There were a lot of relevations at today’s open hearing, in which James Comey testified about his interactions with Donald Trump, his firing, and the surrounding investigations into the Trump administration’s connections with Russia. However, there was much Comey couldn’t discuss in public, but he did hint at his concerns, most tellingly in a discussion about his personal memos.
Comey first revealed his concerns with Trump through a law professor friend, who shared Comey’s most telling memo with the the New York Times on May 16th. The memo contains the now-infamous discussion of Trump telling Comey that he “hoped” Comey could see to ending the investigation into Flynn, now that he’d resigned, and arguably kicked off the entire reason Comey testified in front of the Senate in the first place.
Most telling, though, is Comey’s exact motive. When asked why he shared the memo with a friend, Comey bluntly stated “I thought that might prompt appointment of a special counsel.” That is, of course, exactly what it did, as Robert Mueller is currently investigating the Trump campaign. It’s telling, though, for two reasons. The first is that Comey felt the circumstances warranted pushing his now-former colleagues to do their jobs, and the second is that Comey, based on what he knew when he was fired, thought a special counsel was necessary.
(via NBC News)