TPM - Marshall's "Annotated Notes on the Comey Statement"

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/my-annotated-notes-on-the-comey-statement

By JOSH MARSHALL Published JUNE 7, 2017 4:07 PM

Given the significance of the early release of James Comey’s testimony, I took a moment to annotate the document as just released this afternoon. Most of my underlines and comments will be things that others will also have keyed in on. Some are just obvious. Still, given how packed with significance and factual assertions these seven pages are, I thought this would be a helpful exercise and that readers might be interested.

Before the annotated document, let me briefly share with you the points that jumped out at me as new or significant.

1. By Comey’s own account, Trump had a reasonable basis to say that he had three times told Trump that he was not personally under investigation. This seems highly notable since that seemed like such a crazy comment from Trump in his firing letter.

2. If you look at what Comey says very narrowly, he seems to make these assurances about a counter-intelligence investigation and not a potential criminal investigation. I suspect this is an over-reading of the document. But I’ll simply note that it’s a plausible read.

3. Trump’s invitation for Comey to come to dinner at the White House came the day of the dinner was the same day Sally Yates made her second visit in two days to the White House giving White House Counsel Donald McGahn a “heads up” about Mike Flynn. Published reports say that McGahn briefed Trump about these visits and their contents immediately. It seems quite likely the Yates “heads up” was the trigger for the invitation.

snip - much more - plus the entire Comey statement red penciled by Josh Marshall's comments. Read at the link

[jberryhill]

1. Point #2 is worth considering

Comey is well trained, and as a lawyer reading that document, the "counter intelligence" qualifier jumped right out at me.

I don't think it is an over-reading of the document.