Former FBI director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee today about Russia’s interference in the 2016 president election, his interactions with President Donald Trump and much more.
These are the top revelations from former FBI director James Comey’s testimony before Congress
Just a reminder: We’re only 139 days into Donald Trump’s presidency.
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To help distill what we learned, here are some of the main findings and revelations that came out of today’s hearing:
- Former FBI director James Comey charged President Donald Trump had peddled “lies” when he said the FBI was in disarray under Comey’s leadership.
- Comey said that there was “no doubt” that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic National Committee information, that it interfered with the 2016 presidential election and that the Russian government was aware of this.
- Comey said he took notes on his meetings with Trump out of fear that the president of the United States would misrepresent their conversations.
- Comey said that he took as a directive Trump’s comments that he “hoped” the investigation into former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn would go away.
- But Republicans have seized on the fact Trump didn’t explicitly demand an end to the probe on Flynn. But again, Comey did say he felt under pressure to do so.
- Comey took a lot of heat from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle for not telling Trump directly that the president’s asks and interactions were improper.
- The former FBI director said he can’t fully discuss why Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself on anything on the Russia probe because that information is classified.
- Comey admitted that he leaked contents of his own memos to a friend at Columbia Law School, who then sent that information to a reporter at the New York Times with the aim to prompt a special counsel at the Department of Justice. (Later, Comey said he was unsure if that source still has the memos.)
- Comey took those steps after Donald Trump tweeted that there were “tapes” of their conversations. “Lordy, I hope their are tapes,” Comey said at one point during the hearing. If they exist, he said, they should be released.
While it was possible that the president would live tweet during the hearing -- as he’s often prone to do during major national news — Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, took up that responsibility. Trump’s lawyer, meanwhile, is expected to issue a rebuttal after today’s hearing.
You can watch the full hearing yourself below.
Watch the response to Comey’s hearing from President Trump’s personal lawyer below or you can read them here.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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