Ousted FBI head James Comey on Thursday accused US President Donald Trump’s White House of lies and defamation in sworn testimony over almost three hours of televised statements, while there was also discomfort for the Democratic Party, with Comey describing directions from former US president Barack Obama’s attorney general as “concerning.”
Comey described himself as “stunned” by Trump’s “very disturbing” and “very concerning” behavior in several private meetings.
Detailing one-on-one talks with the president, Comey said he took painstaking notes for fear that Trump might lie about the encounters.
Photo: EPA
During one White House dinner, Comey said that the president asked him for “loyalty” and to lay off former national security adviser Mike Flynn — who is under criminal investigation for alleged ties to Russian — asking Comey to “let this go.”
Comey said that it was now up to a high-powered special prosecutor to determine whether that behavior, and his own sacking, constituted an obstruction of justice.
“It’s my judgement that I was fired because of the Russia investigation,” he told senators. “I was fired in some way to change, or the endeavor was to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal.”
Easing months of speculation, Comey confirmed that Trump was not the subject of a counterterror or criminal probe when he left the FBI last month.
Comey began his testimony with a bid to set the record straight about the state of the bureau he led until he was sacked last month.
“Although the law requires no reason at all to fire an FBI director, the administration then chose to defame me, and more importantly the FBI, by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader,” he said. “Those were lies, plain and simple.”
It was not just the Trump administration that made Comey anxious about the need to protect the integrity and independence of the FBI.
He described discomfort during the Obama administration in an episode during the inquiry into former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server when then-US attorney general Loretta Lynch directed him “not to call it an investigation, but to call it a ‘matter,’ which confused me and concerned me.”
Comey said that language “tracked” how Clinton was talking about the FBI’s work on the campaign trail in the run-up to last year’s presidential election.
“We had an investigation open at the time, so that gave me a queasy feeling,” he said.
Meanwhile, after a period of silence, Trump yesterday said that Comey’s testimony was a “total and complete vindication” in the Russian election-meddling furor.
Trump, who had not posted on Twitter on Thursday, tweeted yesterday: “Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication ... and WOW, Comey is a leaker.”
Comey said that he had orchestrated the public release of information about his private conversations with the president in an effort to help the investigation.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique