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(NYT) Comey Told Sessions: Don’t Leave Me Alone With Trump

I mean, I fully get why you'd go to the AG under normal circumstnces. The problem is that this is not normal, and Comey should have known that more than anyone else ever could have.

I don't get it, but I'm fully prepared to admit it's out of my depth. On it's face, it doesn't seem like a smart move to me.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
OK? So don't be left alone with him.

I don't get it. Is Comey himself incapable of not being left alone with Trump or something?

Meetings and words with top leaders are important. He asked not to be alone to avoid a he said vs he said scenario. Need a 3rd party for witness reasons.
 

rambis

Banned
OK? So don't be left alone with him.

I don't get it. Is Comey himself incapable of not being left alone with Trump or something?



Trump is the President, Comey can't refuse a meeting with him.
I mean, I fully get why you'd go to the AG under normal circumstnces. The problem is that this is not normal, and Comey should have known that more than anyone else ever could have.

I don't get it, but I'm fully prepared to admit it's out of my depth. On it's face, it doesn't seem like a smart move to me.
Yeah you kinda have to have worked in the military or goverment to understand the concept of top cover in display here. Your superiors are supposed to protect you from their superiors.
 

Zolo

Member
I mean, I fully get why you'd go to the AG under normal circumstnces. The problem is that this is not normal, and Comey should have known that more than anyone else ever could have.

I don't get it, but I'm fully prepared to admit it's out of my depth. On it's face, it doesn't seem like a smart move to me.

Seems like it was the smart move. Comey would have been fired either way, and now Comey can say that he did in fact voice his concerns.
 

Mosse

Neo Member
I mean, I fully get why you'd go to the AG under normal circumstnces. The problem is that this is not normal, and Comey should have known that more than anyone else ever could have.

I don't get it, but I'm fully prepared to admit it's out of my depth. On it's face, it doesn't seem like a smart move to me.

Well if he didn't go to Sessions with it he would get the qustion "why didn't you go to the AG if you had a problem being left alone with Trump". If he didn't go thru the proper channels expressing his concerns, then I think it would be easier for Trump to justify firing him. Comey doing everything as it should be done only helps his credibility and his testimony.
 

MIMIC

Banned
Were any of the fox employees Ailes harassed in his office capable of saving themselves ?

Comey is essentially investigating Trump. Completely different circumstances. A one-one-one between an investigator and the target of the investigation is wholly inappropriate.

So what do you do when Trump says everyone leave the room except Comey?

You tell him that a one-on-one is inappropriate and to have someone else in there? Hell, what do you do when the President says "end the investigation"? You don't just do it.

Trump is the President, Comey can't refuse a meeting with him.

For the same reasons above, you don't just acquiesce to impropriety, especially when you're in a position to know better (in this case, a lead investigator).
 
Comey is essentially investigating Trump. Completely different circumstances. A one-one-one between an investigator and the target of the investigation is wholly inappropriate.



You tell him that a one-on-one is inappropriate and to have someone else in there? Hell, what do you do when the President says "end the investigation"? You don't just do it.



For the same reasons above, you don't just acquiesce to impropriety, especially when you're in a position to know better (in this case, a lead investigator).

It's important for him to go through proper channels so his memos carry weight. What are you not understanding?
 
Seems like it was the smart move. Comey would have been fired either way, and now Comey can say that he did in fact voice his concerns.

Well if he didn't go to Sessions with it he would get the qustion "why didn't you go to the AG if you had a problem being left alone with Trump". If he didn't go thru the proper channels expressing his concerns, then I think it would be easier for Trump to justify firing him. Comey doing everything as it should be done only helps his credibility and his testimony.

I didn't consider this.

Thank you both.
 

Boylamite

Member
For the same reasons above, you don't just acquiesce to impropriety, especially when you're in a position to know better (in this case, a lead investigator).
He tried to keep Trump's suspicions at bay while he quietly investigated him. He ultimately did stand up to impropriety by refusing to pledge fealty. That got the investigations this far. He could have stood up to Trump and got fired right away, where would we be now?
 

rambis

Banned
Comey is essentially investigating Trump. Completely different circumstances. A one-one-one between an investigator and the target of the investigation is wholly inappropriate.





For the same reasons above, you don't just acquiesce to impropriety, especially when you're in a position to know better (in this case, a lead investigator).
Investigating Trump isnt Comey's only job as FBI director and the investigation only got serious recently before Comey was fired. This meeting was in Febuary

Suggesting Comey can just blanketly refuse a meeting with the top of his chain of command is ignorant.
You tell him that a one-on-one is inappropriate and to have someone else in there? Hell, what do you do when the President says "end the investigation"? You don't just do it.

He told Sessions days after Trump made the request to end the investigation, this was in response.
 

Cipherr

Member
Well if he didn't go to Sessions with it he would get the qustion "why didn't you go to the AG if you had a problem being left alone with Trump". If he didn't go thru the proper channels expressing his concerns, then I think it would be easier for Trump to justify firing him. Comey doing everything as it should be done only helps his credibility and his testimony.

This is obviously it. You don't limit the action you take in those improper situations to Trump and yourself. You use the natural ranking channels and go to your boss and make it known. Now he has a trail of him CLEARLY following a command chain and making it known that Trump was overstepping.

No one can claim that he sat on his hands and did nothing now. It's basically perfect, but the guy does for the FBI, so he knows what he's doing.
 

antonz

Member
Is he a stupid person?

I don't understand what universe Comey lives in if he actually thought Jeff Sessions, a known scumbag and Trump surrogate wouldn't blab that information to Trump immediately.

Does James Comey have donkey brains?

Technically by law Comey has to report this so he brought it to the AG as required.

In fact this pretty much kills the angle Repubs like Hannity were trying to push. That Comey committed felonies if he felt the President was trying to obstruct and he didn't notify anyone.
 
OK? So don't be left alone with him.

I don't get it. Is Comey himself incapable of not being left alone with Trump or something?

The president is technically his boss, so if the president wants to meet with you -- alone -- then the president can certainly make that request. Comey, a stickler for protocol and shielding the FBI from political influence, likely thought that being alone with Trump put the FBI at risk. It's unlikely that the president would make a request to meet with the head of the FBI without having the Justice Dept. involved.
 

MIMIC

Banned
Investigating Trump isnt Comey's only job as FBI director and the investigation only got serious recently before Comey was fired.

Suggesting Comey can just blanketly refuse a meeting with the top of his chain of command is ignorant.

I don't know why you're saying it wasn't Comey's "only" job. Firstly, it was arguably -- at the moment -- his most important, pressing job, seeing as it's front page news almost every day.

Secondly, no one said he should flat out "refuse" a meeting with Trump (and describing Trump's title (top of his chain of command) is largely irrelevant since he was the target of his investigation). He would quite obviously bring someone along with him. My problem is why this is all occurring to Comey now after he already met with him privately.

"Don't leave me alone with the subject of my investigation."

He told Sessions days after Trump made the request to end the investigation, this was in response.

Again, why this didn't occur to Comey from the beginning doesn't make sense.
 

johnsmith

remember me
i said god damn

JN5c5BX.png
 

rambis

Banned
MIMIC said:
I don't know why you're saying it wasn't Comey's "only" job. Firstly, it was arguably -- at the moment -- his most important, pressing job, seeing as it's front page news almost every day.

What? Says who? In February we knew next to nothing compared to what we know now. Again this case only recently matured to a point where it was Comey's top priority. You're either confused of the timeline or talking out of your ass.

Secondly, no one said he should flat out "refuse" a meeting with Trump (and describing Trump's title (top of his chain of command) is largely irrelevant since he was the target of his investigation). He would quite obviously bring someone along with him. My problem is why this is all occurring to Comey now after he already met with him privately

You don't know who or what was the subject of his investigation at that time. You probably need to get a better grip on the facts before you try to call out Comey...
 

MIMIC

Banned
What? Says who? In February we knew next to nothing compared to what we know now. Again this case only recently matured to a point where it was Comey's top priority. You're either confused of the timeline or talking out of your ass.



You don't know who or what was the subject of his investigation at that time. You probably need to get a better grip on the facts before you try to call out Comey...

I have a perfect grip on the facts. You're the one who seemingly forgot that Comey testified that he has been investigating Trump since July of last year:

”By your announcement today, there is now a cloud that undermines our system," Representative Michael Turner, an Ohio Republican, pointedly told the FBI director. Under questioning, Comey said that the FBI began the investigation in late July [of 2016]. That disclosure will likely inflame Democratic criticism that Comey chose to publicly discuss the bureau's inquiry into Hillary Clinton's emails during the closing days of the 2016 election but did not reveal it was also investigating the Trump campaign and Russian meddling.
The Atlantic

Timeline:

July 2016: FBI begins investigation
February 2017: Private meeting with target of investigation
Later in 2017: Comey "realizes" he shouldn't be meeting privately with the target of his investigation
 
I have a perfect grip on the facts. You're the one who seemingly forgot that Comey testified that he has been investigating Trump since July of last year:


The Atlantic

Timeline:

July 2016: FBI begins investigation
February 2017: Private meeting with target of investigation
Later in 2017: Comey "realizes" he shouldn't be meeting privately with the target of his investigation

Technically at that point they weren't investigating Trump himself yet. Just his associates.
 

rambis

Banned
I have a perfect grip on the facts. You're the one who seemingly forgot that Comey testified that he has been investigating Trump since July of last year


The Atlantic

Timeline:

July 2016: FBI begins investigation
February 2017: Private meeting with target of investigation
Later in 2017: Comey "realizes" he shouldn't be meeting privately with the target of his investigation
The investigation began in 2016 but no where does it states the scope, at that point there could've been absoultely no direct lead to Trump which is likely because even today there are few things directly attributed to Trump. The meeting was in February and he mentioned it to Sessions "days" later.


But the most important fact that you seem woefully unaware of despite me mentioning it several times now....

https://www.wsj.com/articles/james-...on-before-being-fired-u-s-official-1494433061

WASHINGTON—In the weeks before President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, a federal investigation into potential collusion between Trump associates and the Russian government was heating up, as Mr. Comey became increasingly occupied with the probe.

probe.

Mr. Comey started receiving daily instead of weekly updates on the investigation, beginning at least three weeks ago, according to people with knowledge of the matter and
the...

The case only recently matured to a point where it was a top priority. It wasnt in February...
 

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
His testimony will be all questions about "Who are the leakers? Leaks are bad don't you agree? Shouldn't they be in jail or executed? What do you think?".
 

Syncytia

Member
"As F.B.I. director, Mr. Comey wrote a detailed memo after every major phone call or meeting with Mr. Trump and left those memos in the bureau’s files when he left. As special counsel, Mr. Mueller has access to those memos, but the F.B.I. declined a request from the Senate Intelligence Committee for copies of the memos, citing the ongoing investigation. It is unclear whether Mr. Comey still has copies of all of them or plans to read from them during his testimony."

The other day some republican was on the news saying something to the extent of "Why do we only have this one memo where are memos of other calls between Comey and Trump?" And heavily implying that since there's no other memos released it's all fake news and a witch hunt.

I hope every republican that supports Trump and is going light on their criticism get fucked.
 

MIMIC

Banned
The investigation began in 2016 but no where does it states the scope, at that point there could've been absoultely no direct lead to Trump which is likely because even today there are few things directly attributed to Trump. The meeting was in February and he mentioned it to Sessions "days" later.

This is basically what Trump is saying: "He's not investigating ME"

He was investigating the Trump campaign, and the two go hand-in-hand. I don't know why you're drawing a distinction between "Trump" and the "campaign" (regarding the scope) unless Trump is somehow not part of his own campaign or something.

And even if for some reason it was just related to one or two distinct individuals, the relationship between those individuals and Trump would be enough to make a private meeting with Trump wholly inappropriate. Why do you think Lynch recused herself after she met -- privately -- with Bill Clinton? Was Bill Clinton under investigation? No. Bill Clinton's intimate relationship with the SUBJECT of the investigation (his wife) was the reason for the recusal.

You don't meet privately with people in the same circle as your target.....ESPECIALLY when you and your target have the same boss (and when it's reasonable to believe that they would be working together with the same motive).

But the most important fact that you seem woefully unaware of despite me mentioning it several times now....

https://www.wsj.com/articles/james-...on-before-being-fired-u-s-official-1494433061



The case only recently matured to a point where it was a top priority. It wasnt in February...

OK, this is a very minor point so I don't know why you're rehashing it. Whether it was the most inconsequential FBI investigation or the most historic, it was an official investigation...and the same rules for impropriety would apply regardless.
 
This is basically what Trump is saying: "He's not investigating ME"

He was investigating the Trump campaign, and the two go hand-in-hand. I don't know why you're drawing a distinction between "Trump" and the "campaign," unless Trump is somehow not part of his own campaign or something.

And even if for some reason it was just related to one or two distinct individuals, the relationship between those individuals and Trump would be enough to make a private meeting with Trump wholly inappropriate. Why do you think Lynch recused herself after she met -- privately -- with Bill Clinton? Was Bill Clinton under investigation? No. Bill Clinton's intimate relationship with the SUBJECT of the investigation (his wife) was the reason for the recusal.

You don't meet privately with people in the same circle as your target.....ESPECIALLY when you and your target have the same boss (and when it's reasonable to believe that they would be working together with the same motive).



OK, this is a very minor point so I don't know why you're rehashing it. Whether it was the most inconsequential FBI investigation or the most historic, it was an official investigation...and the same rules for impropriety would apply regardless.
Trump himself technically has not been identified as under investigation. There is a major distinction between the Trump campaign and Trump himself. There has been zero public acknowledgement that Trump himself is subject of an investigation.

Trump campaign intentionally is used to make that distinction. It implies people around him, not Trump himself.
 

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
Is he a stupid person?

I don't understand what universe Comey lives in if he actually thought Jeff Sessions, a known scumbag and Trump surrogate wouldn't blab that information to Trump immediately.

Does James Comey have donkey brains?

nicolascagefaceofflaughing.gif


Sweet fancy Moses.
 

johnsmith

remember me
Is he a stupid person?

I don't understand what universe Comey lives in if he actually thought Jeff Sessions, a known scumbag and Trump surrogate wouldn't blab that information to Trump immediately.

Does James Comey have donkey brains?

But he has a certificate!

xmRwD2u.png
 
This is fucking horrifying and amazing.

The mental picture of a grown ass man begging another grown ass man not to be left alone with a grown ass toddler.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
OK? So don't be left alone with him.

I don't get it. Is Comey himself incapable of not being left alone with Trump or something?
It's about leaving a paper trail. He spoke to Sessions and made his intent clear.
Edit: covered already
 
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