
The testimony puts more pressure on Trump, a Republican, whose presidency has been overshadowed by allegations that Moscow helped him win last year’s election.
Some legal experts said Comey’s testimony could strengthen any impeachment case built on obstruction of justice, but US markets shrugged off the news from the testimony for lack of any major disclosures.
To build a criminal obstruction of justice case, federal law requires prosecutors to show that a person acted with “corrupt” intent. It does not matter whether the person succeeds in impeding an investigation.
While a sitting president is unlikely to face criminal prosecution, obstruction of justice could form the basis for impeachment.
Comey said he had told Trump on three occasions that he was not being investigated, confirming an earlier account from the president.
Several congressional committees, as well as the FBI and a special counsel, are investigating whether Russia tried to tilt last November’s election in Trump’s favor, using means such as hacking into the e-mails of senior Democrats.
Trump and the Kremlin have separately denied any collusion.
Trump abruptly fired Comey, who was leading the FBI’s probe, on May 9.
Comey painted a vivid picture for senators of awkward encounters with Trump in seven pages of testimony.
Comey described a private dinner in the Green Room of the White House on Jan. 26, where Trump asked him whether he wanted to stay on as FBI director, telling him: “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”
“I didn’t move, speak, or changemyfacial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence,” Comey said in his testimony, explaining he became concerned that Trump was trying to create “some sort of patronage relationship.”
‘Let this go’
On Feb. 14, after an Oval Office briefing on counterterrorism, Trump asked Comey to stay behind, dismissing Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who lingered, and waving off Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who peeked through the door.
“When the door by the grandfather clock closed, and we were alone, the president began by saying, ‘I want to talk about Mike Flynn,’” Comey said in his testimony.
Trump had fired Flynn the previous day in a controversy over contacts between the retired general and the Russian ambassador to the United States.
The FBI has been investigating Flynn as it looks into allegations of links between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Comey quoted Trump as telling him: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
On March 30, Trump phoned Comey and asked what “we could do to lift the cloud” of the FBI’s Russia investigation.
“He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia,” Comey said, who had briefed Trump on “salacious material” that had arisen in a counterintelligence investigation.
Michael Cohen, a lawyer for Trump, said in a statement that the uncorroborated dossier of compromising material that Russian operatives allegedly collected on Trump had been “debunked.”
“Comey’s statement released today needs to be carefully scrutinized as his testimony claims the president was concerned about the dossier,” Cohen said.
Cohen, along with Flynn, has been subpoenaed by the House intelligence committee, which is also conducting a Russia probe.