James Comey testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane.
Crossfire Hurricane is the name of the investigation of Donald Trump's campaign interactions with Russia. Donald Trump fired James Comey.
A leaked report to the press and Comey's termination led to appoint Robert Mueller as head of the special counsel in the Russian collusion investigation. Mueller found no evidence of wrongdoing by Trump or his campaign. The investigation originated because of the information from the Steele dossier.
Christopher Steele was a former British spy who was paid to publish the dossier.
The evidence shows that the dossier was based upon propaganda and rumors. The dossier was unverified when applying for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) warrant against Carter Page.
Justice Department Inspector General (DOJ IG) found the application, and the renewals for the FISA warrant had inaccuracies and omissions. The Steele dossier helped develop the basis for the FISA warrant according to the DOJ IG. The resulting investigation was judged to be within the rules of the department.
Comey responds to questioning about Steele dossier
Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham inquired about the verification of the Steele dossier. The dossier helped to spy on Carter Page. Fox News reported that Comey's response was "I don't know."
Carter Page was a consultant to Donald Trump during his campaign.
He had previously worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). They received the verification in email format that Page worked with the CIA in some capacity. Clinesmith doctored the email.
Kevin Clinesmith changed the wording of the email to read that Carter Page had no business with the CIA. He pleaded guilty to doctoring records and is awaiting sentencing.
Comey claims that he was not aware of Clinesmith while working for the FBI.
The FBI has to approve all applications for FISA warrants. The two parts that need signatures from leadership include the request for the application and an affidavit verifying the evidence is true. Comey signed the request, but not the affidavit verifying the evidence.
Comey used this as a deflection and blamed someone else. This request was for a FISA warrant, and it is reasonable to believe that he would have questions about the veracity of the information in the request before signing it. Comey was asked if he knew who was responsible for the request.
He gave his standard answer of "I don't know," as per Fox News, The head of the FBI does not know who was responsible for the application to start surveilling Carter Page. James Comey did not seem too involved in the investigation his agents were conducting.
Another issue arose with Christopher Steele's source. The name of the source was not available for the hearing. The FBI interviewed this source for verification of the Steele dossier.
The source was under suspicion for spying for Russia. He claimed the dossier was unreliable. The dossier is rumors and not facts.
James Comey claimed not to know Christopher Steele's sources. The head of the FBI did not know the source of the dossier, which was the basis for the warrant application that he signed. Senator Mike Lee said, "with all due respect, you don't seem to know anything about an investigation that you ran," as reported by Fox News.
Democrats reaction to James Comey's testimony
Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, downplayed the FISA warrant abuses.
The DOJ IG, in his report, said that the investigation was warranted. Donald Trump and his supporters were using the FISA abuses to debunk the entire investigation.
Donald Trump does not need to debunk the investigation. The Mueller Report already found him to have committed no wrongdoing. The issue is unauthorized surveillance against the campaign.
Senator Amy Klobuchar realized the importance of the hearing. The issue she had was that it had been four years since the investigation started, and Congress could have reformed the FISA court process. She emphasized that there are more important issues, such as coronavirus and the upcoming election.
The new head of the FBI, Christopher Wray, believes that Russia is still meddling in the 2020 general election. This is more important than reviewing the origins of an old investigation into Russia collusion. This investigation is important to avoid the same abuse.
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declassified information about the Steele dossier. The material declassified suggested that Hillary Clinton was responsible for the Steele dossier. The dossier diverted attention from the FBI's investigation into her use of a private server when she served as secretary of state in the Obama administration.
The declassified information is an investigative referral to the FBI about Clinton's email scandal.
They sent the referral to James Comey and Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok.
Comey denies ever seeing or receiving that information. USA Today quoted Comey as saying, "Overall, I am proud of the work."
James Comey's favorite answers to the questioning were "I don't know," "I do not," or "That doesn't ring any bells with me," as reported by Fox News.
The former FBI director frustrated the senators on the Judiciary Committee with his responses. Fox News reported that Senator Lee was "very disappointed" about the answers James Comey provided. Senator Cruz, during his questioning, said that Comey was incompetent or "corrupted" as reported by USA Today.
The DOJ IG did state that the investigation was legit, even with the mistakes and omissions. They created the FISA court to watch terrorists and other individuals that are a major threat to America. The court is for American safety, not to spy on campaigns or individuals that do not pose a threat against the United States.
James Comey stood strong and claimed the investigation was following the rules of law.
As reported in USA Today, Comey stated that the investigation was "by the book." Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham responded, "God help us all if this was done by the book. If this is by the book, we need to rewrite the book," as reported by USA Today.
