Ex FBI director James Comey gave his long awaited testimony on Capitol Hill today. Given his testimony had the potential to bring down a president, everyone was paying attention. So given that level of attention, its important to ask, who exactly where the biggest losers and winners of what Comey had to say.
Losers:
3) John McCain. That whole bit where he seemed incapable of understanding that the Hillary investigation and the Trump investigation arnt the same thing and even refered to "president comey"? thats the most popular bit of the testimony on twitter. Something tells me McCain's reputation is gonna take a bit a hit....
2) Jeff Sessions. Comey basically just told the world "if you want to find a major news story and scandal, you should totally look over here" by claiming Sessions ties to the Russians run even deeper than whats already been reported. And given that Sessions appears to have played a key role many of the decisions now being investigated, he may want to start updating his resume.
1) Donald Trump. Remember when Trump said he had tapes of his conversations with Comey? Yea well Comey called his bluff, and it turns out their are no tapes. So that whole thing with tapes was a empty threat to try to convince Comey not to testify. By the way, trying to prevent someone from testifying via threat is witness intimidation, which a crime and of course an impeachable offense.
Speaking of impeachment.....the entire case that Trump didnt commit Obstruction of Justice now revolves around what the subtext and implications of his words were. We are quickly approaching "what the definition of "is" is" territory, and arguments at that level of technical detail tend not to work well in the court of public opinion (which is the one that matters as far as impeachment).
And incidentally, no less than the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is saying Trump's conversations with Comey were improper. Ryan however just thinks they were the result of Trump's political naivete not realizing you cant do those kinds of things rather than anything insidious. However given the impropriety of the conversations isnt being disputed...Trump's on really thin ice.
Finally, by all accounts Sessions is one of Trump's closest advisers, or was at one point. Jared Kushner is another. Sessions is now where Comey is suggesting the Special Prosecutor (and others look) and Kusher is allegedly already the focus of the Special Prosecutor. As with all political scandals theres a tipping point when enough corrupt advisers bring down the executive though guilt by association if nothing else.
Winners:
2) Donald Trump. To be fair, nothing new really came out in Comey's testimony....we already knew about everything in it. So "no change" has to be considered a win. In fact had team trump managed to avoid shooting themselves in the face by admitting the tapes dont exist and therefore they cant refute Comey, this day would have arguably been a big win for trump....instead of a half win/half lose.
1) James Comey. Comey admitted he was leaking information on Trump after his firing to get a special prosecutor convinced....and it worked.
Now to understand how big a win that is, despite Republican hopes the special prosecutor will find nothing, that has never happened. Every time a special prosecutor has been called at least one, and usually multiple mid to high level members of the administration have been forced to resign, appear in court or go to prison.
So someone (at least) in the Trump administration is going to lose their job (at a minimum) thanks to James Comey. By the way, does anyone think its an accident Comey decided to direct attention towards Sessions today?
Best part is, there is likely nothing Trump can do about the leak either. Historical precedent allows law enforcement to keep their own records and as their own property. And Comey was free to show his records to whoever he wanted. Unless there was something classified in them, he's home free. And the only thing that might have been classified was the bits where he told Trump he wasnt under investigation...but that was originally revealed by Trump in Comey's termination letter. So Comey didnt leak that...Trump did (of course as president Trump can declassify that bit to release it himself...but then he cant later claim its still classified if someone else mentions it)
Special Bonus: Luckiest Person in Washington
Loretta Lynch. Comey hit Lynch pretty hard with his claim she tried to get him to alter the wording of his statements to benefit a political narrative. However, nothing will come of this.
Normally this would be red meat to the GOP who'd try to distract from the Trump scandal and tear lynch apart instead. But they cant.
Because the entire case for obstruction of justice against Trump is that he tried to get the FBI to alter its focus to benefit his political narrative...basically the same as Lynch (and slightly more serious as Lynch wanted words changed, Trump wanted the investigation changed). So any attempt to prove how illegal or unethical what Lynch did was would also make the case against Trump as well....in other words the GOP cant push this without also assuring Trump's impeachment for the same.
Where as the public tends to be apathetic towards ex government officials...so until or unless Lynch tries to reenter public life, shes likely weathered any actual storm directed against her.
Losers:
3) John McCain. That whole bit where he seemed incapable of understanding that the Hillary investigation and the Trump investigation arnt the same thing and even refered to "president comey"? thats the most popular bit of the testimony on twitter. Something tells me McCain's reputation is gonna take a bit a hit....
2) Jeff Sessions. Comey basically just told the world "if you want to find a major news story and scandal, you should totally look over here" by claiming Sessions ties to the Russians run even deeper than whats already been reported. And given that Sessions appears to have played a key role many of the decisions now being investigated, he may want to start updating his resume.
1) Donald Trump. Remember when Trump said he had tapes of his conversations with Comey? Yea well Comey called his bluff, and it turns out their are no tapes. So that whole thing with tapes was a empty threat to try to convince Comey not to testify. By the way, trying to prevent someone from testifying via threat is witness intimidation, which a crime and of course an impeachable offense.
Speaking of impeachment.....the entire case that Trump didnt commit Obstruction of Justice now revolves around what the subtext and implications of his words were. We are quickly approaching "what the definition of "is" is" territory, and arguments at that level of technical detail tend not to work well in the court of public opinion (which is the one that matters as far as impeachment).
And incidentally, no less than the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is saying Trump's conversations with Comey were improper. Ryan however just thinks they were the result of Trump's political naivete not realizing you cant do those kinds of things rather than anything insidious. However given the impropriety of the conversations isnt being disputed...Trump's on really thin ice.
Finally, by all accounts Sessions is one of Trump's closest advisers, or was at one point. Jared Kushner is another. Sessions is now where Comey is suggesting the Special Prosecutor (and others look) and Kusher is allegedly already the focus of the Special Prosecutor. As with all political scandals theres a tipping point when enough corrupt advisers bring down the executive though guilt by association if nothing else.
Winners:
2) Donald Trump. To be fair, nothing new really came out in Comey's testimony....we already knew about everything in it. So "no change" has to be considered a win. In fact had team trump managed to avoid shooting themselves in the face by admitting the tapes dont exist and therefore they cant refute Comey, this day would have arguably been a big win for trump....instead of a half win/half lose.
1) James Comey. Comey admitted he was leaking information on Trump after his firing to get a special prosecutor convinced....and it worked.
Now to understand how big a win that is, despite Republican hopes the special prosecutor will find nothing, that has never happened. Every time a special prosecutor has been called at least one, and usually multiple mid to high level members of the administration have been forced to resign, appear in court or go to prison.
So someone (at least) in the Trump administration is going to lose their job (at a minimum) thanks to James Comey. By the way, does anyone think its an accident Comey decided to direct attention towards Sessions today?
Best part is, there is likely nothing Trump can do about the leak either. Historical precedent allows law enforcement to keep their own records and as their own property. And Comey was free to show his records to whoever he wanted. Unless there was something classified in them, he's home free. And the only thing that might have been classified was the bits where he told Trump he wasnt under investigation...but that was originally revealed by Trump in Comey's termination letter. So Comey didnt leak that...Trump did (of course as president Trump can declassify that bit to release it himself...but then he cant later claim its still classified if someone else mentions it)
Special Bonus: Luckiest Person in Washington
Loretta Lynch. Comey hit Lynch pretty hard with his claim she tried to get him to alter the wording of his statements to benefit a political narrative. However, nothing will come of this.
Normally this would be red meat to the GOP who'd try to distract from the Trump scandal and tear lynch apart instead. But they cant.
Because the entire case for obstruction of justice against Trump is that he tried to get the FBI to alter its focus to benefit his political narrative...basically the same as Lynch (and slightly more serious as Lynch wanted words changed, Trump wanted the investigation changed). So any attempt to prove how illegal or unethical what Lynch did was would also make the case against Trump as well....in other words the GOP cant push this without also assuring Trump's impeachment for the same.
Where as the public tends to be apathetic towards ex government officials...so until or unless Lynch tries to reenter public life, shes likely weathered any actual storm directed against her.
