Comey was so appalled by the request that he wanted to document it, sources said. Comey shared it with FBI senior officials, according to sources.
Upper level people collect all the information they can to make an airtight case before making an accusation.
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/US-Trump-Comey-Timeline/2017/05/16/id/790545/A person who had seen the memo told The Associated Press what Comey had written. The person was not authorized to discuss the memo by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. The existence of the memo was first reported by The New York Times.
OPINION: The Comey memo offers zero evidence to impeach TrumpBy Jonathan Turley, opinion contributor - 05/17/17 06:00 AM EDT http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/333764-opinion-the-comey-memo-offers-zero-proof-to-impeachA good place to start would be with the federal law, specifically 18 U.S.C. 1503. The criminal code demands more than what Comey reportedly describes in his memo……However, that still leaves the need to show that the effort was to influence “corruptly” when Trump could say that he did little but express concern for a longtime associate. The term “corruptly” is actually defined differently under the various obstruction provisions, but it often involves a showing that someone acted “with the intent to secure an unlawful benefit for oneself or another." Encouraging leniency or advocating for an associate is improper but not necessarily seeking an unlawful benefit for him.Yet, it also raises questions of Comey’s judgment. The account suggests that Comey was so concerned about the conversation that he wrote a memorandum for record. But that would suggest that Comey thought the president was trying to influence the investigation but then said nothing to the Justice Department or to his investigation team. The report says that, while Comey may have told a couple of colleagues at the FBI, he did not tell the investigation team “so the details of the conversation would not affect the investigation.”Why? If he thought the president was trying to derail the investigation, that would seem relevant to the scope of the investigation. It is like a bank president seeking to close a fraud investigation, but the contact in the FBI decided not to tell bank investigators. One explanation would be that Comey did not view Trump as a potential target of the Flynn investigation, and thus did not view the uncomfortable meeting as relevant to the investigation team (and Trump has maintained that Comey told him three times that he was not a target). However, that would make the case even weaker for allegations that Trump was trying to protect himself or his inner circle by seeking closure for Flynn.There is a separate question of whether this type of alleged obstruction could be the basis for impeachment. As someone who has been down that long impeachment road before, I would again advocate caution. Last night, respected former presidential advisor David Gergen said that, with the Comey memo, we are now “in impeachable territory.” If so, we have one foot on the shore and one in a raging surf. Before we start an impeachment proceeding, we need to be on terra firma. It requires more than uncomfortable meetings or ill-considered disclosures.What the Ashcroft “Hospital Showdown” on NSA spying was all aboutHow the government sought to justify blanket collection of Internet metadata.Julian Sanchez - 7/29/2013, 6:00 AM https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/07/what-the-ashcroft-hospital-showdown-on-nsa-spying-was-all-about/The infamous showdown took place in March 2004, while Ashcroft was recovering from illness in a hospital bed. Acting attorney general James Comey—now President Obama’s nominee to head the FBI—was refusing to reauthorize one component of the secret surveillance program. Comey concluded that it was illegal. This prompted White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to rush to Ashcroft’s hospital room in hopes of getting the ailing AG to countermand Comey, who was tipped off about Gonzales’ plan and sped there as well.......
I’m still looking for a link so that I can read the memo.Some excerpts.Quote http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/alan-dershowitz-james-comey-memo-fbi/2017/05/16/id/790555/Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday that former FBI Director James Comey's memo on his February conversation with President Donald Trump "has to be seen" because "tone is everything.""For a president – and tone is everything – that's why the memo has to be seen and that's why, if there are tapes, we should hear them," Dershowitz told Anderson Cooper on CNN."If the president politely suggests to the director of the FBI: 'He's a good guy, [Michael] Flynn. I would appreciate if you let him off the hook. I fired him.'"That doesn't become" a case of obstruction of justice," he said.
http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/alan-dershowitz-james-comey-memo-fbi/2017/05/16/id/790555/Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday that former FBI Director James Comey's memo on his February conversation with President Donald Trump "has to be seen" because "tone is everything.""For a president – and tone is everything – that's why the memo has to be seen and that's why, if there are tapes, we should hear them," Dershowitz told Anderson Cooper on CNN."If the president politely suggests to the director of the FBI: 'He's a good guy, [Michael] Flynn. I would appreciate if you let him off the hook. I fired him.'"That doesn't become" a case of obstruction of justice," he said.
Quote from: Mr.DeMartino on Yesterday at 01:40:32 Trump is a liar and a con man.
Quote from Mr.DeMartino on June 14, 2019 at 02:28:07 Donald Trump is a lying sack of shit
Quote from: eastreef on May 17, 2017, 08:16:15 pmI’m still looking for a link so that I can read the memo.Some excerpts.Quote http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/alan-dershowitz-james-comey-memo-fbi/2017/05/16/id/790555/Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday that former FBI Director James Comey's memo on his February conversation with President Donald Trump "has to be seen" because "tone is everything.""For a president – and tone is everything – that's why the memo has to be seen and that's why, if there are tapes, we should hear them," Dershowitz told Anderson Cooper on CNN."If the president politely suggests to the director of the FBI: 'He's a good guy, [Michael] Flynn. I would appreciate if you let him off the hook. I fired him.'"That doesn't become" a case of obstruction of justice," he said. lol you read Birthermax. We should all take you so seriously.
Quote from: Mr.DeMartino on May 17, 2017, 04:41:27 pmNice job answering eastreef's questions guys.QuoteMy first question is if Comey was so appalled by what happened on February 14, why did he wait until May 16 to apparently release part of the memo?Another question is why didn’t Comey mention this “incident” when he testified before congress? It’s not exactly like Comey has not had the attention of congress during these last few months. If he had publically read his memo into the congressional record while testifying, that would most likely have given congress no choice but to investigate. Further, I would think it would have also made it virtually politically impossible for him to be fired.My final question, at this time, is that Comey did make it clear to Senators Feinstein and Grassley that Trump was not under FBI investigation; therefore, if Comey really believed that Trump was trying to obstruct justice, why didn’t Comey start an obstruction of justice investigation against Trump?What? Answer his questions based on conjecture and false equivalencies?Hopefully, all questions will be asked and answered in the forthcoming congressional open hearings.
Nice job answering eastreef's questions guys.QuoteMy first question is if Comey was so appalled by what happened on February 14, why did he wait until May 16 to apparently release part of the memo?Another question is why didn’t Comey mention this “incident” when he testified before congress? It’s not exactly like Comey has not had the attention of congress during these last few months. If he had publically read his memo into the congressional record while testifying, that would most likely have given congress no choice but to investigate. Further, I would think it would have also made it virtually politically impossible for him to be fired.My final question, at this time, is that Comey did make it clear to Senators Feinstein and Grassley that Trump was not under FBI investigation; therefore, if Comey really believed that Trump was trying to obstruct justice, why didn’t Comey start an obstruction of justice investigation against Trump?
My first question is if Comey was so appalled by what happened on February 14, why did he wait until May 16 to apparently release part of the memo?Another question is why didn’t Comey mention this “incident” when he testified before congress? It’s not exactly like Comey has not had the attention of congress during these last few months. If he had publically read his memo into the congressional record while testifying, that would most likely have given congress no choice but to investigate. Further, I would think it would have also made it virtually politically impossible for him to be fired.My final question, at this time, is that Comey did make it clear to Senators Feinstein and Grassley that Trump was not under FBI investigation; therefore, if Comey really believed that Trump was trying to obstruct justice, why didn’t Comey start an obstruction of justice investigation against Trump?
lol you read Birthermax. We should all take you so seriously.
Yes, the fact that someone spent enough time on Newsmax to copy and paste a URL is pretty damning.I'm sure ANY DAY NOW Newsmax will finally reveal their smoking gun video of Obama being born in Nairobi and get him impeached!
Quote from: MayorHaggar on May 18, 2017, 10:44:46 amYes, the fact that someone spent enough time on Newsmax to copy and paste a URL is pretty damning.I'm sure ANY DAY NOW Newsmax will finally reveal their smoking gun video of Obama being born in Nairobi and get him impeached!I intentionally use a variety of sources for the links that I use in my posts. Although this is more time consuming it allows me to comfortably reply to criticisms such as yours. For example, you cite Newsmax, but you fail to mention that in my other posts yesterday not only did I link Newsmax, but I also linked the Hill, BBC and Politico.com (many say Politico.com leans to the left and is anti-Trump.
Lone congressman calls to impeach Trump on House Floor: Does it matter?Published time: 17 May, 2017 19:09Edited time: 18 May, 2017 13:25Get short URL © Carlos Barria / Reuters1.8KRepresentative Al Green (D-Texas) has called for impeachment proceedings to begin against President Donald Trump. His speech on the House Floor came as a group of Democrats distanced themselves from calls for impeachment.“I rise today with a heavy heart,” Green began. “I rise today with a sense of responsibility and duty to the people who have elected me, a sense of duty to this country, a sense of duty to the Constitution of the United States of America. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to call for the impeachment of the president of the United States of America for obstruction of justice.”His call for impeachment was “not for political purposes,” Green said. “I do this because, Mr. Speaker, there is a belief in this country that no one is above the law, and that includes the president.”Impeachment is a three-part process outlined in the Constitution. It begins in the House of Representatives, where a simple majority can vote to impeach a federal official for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." The definition is vague and has long been debated. In 1970, then-House Minority Leader Gerald Ford defined an impeachable offense as “whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."Once the House has voted to impeach, the issue heads to the Senate, which holds a trial. If the official in question is the president, then the chief justice of the US Supreme Court is the presiding judge, otherwise it is the vice president in his role as president of the Senate. The Senate needs a two-thirds majority, or 67 out of 100 votes, to find an official guilty and remove that person from office.Read moreU.S. President Donald Trump attends the United States Coast Guard Academy Commencement Ceremony in New London, Connecticut May 17 2017. © Kevin LamarqueDefiant Trump fires back at ‘unfair’ media in speech to Coast Guard graduatesGreen’s speech on Wednesday morning came as Democratic leadership in the House held a press conference calling for an open-ended, independent investigation into any potential criminal wrongdoings by Trump and his associates.“It seems like we are learning disturbing new allegations about President Trump not just every day, but every hour,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee. “Our committee should already be conducting robust and transparent investigations.”He faulted House Republicans, specifically Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), for doing “as little as humanly possible just to claim that they’re doing something.”Under a bill proposed by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California), Congress would create an independent, bipartisan commission of 12 people to investigate alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 presidential election, any collusion with the Trump campaign and accusations by former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump abruptly fired last Tuesday, that the president urged Comey to drop a probe into Michael Flynn, Trump’s disgraced former national security adviser.“Our democracy is a mess,” Swalwell said. “Today is a courage call for our Republican colleagues. Can they put party aside and unite with Democrats?”READ MORE: House Oversight Chairman ‘ready to subpoena’ Trump over reporting of Comey communicationsThe Democratic minority in the House stopped short, however, of calling for articles of impeachment, although House Democratic Caucus Chair Joseph Crowley (D-New York) noted that “members can come to their own conclusions” about whether the president should be impeached.Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, warned that any steps must be bipartisan, and that hasty talk of impeachment would become a distraction.“It cannot be perceived as an effort to nullify the election by other means,” he said.Only two presidents ‒ Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999 ‒ have ever been impeached by the House, both of which history has judged to be highly partisan proceedings. Neither was convicted in the Senate. President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, rather than go through an impeachment vote in the House.“We are at a very significant moment in this country’s history,” Cummings said. “We need to get this right,” no matter how long it takes because “this is bigger than us, this is bigger than President Trump. This is about the soul of our democracy.”As Trump’s approval ratings have dropped, Republicans are hearing from their constituents that they need to do more when it comes to investigating the president, CNN reported. Only 42 percent of Americans approve of Trump, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday. It was conducted after the Comey firing but before news broke of his memo or that Trump may have disclosed classified information from an ally to Russia.View image on TwitterView image on Twitter Follow Nate Silver ✔ @NateSilver538This is the highest disapproval rating we've measured for Trump so far, and close to his lowest approval rating. http://53eig.ht/2lYTN9X 6:07 AM - 17 May 2017 991 991 Retweets 1,718 1,718 likesTwitter Ads info & PrivacySo far, only one GOP representative has publicly said that impeachment may be an option. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Michigan), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and a frequent Trump critic, said that, if it turns out that Trump pressured Comey to drop the Flynn investigation, it would be grounds for impeachment, The Hill reported."But everybody gets a fair trial in this country," Amash told reporters as he left a House GOP conference meeting. When asked if he trusted Comey’s word over Trump’s, he replied: "I think it's pretty clear I have more confidence in Director Comey."
Does anyone dispute the possibility of an obstruction of justice charge?
Quote from: Adel on May 21, 2017, 04:42:30 amDoes anyone dispute the possibility of an obstruction of justice charge?Nothing done so far would stand up in court as a real obstruction of justice charge.The only people who think Trump obstructed justice are people who are ignorant.
You do realize that Comey had zero impact on the investigation. All he does is report on it and present it to the public. The actual investigators are at levels at least one or two steps removed from him.
Trump's other statements would be incredibly flimsy in court given that they often come from anonymous sources.
Quote from: donovan on May 13, 2017, 02:21:02 pmQuote from: Life Improvement on May 13, 2017, 12:49:11 pmDonald Trump claims he invented 'priming the pump' phrasehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/11/donald-trump-claims-invented-priming-pump-phrase/"I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good," Mr Trump told "The Economist" magazine in an interview published on Thursday. Please stop twisting his words, Life Support. Getting tired of your endless spin to make Trump look like a moron. Everyone knows he *meant* that he was the first to use the phrase as a sexual metaphor.heh
Quote from: Life Improvement on May 13, 2017, 12:49:11 pmDonald Trump claims he invented 'priming the pump' phrasehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/11/donald-trump-claims-invented-priming-pump-phrase/"I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good," Mr Trump told "The Economist" magazine in an interview published on Thursday. Please stop twisting his words, Life Support. Getting tired of your endless spin to make Trump look like a moron. Everyone knows he *meant* that he was the first to use the phrase as a sexual metaphor.
Donald Trump claims he invented 'priming the pump' phrasehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/11/donald-trump-claims-invented-priming-pump-phrase/"I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good," Mr Trump told "The Economist" magazine in an interview published on Thursday.
So why did he fire Comey?
You mean the public press conference where he explained his reasoning, ie. a lack of popularity
Quote from: Adel on May 21, 2017, 08:45:11 amSo why did he fire Comey?A combination of factors1) Shortly before he was fired, Comey had completely botched testimony he gave regarding the Weiner/Abedin matter and this hurt his already damaged credibility with Democrats.Why does that matter to Trump?2) HRC blaming Comey for her defeat and this lack of credibility Comey had meant that if Trump was cleared by Comey, that the Democrats/Left wouldn't accept the outcome.Why does that matter to Trump?3) Trump was probably displeased with how long the investigation was taking and what an albatross it had become. When people are testifying and even Dem. congressional leaders are saying "No evidence of collusion" yet the narrative and belief of half the country is that Trump is in league with the Russians, something is wrong.I don't believe that the investigation has gone fully into the dealings of Trump and his associates and their links to the Russians. "No evidence of collusion" yet, which is why you have investigations if the links warrant them.4) Comey had basically become a sideshow and the FBI needed someone with a lower profile in charge. It's not always a good thing when everyone knows who the head of law enforcement agencies are. I think it's a good thing that I don't know who the head of the DEA or the U.S. Marshals is. That means they're doing the boring, nitty-gritty work. Why does that matter to Trump?
I really don't want to talk about Russia or anything, but just want to ask if anyone is following this stuff in Saudi Arabia like the sword dance and the glowing orbIt's incredibly funny, even though probably 95% of people in the room deserve to get strafed with their own fighter planes