Former FBI Director James Comey is set to testify on Capitol Hill on Thursday in a highly-scrutinized Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
Former FBI Director James Comey is testifying on Capitol Hill on Thursday in a highly anticipated Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
Comey will face questions regarding the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, though many political observers expect the real drama to unfold as Comey discusses private interactions he had with President Donald Trump before he was fired in May.
On Wednesday, the former FBI director released his prepared opening testimony, confirming previous bombshell reports that Trump asked the FBI director to pledge loyalty to the president, as well as call off the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's connections to Russia.
Comey's testimony also confirmed that he took meticulous notes about his meetings with the president, and told Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he did not want to be left alone with Trump because he felt the conversations were inappropriate.
Trump and his top allies have already been pushing back against Thursday's hearing.
The Republican National Committee issued talking points dismissing Comey's testimony, while Trump's attorney released a statement on Wednesday saying he felt vindicated by the former FBI director's statement that the president was not personally under investigation regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The hearing has captured the attention of much of the political world, drawing comparisons to historic hearings about the Iran-Contra scandal and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' confirmation.
Bars in Washington, DC, and San Francisco have even opened early for people looking to watch the hearings.
Check below for live updates from the hearing.
10:18 — Sen. Mark Warner in his opening statement: "This is not a witch hunt it's not fake news. It's an attempt to protect our country from a new threat that will not go anywhere anytime soon."
10:22 — Comey said the shifting White House explanation for his dismissal confused him and "concerned" him. "It confused me when I saw on television that he actually fired me because of the Russia investigation."
10:22— Comey: "I was also confused by the initial explanation that was offered publicly that I was fired because of the decisions I had made during the election year. That didn't make sense to me for a whole bunch of reasons, including the time and all the water that had gone under the bridge since those decisions had to be made."
10:24 — Comey says the Trump administration attempted discredit him and the FBI: "The administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. Those were lies, plain and simple. And I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them and I am so sorry that the American people had to hear them."
10:26 — Comey responds to Sen. Richard Burr, says it is not for the former director to determine whether Trump explicitly obstructed justice
10:36 - Comey on why he documented his meeting with Trump: "I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I thought it would be important to document." Warner responds: "That was a very important statement you just made."
10:39 - Comey explains his sole meeting with President Bush: "I didn't feel with President Bush the need to document it."
10:41 - Comey describes what Trump said to him the day after the inauguration: "What the president whispered in my ear was 'I really look forward to working with you.'"
10:44 - "The reason that Congress created a 10 year term is so that the director is not feeling that they're serving" a particular president, Comey said. "It should be about the facts and the law."
10:46 - Comey explains his thinking after Trump asked the then-director to drop the investigation into Flynn: "I remember thinking this is a very disturbing development, very important to our work."
10:47 - Comey said Trump did not ask him to interfere in any other investigation, of the tens of thousands being conducted by the FBI.
Former FBI Director James Comey is set to testify on Capitol Hill on Thursday in a highly-scrutinized Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Read Full Story
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