In James Comey’s first interview since his infamous memos went public, the former FBI director said that his contemporaneous writings should be used in an obstruction of justice case against Donald Trump.
Comey told Maddow that his memos “bolster the credibility” of his account of what happened in private meetings with Trump.
Video:
James Comey tells #Maddow that his memos could be used in an obstruction of justice case against Trump pic.twitter.com/CYihnC4Iya
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 20, 2018
The exchange between Maddow and Comey:
MADDOW: You say in the book that you don’t know if the president’s requests to you about the Russia investigation and your firing constituted obstruction of justice. You said a prosecutor would need to review all the evidence of the president’s intent behind those actions in order to do that. Do you think these memos are part of the evidence that a prosecutor, Robert Mueller or somebody else, should be considering when determining the president’s intent?
COMEY: Yes. In this way — I’m sure the special counsel’s considering my recollection of those events, which are reflected in these memos, but it’s my recollection that is the evidence that would be used if there was ever a proceeding. These would be to show that I wrote it down at the time, sort of to bolster the credibility of my recollection.
Comey’s memos just went public
Just as James Comey sat down for his interview with Rachel Maddow, his highly anticipated memos were publicly released. They can be seen here.
Already, Democrats are pointing to the documents as proof that Comey was telling the truth about his account of what the president told him in private, particularly with respect to the Russia investigation and Trump’s request for loyalty.
A short time ago, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), issued a statement saying the “contemporaneous memos provide strong corroborating evidence of everything he said about President Trump.”
The full statement via MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin:
Elijah Cummings: “Director Comey’s contemporaneous memos provide strong corroborating evidence of everything he said about President Trump.” pic.twitter.com/sjzJuQAmVq
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 20, 2018
Ultimately, while much of the content in the Comey memos was touched on in his book, it should alarm those in Trumpland that the documents could be used in an obstruction of justice case.
The former FBI director can lean on his contemporaneous memos to give credibility to his account of the interactions he had with the president. Trump, on the other hand, can only lash out on Twitter.
If, as Comey says, these memos are used as evidence in the overall obstruction of justice case against Donald Trump, that spells major trouble for the White House.
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