Comey Testifies Before the Senate Judiciary Committee and Declines to Answer Questions About Whether the President is Under Investigation

¶On May 3, 2017, Comey was scheduled to testify at an FBI oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.³⁸³³⁸³ Hearing on Oversight of the FBI before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 115th Cong. (May 3, 2017). McGahn recalled that in the week leading up to the hearing, the President said that it would be the last straw if Comey did not take the opportunity to set the record straight by publicly announcing that the President was not under investigation.³⁸⁴³⁸⁴ McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 10-11. The President had previously told McGahn that the perception that the President was under investigation was hurting his ability to carry out his presidential duties and deal with foreign leaders.³⁸⁵³⁸⁵ McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 7, 10-11 (McGahn believed that two foreign leaders had expressed sympathy to the President for being under investigation); SC_AD_00265 (Donaldson 4/11/17 Notes) ("P Called Comey – Day we told him not to? 'You are not under investigation' NK/China/Sapping Credibility"). At the hearing, Comey declined to answer questions about the status of the Russia investigation, stating "[t]he Department of Justice ha[d] authorized [him] to confirm that [the Russia investigation] exists," but that he was "not going to say another word about it" until the investigation was completed.³⁸⁶³⁸⁶ Hearing on FBI Oversight Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 115th Cong. (CQ Cong. Transcripts, at 70) (May 3, 2017) (testimony by FBI Director James Comey). Comey repeated this point Comey also declined to answer questions about whether investigators had "ruled out anyone in the Trump campaign as potentially a target of th[e] criminal investigation," including whether the FBI had "ruled out the president of the United States."³⁸⁷³⁸⁷ Hearing on FBI Oversight Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 115th Cong. (May 3, 2017) (CQ Cong. Transcripts, at 87-88) (questions by Sen. Blumenthal and testimony by FBI Director James B. Comey).

¶Comey was also asked at the hearing about his decision to announce 11 days before the presidential election that the FBI was reopening the Clinton email investigation.³⁸⁸³⁸⁸ Hearing on FBI Oversight Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 115th Cong. (May 3, 2017) (CQ Cong. Transcripts, at 15) (question by Sen. Feinstein). Comey stated that it made him "mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election," but added that "even in hindsight" he "would make the same decision."³⁸⁹³⁸⁹ Hearing on FBI Oversight Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 115th Cong. (May 3, 2017) (CQ Cong. Transcripts, at 17) (testimony by FBI Director James B. Comey). He later repeated that he had no regrets about how he had handled the email investigation and believed he had "done the right thing at each turn."³⁹⁰³⁹⁰ Hearing on FBI Oversight Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 115th Cong. (May 3, 2017) (CQ Cong. Transcripts, at 92) (testimony by FBI Director James B. Comey).

¶In the afternoon following Comey's testimony, the President met with McGahn, Sessions, and Sessions's Chief of Staff Jody Hunt.³⁹¹³⁹¹ Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 8; Hunt 2/1/18 302, at 8. At that meeting, the President asked McGahn how Comey had done in his testimony and McGahn relayed that Comey had declined to answer questions about whether the President was under investigation.³⁹²³⁹² Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 8; Hunt-000021 (Hunt 5/3/17 Notes); McGahn 3/8/18 302, at 6. The President became very upset and directed his anger at Sessions.³⁹³³⁹³ Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 8-9. According to notes written by Hunt, the President said, "This is terrible Jeff. It's all because you recused. AG is supposed to be most important appointment. Kennedy appointed his brother. Obama appointed Holder. I appointed you and you recused yourself. You left me on an island. I can't do anything."³⁹⁴³⁹⁴ Hunt-000021 (Hunt 5/3/17 Notes). Hunt said that he wrote down notes describing this meeting and others with the President after the events occurred. Hunt 2/1/17 302, at 2. The President said that the recusal was unfair and that it was interfering with his ability to govern and undermining his authority with foreign leaders.³⁹⁵³⁹⁵ Hunt-000021-22 (Hunt 5/3/17 Notes) ("I have foreign leaders saying they are sorry I am being investigated."); Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 8 (Sessions recalled that a Chinese leader had said to the President that he was sorry the President was under investigation, which the President interpreted as undermining his authority); Hunt 2/1/18 302, at 8. Sessions responded that he had had no choice but to recuse, and it was a mandatory rather than discretionary decision.³⁹⁶³⁹⁶ Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 8; Hunt-000022 (Hunt 5/3/17 Notes). Hunt recalled that Sessions also stated at several times during his testimony. See id. at 26 (explaining that he was "not going to say another peep about [the investigation] until we're done"); id. at 90 (stating that he would not provide any updates about the status of investigation "before the matter is concluded").

¶some point during the conversation that a new start at the FBI would be appropriate and the President should consider replacing Comey as FBI director.³⁹⁷³⁹⁷ Hunt-000022 (Hunt 5/3/17 Notes). According to Sessions, when the meeting concluded, it was clear that the President was unhappy with Comey, but Sessions did not think the President had made the decision to terminate Comey.³⁹⁸³⁹⁸ Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 9.

¶Bannon recalled that the President brought Comey up with him at least eight times on May 3 and May 4, 2017.³⁹⁹³⁹⁹ Bannon 2/12/18 302, at 20. According to Bannon, the President said the same thing each time: "He told me three times I'm not under investigation. He's a showboater. He's a grandstander. I don't know any Russians. There was no collusion."⁴⁰⁰⁴⁰⁰ Bannon 2/12/18 302, at 20. Bannon told the President that he could not fire Comey because "that ship had sailed."⁴⁰¹⁴⁰¹ Bannon 2/12/18 302, at 20. Bannon also told the President that firing Comey was not going to stop the investigation, cautioning him that he could fire the FBI director but could not fire the FBI.⁴⁰²⁴⁰² Bannon 2/12/18 302, at 20-21; see Priebus 10/13/17 302, at 28.