President Donald trump took Fbi Director James B. Comey to his Twitter woodshed even before he finished testifying Monday before the House Intelligence Committee.
“FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls made by Michael Flynn to Russia,” Trump tweeted, apparently ticked off that Comey’s testimony was not destined to corroborate Trump’s wiretapping claim.
Moreover, despite Trump’s efforts to downplay Russian meddling in his election win over Hillary Clinton, Comey also made it crystal clear that Putin and his minions were definitely in Trump’s corner.
“The Russians wanted to hurt Clinton, help Trump and undermine our democracy,” Comey told Rep. Mike Conaway, Texas Republican, during testimony before the Committee. “Putin hated Secretary Clinton so much that the flip side of that coin was that he had a clear preference for the person running against the person he hated so much,” Comey added.
Ongoing investigation finally confirmed
But what was most damaging to Trump was the confirmation that the rumored specter of an ongoing counterintelligence investigative examining the nature of any links between the Russians and Trump campaign bosses was in fact a reality.
To make matters worse, Comey indicated that the FBI was also looking into whether there was coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign and whether “any crimes were committed.”
Polarized partisanship was evident throughout the entire hearing as Republican stalwarts like Rep. Peter King of New York tried to downplay the possibility of any Russian collusion with Trump associates during the campaign by reminding Comey that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had gone on record several times saying no such Russian collusion existed, to the best of his knowledge. Meanwhile, California Democrat Rep. Jackie Speier asked Comey if the Russians meant us harm. “Yes,” Comey answered.
What is next?
However, it was the dozens of questions that Comey said he couldn’t answer that were a mountainous blow to Trump and his inner circle. “Please don't draw any conclusions from the fact that I may not be able to comment on certain topics,” Comey said. He added that he knew that speculation was human nature, but that drawing any conclusions at this stage was “unfair.”