On June 8, former FBI Director James Comey spoke at a congressional hearing on his conversations with President Donald Trump.
Interesting Quotes from James Comey Hearing
Many described the hearing featuring former FBI Director James Comey as the Super Bowl of politics.
Bars across the country hosted early morning watch parties with drinks renamed to fit the occasion.
The “covfefe” became the drink of choice for many observers.
During the congressional hearing, James Comey stated that the White House lied on him, tried to defame him and attempted to end the investigation of possible collusion between Russian officials and the 2016 Trump campaign.
Thursday’s hearing featured many memorable quotes from James Comey.
Below are 10 quotes from James Comey that stood out above the rest:
“And he repeatedly told me I was doing a great job and he hoped I would stay. And I had repeatedly assured him that I did intend to stay and serve out the remaining six years of my term.”—On President Donald Trump initially praising his performance as FBI director
“He told me repeatedly that he had talked to lots of people about me, including our attorney general, and had learned that I was doing a great job and that I was extremely well-liked by the FBI workforce.”—On James Comey’s reputation at the FBI
“So it confused me when I saw on television the president saying that he actually fired me because of the Russia investigation and learned, again, from the media that he was telling, privately, other parties that my firing had relieved great pressure on the Russia investigation.”
“And although the law required no reason at all to fire an FBI director, the administration 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.”
“But first, I want the American people to know this truth: The FBI is honest. The FBI is strong. And the FBI is, and always will be, independent.”
“I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct. I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning, but that’s a conclusion I’m sure the special counsel will work towards, to try and understand what the intention was there, and whether that’s an offense.”
“The first cyber—it was all kinds of cyber intrusions going on all the time. The first Russian-connected cyber intrusion, I became aware of in late summer of 2015.”
“Probably the only other consideration that I guess I can talk about in an open setting is, at one point, the attorney general had directed me not to call it an investigation, but instead to call it a matter, which confused me and concerned me.”—On his investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s email scandal
“And then the nature of the person: I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I thought it really important to document.”
“And my common sense—again, I could be wrong, but my common sense told me what’s going on here is that he is looking to get something in exchange for granting my request to stay in the job.”
Only time will tell what will happen to Trump’s presidency as far as possible impeachment. However, many of these memorable James Comey quotes will live on for many generations to come.