“HE is a good guy. I hope you can let this go,” was what President Donald Trump told his sacked FBI Director James Comey. This was documented by Comey in a contemporaneous memo on he wrote on February 14, 2017, to document the details of their one-on-one meeting after Trump asked VP Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions following their meeting on national security issues.
Comey wrote memoranda after meetings with Trump that made him feel appalled, which he shared in confidence with select colleagues in the FBI. This was characteristic of Comey even during the Bush years.
It’s a bombshell that may be deemed as obstruction of justice: to be asked by the president of the United States to drop the investigation into his own campaign which involved his friend Michael Flynn’s conversation with Russia to ease sanctions Pres. Obama imposed on the country for interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
This was reported by the New York Times on Tuesday, May 16, a week after Comey was fired by Trump, the details of which were corroborated by CNN’s reporting through interviews with officials in the FBI who were privy to this turn of events.
Zooming out to look at the big picture, Trump explained that Comey was fired because he has lost in his leadership of the FBI. Despite Trump’s “request”, Comey proceeded with the investigation of the president’s campaign alleged collusion with Russia in interfering with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The Trump administration has denied the story — on the same day that news broke about Trump divulging classified information to Russia during his meeting with the Russian Prime Minister and Envoy in the Oval Office.
Trump threatened Comey with a “tape” before he fired him, which lawmakers said Trump should turn over to Congress. What Trump did not know was that Comey had been writing those contemporaneous memos that could be material evidence if a case against Trump moves forward. Would Trump bring out the “tape” he tweeted about to support his side of the story?
Expect testimony under oath as this will surely be the subject of investigation.
Did Trump abuse his executive power? Is he guilty of “obstruction of justice”? ”
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
