The former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) James Comey today told the Senate that the government of President Donald Trump lied in justifying his dismissal, although the White House soon came to pass that testimony by ensuring that the ruler “is not a liar”.
The sworn statement released today by the former FBI Director to the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, however, includes more contradictions than what has been said these months by Trump.
“The Administration chose to defame me and much more seriously to the FBI,” Comey said in opening his testimony regarding the motives for dismissing him on May 9.
The president, in the letter announcing the dismissal, said that the FBI needed someone to “restore” the citizens’ trust in that institution, which Comey considered “plain and simple lies.”
The former FBI director said that the real reason for his dismissal was that Trump wanted “somehow, to change (…) the way the investigation was conducted on Russia,” something sharply rebutted by the ruler’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz , Who gave the reply to Comey’s testimony.
But in Comey’s testimony there are other claims that, if proven true, could be considered attempts by Trump to interfere in the FBI’s independent investigation into the alleged Russian interference in last November’s election and its coordination with the ruler’s campaign.
These actions, if confirmed, could be considered an attempt to obstruct the Justice, which could lead to a political trial against the magnate real estate.
According to Comey, Trump asked him to “let go” of the case against his ex-national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who had to resign because of his ties to Russia and for lying to authorities trying to hide them.
“No, no, next question,” Trump answered in a rush when he was asked about the matter at a press conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on May 18 at the White House.
Previously, in an interview with NBC on May 11, Trump also said he had dined with Comey on January 27, a week after his inauguration, because the then-director of the FBI wanted to tell him about his tenure at the post .
“I wanted to have a dinner because I wanted to stay”, Trump said, who asked to clarify at the request of who the dinner had been, he replied: “I think he asked for it.”
According to Comey, it was the presiente himself who had called him that same noon to invite him to dinner and, although he had assumed that it would be with more people, in the end they were alone the two of them.
The contacts between Trump and Comey are considered the least inappropriate, given the ethical conflict that could be caused by the independent investigation of the FBI on a matter that could get to splash the ruler.
In addition, according to the ex-director of the FBI, it was Trump who, at the beginning of the dinner in the White House Green Room, asked him if he wanted to remain in the post, and not the opposite, what he interpreted as “an effort To beg “to follow and” create some kind of clientelism relationship. ”
Another controversial point is the origin of contacts.
Trump has claimed that Comey himself called him to assure him that he was not being investigated for the Russian plot, but of the nine conversations he remembers, six of them over the phone, he does not mention any that he called.
Comey insisted at all times on the importance of the “traditional independence of the FBI with respect to the Executive Power”.
In this respect, one of Comey’s most serious allegations is that at dinner on January 27, Trump asked him for “loyalty, although he avoided interpreting whether it was an attempt to obstruct Justice, which, Designated for this research, Robert Mueller.
However, the US president has also denied it.
“No, I did not,” Trump replied in an interview with Fox when asked about it, although he later assured that if he did, it would not have been “inappropriate.”
Comey admitted in the Senate today that he himself leaked to the press, through a friend, the contents of his notes on the talks he had with Trump, after he threatened him on Twitter with the publication of “tapes.”
“It’s better for James Comey that we do not have tapes of our conversations before he starts filtering to the press,” Trump tweeted May 12, when the former FBI director had already started filtering his version of the content of his encounters .
“My God, I hope you have ribbons,” Comey told members of the Senate Committee today.
Of course, that would clarify who lies.
