James Comey Memos Offer More Details About Fired FBI Director's Dealings With Trump

By Kyle Cheney, Politico

20 April 18

Republicans argue they show no evidence that the president obstructed justice.

ormer FBI Director James Comey documented a conversation with President Donald Trump last year in which he said the president recalled Vladimir Putin telling him that Russia has "some of the most beautiful hookers in the world."

Per Comey's memo, dated Feb. 8, 2017 but revealed publicly for the first time Thursday, Trump made the comment in the context of denying salacious allegations leveled against him in a dossier compiled by a former British spy, which had become public just weeks earlier.

The memos, about 15 pages in all, track closely with Comey's testimony to Congress last year about his interactions with Trump. The Justice Department delivered Comey's memos to Congress on Thursday, one day after Republican lawmakers threatened to subpoena them.

The documents fill out a more detailed picture of what Comey thought and observed during his time with Trump. The then-FBI director describes feeling pressured by the president to pull back from the FBI's investigation of his campaign's contacts with Russia. They describe conversations about former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Comey's first encounter with Trump.

The memos, obtained by POLITICO, appeared to be an instant political Rorschach test, with Trump allies declaring that the memos absolved the president of any whiff of improper conduct and Democrats suggesting they revealed the president's contempt for institutions of justice.

Late Friday, Trump tweeted: "James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION. Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?"

Trump's description of a conversation with Putin, as Comey recalls, was puzzling because Trump has made varying claims about his relationship with the Russian president over the years but more recently has suggested they had no personal relationship before he took office. Comey wrote that it was unclear about when the purported conversation between Trump and Putin may have happened.

Putin had also made a similar remark publicly just a few weeks earlier, when he told reporters he didn't believe Trump had been with prostitutes during a 2013 trip to Russia.

"Ours are undoubtedly the best in the world," Putin said in the interview.

The three GOP chairmen who demanded the Comey memos — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, house Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes — said the memos underscore Trump's desire to have allegations against him and his campaign "fully investigated."

“The memos also show former Director Comey never wrote that he felt obstructed or threatened," the three said in a joint statement. "While former Director Comey went to great lengths to set dining room scenes, discuss height requirements, describe the multiple times he felt complimented, and myriad other extraneous facts, he never once mentioned the most relevant fact of all, which was whether he felt obstructed in his investigation."

The GOP lawmakers also say the memos raise new questions about Comey's judgment and whether he held Trump to a different standard than former President Barack Obama. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), a vocal Trump ally on the Judiciary Committee, said the memos paint the picture of "an innocent man."

"The whole 'obstruction' angle was much more a fever dream of the Beltway crowd than it was a serious angle," he tweeted.

Democrats, though, said the memos paint a damning picture of a president

"His attempts to intimidate, circumvent the law & undermine integrity of law enforcement investigations demand immediate action to protect the Mueller investigation," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said the memos support Comey's case that Trump tried to extract personal loyalty from his FBI director, wanted to end the Russia investigation and wanted the FBI to go easy on his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who was under investigation at the time.

“President Trump’s interference was a blatant effort to deny justice, and Director Comey was right to document it as it happened — in real time," Cummings said in a statement.

Among the other revelations in the memos:

— A document that Comey directed a friend to provide to the press after Trump fired him — outlining what he viewed as an attempt by Trump to secure his loyalty — is marked unclassified.

— Comey also described his first interaction with Trump, including their one-on-one conversation when Comey first revealed to Trump the contents of the dossier, which was subsequently published by news outlets. "I repsonded that we were not investigating him and the stuff might be totally made up but it was being said out of Russia and our job was to protect the President from efforts to coerce him," Comey wrote.

— Trump repeatedly raised the subject of Comey's deputy director Andrew McCabe, who Trump had attacked during the campaign because his wife had run as a Democrat for Virginia state senate and received substantial contributions frmo a PAC afiliated with an ally of Hillary Clinton.

— Comey said Trump repeatedly praised him and the job he did as director during a tumultuous 2016 and he said Trump told him Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and soon-to-be Attorney General Jeff Sessions had praised him as well.

— On Jan. 28, 2017, just eight days after Trump took office, COmey recalled Trump sharply questioning National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's judgment. "The guy has serious judgment issues," Trump said, per Comey's notes.

— On Feb. 8, during a meeting with then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Comey said Priebus asked him directly whether the FBI had a surveillance warrant on Flynn. "I paused for a few seconds and then said that I would answer here, but that this illustrated the kind of question that had to be asked and answered through established channels. Comey's answer to the question was redacted.

— Comey recalled a one-on-one Feb. 14, 2017 conversation in which Trump urged him to have leak investigators "go after reporters" and mentioned the jailing of former New York Times reporter Judy Miller. Trump had vented to him about leaks of his private calls to leaders of Mexico and Australia. Later, Comey said Trump returned to the subject of jailing reporters. "They spend a couple days in jail, make a new friend, and they are ready to talk," Comey recalled, adding that he laughed in response.