Former FBI Director James Comey gave his first public testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, June 8, 2017 during a two and a half-hour open session. Afterward, Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd pointed out some things from their areas of expertise. Guthrie commented from her legal background and Todd spoke from a political point of view.
Comey's demeanor
Viewers with high definition televisions could see every expression on Comey's face because the cameras showed close ups of him during his entire testimony. He appeared tense through some of the questions.
For the most part, senators did not try to put him on the spot -- with the exception of Senator John McCain who showed no mercy. His time ran out while he was still questioning Comey about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. Many people on social media pointed out McCain's confusing questions.
Questions
For a lot of the questions, Comey had to say he couldn't answer in the open setting because of the ongoing investigation, and he was testifying as a private citizen. Therefore, he could not respond to questions involving current FBI operations. He was careful not to say anything that would get him into deeper trouble with President Donald Trump and his administration.
Body language experts and linguists watched and listened carefully to what the 56-year-old former Fbi Director had to say.
Even Merriam-Webster Dictionary got in on the act and tweeted out unusual words and expressions that were used. For instance, Comey used the word "Lordy." On another occasion, he used the word "fuzz" that caught people's attention.
Comey spoke about his relationship with Trump and about having one-on-one conversations with him.
He explained the reason he began to document his conversations with the current president and not with previous presidents. He disputed that Trump was justified in firing him last month. He concluded that Trump's administration defamed him and the FBI.
The man being questioned received compliments from most of the senators who thanked him for his service to the country.
Even though the session was long, a lot of time was saved because of the written testimony that was submitted on Wednesday. One senator spoke about how well written and concise the document was. Others referred to it often during the testimony.
It is interesting that President Donald Trump didn't tweet the entire time that the father of five was telling his side of the story to the senators. However, Donald Trump Jr. did enough tweeting, and Kellyanne Conway went wild with her tweets on Wednesday before the testimony.
