We Now Know What James Comey Told Congress Last Week. Read the Transcript.

The former FBI director called the hearing “a desperate attempt” to slow those investigating Trump.

Cheriss May/ZUMA

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The House Judiciary and Oversight committees have released a transcript from Friday’s closed-door hearing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey.

The hearing was part of a Republican-led investigation into the FBI’s actions during the 2016 presidential election, which included investigations of Hilary Clinton’s email server and Russia’s involvement in the Trump campaign. Comey, who was fired by President Donald Trump in May 2017, has since called the hearing a “desperate attempt to find anything that can be used to attack the institutions of justice investigating this president.”

Over a nearly seven-hour hearing, House Republicans appeared to grow frustrated with Comey, who had been instructed by a Justice Department attorney to not answer questions about the Russia investigation. Another hearing is expected for mid-December, before Democrats take over the House of Representatives in January.

Here’s the transcript:

 

 

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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