The Comey Hearing
After former FBI Director James Comey testified about his private conversations with President Donald Trump regarding the agency’s Russia investigation, the president’s lawyer gave a brief statement that contained inaccurate and disputed claims:
- Marc Kasowitz, the president’s personal attorney, said Trump “never in form or substance directed or suggested” that Comey stop investigating former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Comey testified that Trump asked him at a Feb. 14 meeting if “you can see your way clear … to letting Flynn go.” Comey said he took those words “as a direction” to drop the case.
- Kasowitz accused Comey of being disingenuous about his motive for sharing a memo with the New York Times. Comey said he arranged to give the story to the paper after Trump tweeted about having “tapes” of their conversations. Kasowitz claimed the Times quoted from Comey’s “memos” before Trump’s tweet. In fact, the story about the Feb. 14 memo — the one Comey said he shared — appeared four days after the tweet.
- Trump’s lawyer also wrongly claimed that Comey “admitted that he leaked to friends of his purported memos.” Comey admitted to giving one memo to one friend.
- Kasowitz’s statement suggested that Comey had leaked a classified memo. But Comey said the memo he shared was written in a way so that it was unclassified.
- Kasowitz said Comey “admitted that there is no evidence that a single vote changed as a result of any Russian interference.” To clarify: There is no evidence that Russians were successful in tampering with voting machines, but it is unknown whether or to what extent Russia’s influence campaign may have helped Trump win the election.
Comey before the Senate intelligence committee on June 8. His appearance came a month after Trump amid an ongoing federal investigation into the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump campaign associates were involved in
