If I were Trump's attorney I would have asked the Justice dept to indict comey for leaking
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Yes, Comey testified that he had a friend leak his memos of his conversations with the president to the media. These memos, would be privileged, but I am not sure that leaking them is a crime. Dishonorable yes, criminal I am not sure.
If it's his personal descriptions of conversations with the President, not only is it not a crime, it's not even unethical, imo. He was upfront about how, why, and when he leaked them. It's nothing classified.
This is the Trump camp trying to flip the script. Comey isn't a "leaker".
This is the Trump camp trying to flip the script. Comey isn't a "leaker".
I don't think it's dishonorable at all. There was a reason he wrote it down. Why prevent him from getting it out? If Trump did nothing wrong, and there isn't any classified information included.....why would Trump care?
This is considered privileged information. It may not be a crime but he is a leaker.
1) trump didn't invoke privilege, it was all over the fake news prior to the testimony.
B) It certainly isn't a crime. It is a record of a non-classified conversation and have been entered into the record.
3) it is not dishonorable and in fact is norm in this situation.
I am not certain as to the law, but any private meeting you have with the president is privileged. Trump cannot invoke executive privilege after the information has already hit the media. And I believe leaking to be completely dishonorable.
It's not so much if he leaked, but what Comey provided (for lack of a better word) was 100% false!
Trump DID NOT obstruct, and he DID NOT ask Comey to obstruct justice.
That's all the MSM was reporting after that memo...all fake news!
One of the leading constitutional scholars in the country, Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, said Trump could've ordered Coney to stop the investigation and that still would not have been obstruction. It is part of trumps authority to do so.
Yes true, but the point is he did NOT. Isn't that all we heard the media sirens blaring after that memo was published in the NYT?
This guy Comey was either trying to smear Trump, or hoping something later would come of his obstruction suggestion but when he had to fess up and show his cards today he folded.
Lindsey Graham said today something that I agree with, and I really agree with him. He said that Meuller would never have allowed Comey to testify about this if obstruction of justice was even being considered. That is exactly right.
I'm pretty sure, though I may be wrong, that the memo was FOUO at a minimum since it was typed up on a Govt computer, by a Govt employee, as a record of in his words "official memo", and shared within the FBI leadership team. In essence, once terminated,
A. Why did he still have it? It was not his, it belonged to the FBI and by extension the people of the US.
B. If he was keeping Private off the record files on the President, that would/could be construed as blackmail or an attempt. Very Hooveresque. I'd think any notes pertaining to a conversation with the President would be official documents that he released without permission.
Moreover, since he did release documents without permission, that did not constitute whistleblowing status because there wasn't a whistle to be blown contained in what he released. He wasn't outing a crime or malfeasance. He was covering his ***.
All of that said, politics, yo! We certainly wouldn't get away with it in the private sector and low level **** heels within the Govt wouldn't either.
I heard the same thing and it's absolutely correct. I'm amazed we've actually considered this nonsense for as long as we have.
I'm just satisfied to see more credibility lost among the MSM, however bad they end up looking after this is all over I'm good with it.
Great summary. I have read of soldiers in prison right now that did far less than Hillary. It must be very nice to be an elite politician.
Hahahaha hahahaha!
No he didn't.
You are a f'ucking liar!!!!
Where do you get your "news"?
They discussed this in the testimony. A MFR of a conversation, as long as it isn't about classified info, is a product of the employee.
Trump leaked the termination letter. I mean, leaking is done all the time, it's a problem when it's sensitive information or criminal when it's classified.
How do we know that Comey's testimony under oath is false? How can one say that his testimony about what Trump may or may not have said during their private meetings (for which no one else was present), is false?
Comey has now provided sworn testimony.
There is only one other person who has personal knowledge of what was said or discussed -- Trump.
Will Trump testify under oath before the Senate committee to refute what Comey said? And subject himself to cross-examination? Tweets won't do the job. If there is to be any testimony to contradict what Comey said, Trump will need to testify. Will he do that? Will Trump turn over his tapes of those conversations?
To me, so far, the committee hearings are somewhat of a sideshow distraction (that may change, of course) with predictable, partisan questioning. The real meat-swinger is Mueller. When Mueller gets around to taking testimony, with a judge available to compel recalcitrant witnesses, we'll likely start getting a more accurate picture of what did or did not happen. He has brought on board a top forensic financial expert (one can, at this point, only speculate what financial documents are currently of interest to Mueller). Flynn is one path to follow. From Comey's testimony, the infamous dossier compiled by the British agent may now be in play. Eventually we'll find out if there is merit to all of this or simply benign clumsiness by the Trump team.
You are wrong.....in one of my rare moments of watching CNN......Dershowitz DID say that Trump could have told Comey to stop it. Also David Axelrod said Trump committed no crime.
1) Trump did not do what he was accused of doing.
There was no obstruction
2) That dossier has already been proven to be fraudulent. The alleged events never happened!
Trump is not under investigation, was never under investigation, and did not obstruct any investigation. You are only hearing what you want to hear.
This was a devastating deconstruction of the entire Leftist meme, and you're just holding out for something that doesn't exist.
So you are saying James Comey, an attorney, a Republican, the former Deputy Attorney General of the United States, lied under oath today (committed perjury)?
You are a fool.
Trump didn't leak anything. He provided a letter explaining Comey's firing to the American people. That is not leaking, it is routine business. Comey admitted he leaked the memo.
Comey ADMITTED he leaked the memo. It was privileged information. If that memo were produced on government property (laptop) it is government/people owned. I honestly don't know if it was illegal or not. I know it was cowardly in that he had an old friend leak it. Just as it was cowardly when he said he was not "strong enough" in his meeting with Trump (when a Dem Senator asked him why he did not raise the issue with Trump regarding Trump's hope that Flynn not go though anymore issues). He is the damn FBI director and he said he was not strong enough to mention it at the time? OMG. Thank God he is gone. Hopefully we get someone stronger in that position in the future.
New York Daily News NEWS
James Comey admits to leaking a Trump memo to Columbia professor to help get special prosecutor appointed
You clearly don't understand how priveleged communication works.
Trump gave approval for Comey to testify prior to the testimony. He did not invoke privilege. A federal employee, regardless of their position, as long as it isn't classified information, has the right to document a conversation with any other federal employee, even the President and that documentation, usually in the form of a MFR (Memorandum For Record) is property of that individual and is admissible in court. That is why trump was advised to give consent to Comey to testify, to not invoke privelege because he really had no legal standing to stop it.
I honestly don't intend this to be insulting but either you are not very intelligent at all or you are so blinded by your ideology that you won't listen to others when they are right and trying to talk common sense to you. Or maybe a little bit of both.
As I said, I did not know if it was illegal. I said it was cowardly. As for intelligence, you are the last person on the board that should question anyone's intellect.
BTW, I just watched a famed lawyer say that a crime may well have been committed with that leak. I have read other lawyers draw different conclusions.
The issue seems to be Comey's employment agreement with the FBI and FBI policies and practices regarding this leak. You may not be looking in the right direction for illegality. If Comey violated that Agreement with the FBI or violated FBI standards, it may result in punishment, but again, nothing seems clear right now.
My question is what other leaks did Comey engage in?
One last thing, there are two federal statutes that make it a crime to leak unclassified information, 18 USC 641 and 793. These documents were not Comey's personal property. This was government property. Government property/documents must be handled according to the law.
USC 641 Whoever embezzles, steals, purloins, or knowingly converts to his use or the use of another, or without authority, sells, conveys or disposes of any record, voucher, money, or thing of value of the United States or of any department or agency thereof, or any property made or being made under contract for the United States or any department or agency thereof; or
Whoever receives, conceals, or retains the same with intent to convert it to his use or gain, knowing it to have been embezzled, stolen, purloined or converted—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; but if the value of such property in the aggregate, combining amounts from all the counts for which the defendant is convicted in a single case, does not exceed the sum of $1,000, he shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
The word “value” means face, par, or market value, or cost price, either wholesale or retail, whichever is greater.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 725; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(H), (L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147; Pub. L. 104–294, title VI, § 606(a), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3511; Pub. L. 108–275, § 4, July 15, 2004, 118 Stat. 833.)
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You are reduced to name calling because there was no obstruction, and no collusion as you thought up to about 24 hours ago.
and Comey is lying about not keeping records from previous encounters...
he wrote a 5-page report on a dinner meeting with Trump...
he's just a liar...
he let Hilliary and the obamagang run rampant ...
he wrote a 5-page report on a dinner meeting with Trump...
he's just a liar...
he let Hilliary and the obamagang run rampant ...
It is his property. (The MFR)
Let me give you a very concrete example.
A female federal employee is sexually harassed or sexually assaulted by another federal employee. The first thing she does, if she is intelligent, is go back to her desk and on her government computer make a record of what happened. This MFR is her property even though it was prepared in a government office on a government computer. There is a legal precedent already established. It has already been settled. And you can bet your *** she can share this in any legal proceeding.
You poor trumpsters.
This place looks like a spinning top convention with fools sitting on the floor all across the room watching their little tops spin.
Employment agreement?
Hahahahahaha.
He took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the US against all enemies, both domestic and foreign.
Hahahahahaha.
You are being foolish.
Is that better?
This is a textbook case of obstruction. Many Republicans even saying so. Little hands is now in deep ****.
As far as the collusion goes, there is a special counsel appointed to investigate and they are investigating. I'll wait for their statement when the investigation is complete.
I am confident that a formal statement will be made at some point in the future that the POTUS obstructed justice.
What it will all come down to are there enough Republicans in Congress to choose country over party or vice versa.