James Comey, meticulous public servant that he was, documented every encounter he had with Trump in the form of memos which memorialized them.
The New York Times is breaking the news that one of these memos details pressure Trump brought to bear on Comey after firing Michael Flynn to shut down the investigation into Flynn's contacts with Russia.
According to the memo, Trump told Comey, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go, He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
Comey wrote the memo contemporaneously and shared it with senior FBI officials, one of whom read parts of it to a New York Times reporter.
The memo went on to say that Trump told Comey Flynn had done nothing wrong. But Comey committed to nothing beyond agreeing that Flynn was a good guy.
If true, it would appear that at the very least, Trump tried to pressure the then-Director of the FBI to drop an ongoing investigation into a situation where the National Security Adviser was compromised.
The White House was quick to issue a statement refuting the story.
“While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that General Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn,” the statement said. “The president has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr. Comey.”
Isn't it funny how literally every report is just a lie, at least until it isn't? They said Comey's firing was about Hillary until Trump confirmed it was about Russia. They said Trump didn't talk to Russian officials about classified national security matters until Trump confirmed that yes, he did talk to them and chose to share secret information with them.
And now a contemporaneous memo written just after a meeting in the White House apparently just after Michael Flynn was fired is supposed to be a lie.
I think we know who the liars are.
There is one more thing to consider. Trump suggested there might be tapes of Comey's conversation with him. If, in fact, there are recordings being made of meetings in the Oval Office, then one should exist of this conversation.
If it exists, then it's easy enough to confirm or deny the truth of Comey's memo, but I'd put money on James Comey over Donald Trump any day.
It seems as though that might be grounds for impeachment right there.
Update: Senator Richard Burr demurred when asked whether he would demand the memo, but Congressman Jason Chaffetz promised a subpoena.
Update 2: Republicans are famously "disturbed" and "concerned," and in one case "wide-eyed and WTF." But that's all words. They're doing nothing.
