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Comey gives his testimony and the contents seem fairly damning. There is complete silence from the Trump administration, even though Trump said he would be responding to the testimony live. Comey says he thinks he was fired due to the Russia investigation, says he thought Trump was asking for "loyalty" and found it disturbing. He also makes it completely clear that the intelligence community is certain that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

At one point in the testimony, Comey mentions leaking some info to a friend of his in order to prompt a hearing/investigation into this whole thing. The information leaked was not classified information.

Trump's lawyers issue a statement basically saying Trump is off the hook, and Comey's testimony proves he did nothing wrong. Their statement literally says that Comey's testimony proved Russia wasn't interfering in the election, when Comey actually said the exact opposite.

Now someone has given Trump his phone back, and he decides to tweet:

"Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication...and WOW, Comey is a leaker!"

Are you really falling for this shit?
Comey gives his testimony and the contents seem fairly damning. There is complete silence from the Trump administration, even though Trump said he would be responding to the testimony live. Comey says he thinks he was fired due to the Russia investigation, says he thought Trump was asking for "loyalty" and found it disturbing. He also makes it completely clear that the intelligence community is certain that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. At one point in the testimony, Comey mentions leaking some info to a friend of his in order to prompt a hearing/investigation into this whole thing. The information leaked was _not classified information_. Trump's lawyers issue a statement basically saying Trump is off the hook, and Comey's testimony proves he did nothing wrong. Their statement literally says that Comey's testimony proved Russia wasn't interfering in the election, when Comey actually said _the exact opposite_. Now someone has given Trump his phone back, and he decides to tweet: "Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication...and WOW, Comey is a leaker!" Are you really falling for this shit?

12 comments

[–] InnocentBystander 3 points (+3|-0)

If I understand right, there was no evidence of any wrong doing. Just Comey trying to make his opinion sound more important than it is.
Correct me if I am wrong, I have not been following closely.

Since it sounds like Comey had no evidence of any wrong doing by Trump, I think it is fair to say Trump was vindicated.
This was it, all the opposition had against Trump, and it turns out to be nothing but hot air.
That is a huge win for Trump.
[–] PMYA [OP] 3 points (+4|-1)

I watched the entire hearing, it is absolutely not fair to say he was vindicated. The media portrayal of his testimony, particularly the American media, has been very skewed.

Comey did not give his opinion at all unless directly asked, and was extremely professional throughout the hearing. It is not a win for Trump at all, it sounded very bad for him. This is only based on what was shared in the public hearing too, questions were also asked in private due to information potentially being classified.

It is worth watching, if you get the time.
[–] InnocentBystander 2 points (+2|-0)

If there was no evidence of wrong-doing, Trump was vindicated.
The media has been making him look bad since he got into office. At this point accusations and image mean nothing at all. Those who support him will not listen without evidence. Those who oppose him will hold up any accusation (no matter how flimsy) as proof that he is Hitler.

Without evidence of wrong-doing this does not harm him. The fact that there is nothing does vindicate him. He said all along that he did nothing wrong, and this strongly indicates that he was correct.

I am not interested in watching Comey(or anyone else) try and spin this to support their personal opinions.
If there are facts that show Trump (or others) have done wrong, that is what I want to see.
If facts like that exist, they will be on the front page of almost all papers moments after it becomes public.

That has not happened because currently there is no public evidence against Trump. Nothing.
After all the accusations and build-up to this hearing, their failure vindicates Trump.
[–] PMYA [OP] 3 points (+3|-0)

Tapes may exist. Based on Comey's testimony (even before the private one), senators were mentioning obstruction of justice. It could very easily be argued, based on the information that is public, that Trump intentionally tried to kill the Russia investigation and interfered with the FBI.

Watch it, and then say that he's putting a spin on it. Because he really didn't. He refused to answer multiple questions about obstruction of justice and repeatedly cut leading questions short. If anyone should be accused of trying to put a spin on this, it is Trump. He is the one who fired Comey due to the Russia investigation, and then referred to him as a "nutjob" whilst speaking to the Russians. Viewing the situation from outside the US, it seems as though there is definitely a smear campaign going on.

I find the response over the Russian investigation from some Americans to be extremely troubling. If there was any hint that the UK elections were influenced by a hostile foreign country, even if it led to the party I voted for being elected, I would be angry and looking for answers.
[–] Boukert 0 points (+1|-1) Edited

This is in no way a vindication, i can't even see the logic in that... The hearing wasn't even about Trump's alleged ties to Russia....... In any way Trump pressuring the head of the FBI, an "independent" branch of governement, Is fucking borderline dictatorlike behavior and illegal as fuck. This is very very bad and real fucking news.

Trump tweeted this about Comey's statement under motherfucking oath:

Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication...and WOW, Comey is a leaker!

He hinted he had tapes, dont be a pussy then and release them!

The media has been making him look bad since he got into office.

It's not like Trump, his tweets , ego , friends and actions are not begging for it tbh! Like we say in Holland "Tall trees catch the most wind" and Trump has been slinging nothing but shit over the last year or so.....

As an example: remember that shitstorm about the Burthcurtificate and Bill Clinton's impeachment procedures about a blowjob? Both sound pretty trivial with all this current bullshit going on.....

You can't pull the "poor poor president bashing" card here, the Rep's invented that game. Neither can you say this btw........
[–] phoxy 2 points (+3|-1)

Trump has been pushing the fake news angle very hard to undermine trust in journalists (except the ones he favours). Since most people are too busy or apathetic to go to the source or watch a boring hearing, it is a useful strategy. He is asserting his own reality and discrediting those who disagree with it: that's psychological manipulation or gaslighting.

Trump is also playing influence games with public opinion for those who aren't buying his reality, in the Comey attack ad.

Anyone who has experience with slimy people can see what is going on:

  1. The flattery. Compliments on what he perceives you to be most proud of. Buttering you up, making you more open.

  2. The approach. He makes a veiled request to see if you are willing to please. If you comply he knows you are open to deals or manipulation.

  3. The escalation. The requests get more bold and push the boundaries of what you find acceptable.

  4. The squeeze. He uses past requests you have honoured as leverage, blackmail, if a new task is too extreme or you get cold feet.

Of course it's all done verbally in person for deniability. If you don't play the game then you are of no use and discarded.
[–] PhunkyPlatypus 2 points (+3|-1)

I've yet to meet anyone who believes something fishy is not going on. Even those who lean to the right have voiced their concerns that something is amiss.

It'll be quite interesting to see how this all plays out.
[–] PMYA [OP] 2 points (+3|-1)

The media response to this in the US has been shocking too. He's even tweeting thanking them:

"Great reporting by @foxandfriends and so many others. Thank you!"

It is complete bullshit. He's playing the public opinion angle on literally everything he does. Tweeting, bragging about how he organised the current diplomatic catastrophe with Qatar in order to curb terrorism, without realising that all of the air operations against ISIS are being run out of Qatar. He is doing all of this to try and raise his ratings a couple of percent and it is fucking terrifying.
[–] PhunkyPlatypus 2 points (+3|-1)

Trust me there's a growing awareness of just how fucked his playbook is.

I suspect that's why there's been such an organized effort to label any criticism as "whining from the losers". Because if more people take a step back, pull their head out of their ass and actually scrutinize how he's been handling nearly every issue that's arisen. They'll realize how immature and unqualified he is.

It's come to the point that he makes me legitimately miss Bush. Obama was disapointing, but at least he wasn't terrifying in his approach to sensitive topics and matters.
[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

Do a very basic search into HSBC, it's ties to the Clinton Foundation, how it was shielded from prosecution and then look into Comey's ties to the Whitewater investigation. He's always been a Clinton fixer and it's gone both ways. By all means though, instead of following the money simply obsess over what Comey thinks Trump meant. Guys a snake playing both sides to cover his own ass.

[–] PMYA [OP] 2 points (+2|-0) Edited

If you're not willing to accept that what Trump allegedly said to Comey is shady as fuck, look at what we absolutely do know.

Comey testified, and there was a statement released by Trump's lawyers condemning him for "leaking" classified information, which is blatantly false. In his testimony, he said he wrote an account of a conversation he had with Trump and gave it to a friend so it could be given to the press, thus drawing attention to it and triggering the events that eventually led to his testimony. None of the information publicly released has contained classified information, so no laws were broken by Comey. Here is the relevant part of the statement from Trump's lawyers:

Of course, the Office of the President is entitled to expect loyalty from those who are serving in an administration, and, from before this President took office to this day, it is overwhelmingly clear that there have been and continue to be those in government who are actively attempting to undermine this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified information and privileged communications. Mr. Comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers.

First off, Comey did not belong to the Trump administration, he was a part of an entity that should be separate from the White House, and for very good reason. I also find it a little bit ironic that Trump is suddenly worried about leaks, yet didn't seem to give a fuck about his administration leaking classified UK intelligence to the press when we were in the middle of investigating a terrorist attack.

Today, Mr. Comey admitted that he unilaterally and surreptitiously made unauthorized disclosures to the press of privileged communications with the President .... Today, Mr. Comey admitted that he leaked to friends his purported memos of these privileged conversations, one of which he testified was classified. He also testified that immediately after he was terminated he authorized his friends to leak the contents of these memos to the press in order to “prompt the appointment of a special counsel.”

The first part of that statement means literally nothing, and is only there because it sounds bad. There is nothing legally binding the director of the FBI to silence when it comes to things the President says, unless it is classified. The next part is something that has been very carefully written, also with the same intention of making it sound bad for Comey. This line is a masterpiece from a legal/propaganda viewpoint:

Mr. Comey admitted that he leaked to friends his purported memos of these privileged conversations, one of which he testified was classified.

His lawyer is saying "He gave accounts of his conversations with Trump to his friends. Oh and by the way, one of his accounts was classified". It does not explicitly state that Comey shared the classified one, it says he shared memos and one of Comey's memos was classified. In reality, the classified memo was not released to anyone or the press and was only given in private at his testimony the other day. Reading this on the surface though, it looks as though the lawyer's statement says that Comey leaked classified info to the press, which some people are going to believe either after reading the entire statement or seeing a news article about the statement. It's dirty.

The real purpose of the lawyer's statement is not to offer a legal statement. It sends a message to the public that Comey leaked classified info and his testimony is not to be trusted. The other intended demographic this is for is people in his administration, or in any government position. It says: Do not fuck with me.

Whilst it is very well written, I think it is going to backfire. It basically denies all wrongdoing, which will become a huge issue if tapes surface at some point. The other issue is the counsel that heard Comey's testimony the other day will see right through this statement. The lawyer's statement highlights the exact same behaviour that Comey reported from his conversations with Trump. Flirting as closey as you can to obstruction of justice whilst still being able to deny it.

As a side note, I did search for the HSBC thing. It seems that those articles originated from a Breitbart one during the election last year, and I can't find a single decent source that mentions it. I'm inclined to not believe something from such biased sources, particularly when it was reported on during the election campaign.
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