The critical information in James Comey's written statement - By Jennifer Rubin
In advance of his highly anticipated hearing Thursday, the testimony of former FBI director James B. Comey has been released by the Senate Intelligence Committee. (That, in and of itself, is a favor to the White House, allowing it to prepare.) The testimony is not the same as the individual memos Comey wrote, but presumably those support the narrative he tells in a gripping account of five of his nine interactions with the president.
In a nutshell: On Jan. 6, Comey was sent to brief Trump on the contents of the Russia dossier. “In that context, prior to the January 6 meeting, I discussed with the FBI’s leadership team whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally. That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him. We agreed I should do so if circumstances warranted. During our one-on-one meeting at Trump Tower, based on President-Elect Trump’s reaction to the briefing and without him directly asking the question, I offered that assurance.” Note what is NOT said when Comey writes, “We did not have.” That does not mean a case was not opened subsequently. The written testimony confirms Trump’s claim Comey told him three times he was not being investigated. Did Comey subsequently open a file?
Comey notes that he began documenting his meetings with the president, something he never did with President Barack Obama. Why? What behavior or information compelled him to document these encounters in such detail?
Next came the private dinner on Jan. 27, to which Comey says the president invited him. I quote it at length to convey the drama:
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