Former FBI Director Comey's Testimony Publically Released a Day Before Senate Committee Hearing

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By Paul Meekin

Former FBI Director James Comey’s written testimony has become publicly available ahead of his hearing Thursday morning.

The 7 page document details several meetings with President Donald Trump, many of which appear to show a President confused by the chain of command. Specifically an exchange where President Trump demanded loyalty from Comey, and Comey giving a return of honesty. Trump agreed – “That’s what I want, honest loyalty.”

A few moments later, the President said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence. The conversation then moved on, but he returned to the subject near the end of our dinner… He then said, “I need loyalty.” I replied, “You will always get honesty from me.” He paused and then said, “That’s what I want, honest loyalty.” I paused, and then said, “You will get that from me.” As I wrote in the memo I created immediately after the dinner, it is possible we understood the phrase “honest loyalty” differently, but I decided it wouldn’t be productive to push it further. The term – honest loyalty – had helped end a very awkward conversation and my explanations had made clear what he should expect.

The meat of the allegations which lead to Comey testifying in the first place, specifically that Donald Trump asked Director Comey to let go f the investigation into National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn, are detailed as well.

“The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn, saying, “He is a good guy and has been through a lot.” He repeated that Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President. He then said, “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.” I replied only that “he is a good guy.” (In fact, I had a positive experience dealing with Mike Flynn when he was a colleague as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the beginning of my term at FBI.) I did not say I would “let this go.”

The entirety of the seven pages seems to detail a President who is under siege and requesting the FBI do everything in their power to support him – despite that not being the job of the FBI.

Spooky, intimate, and a close look at a very guarded President, it remains to be seen if this is what Comey will say on the stand. That said, the document looks legitimate, but until Director Comey takes the stand, take this report with a grain of salt.