Break. We will see you at 12 45. Senator holly will be next. [inaudible conversations] thank you. Appreciate the break. Mr. Comey, are you with us . Yes sir. Thank you very much. Was that a sufficient rate for you, are you okay . Yes, thank you. Senator holly. Thank you mr. Chairman. Weve heard a number of things this morning and we heard you say a number of times that the oig found problems in the fisa applications across the board, but of course it was only this fisa application, these involving carter page that you signed off on that drew an unprecedented review from the pfizer court, which im sure you remember. Let me quote from that fisa court order the frequency and seriousness of these errors in the case that in a sensitive nature had an unusually high level of review in both the doj and the federal bureau of investigation have called into question the reliability of the information proffered in other fbi applications. Do you remember that order from the court . It came after i left as i recall, but i remember reading about it, yes. Have you ever known the court to issue such an order . Yes. You have known the court to issue such orders in the past . Yes. Shortly before 9 11, there was a significant criticism by the fisa court and fisa applications. And the court said the frequency and seriousness of the errors led it to doubt the reliability of all fbi applications and all other cases . I dont member the exact words, but something similar as i recall. At least one agent from appearing for making fisa applications. That isnt what they did here. The fisa court said they have reason to doubt the reliability of fbi applications across cases because of the level of misleading information that you personally signed off on. Do you regret your role in this unprecedented misleading of a fisa court . I dont regret my role why not . Why dont you regret your role in the unprecedented misleading of a fisa court . I regret the fbi information that was inaccurate, incomplete. It should have been updated. Do you regret that you signed off on it . I regret that it happened. What the fbi director does in connection with fisa is actually narrow. Its important that it be accurate. I regret that very much. You said several times and i dont understand. The certification that the statute requires is a certification by the fbi director as to the contents of the application. You signed off on it, the fisa court said it was so misleading, that they now had reason to doubt the fbis truthfulness across the board. Are you responsible for these certifications or not . I dont believe you are accurately describing the statutory requirement. Are you responsible for the certifications were not, answer my question. I sign certifications on every fisa including these. Are you responsible for this misleading evidence given the fisa court, yes or no . Yes in the sense of command response ability, no in that i didnt have personal knowledge that would have led me to understand we were not to supply incomplete information. Lets talk about what personal knowledge you had. When you signed the application, you believedes mr. Steel believs working for the Democratic Party, didnt you . I knew that he was working for political opponents of President Trump. Let me remind you of your testimony under oath in 2018 before the House Oversight committee in which you said, quote, steele was retained by republicans during the primary season and then his work was underwritten after that i democrats opposed to mr. Trump during the general election season. Now, surely you recognize at the time that relying so heavily on a biased source would undermine Public Confidence and fbi activities, didnt you . Know i did not. You told the House Oversight committee december 7th, 2018, quote, when you are the leader of a justice agency, thats you, the appearance of bias is as important as the existence of actual bias. You also said a reasonable appearance could corrupt the American Peoples faith in your work as actual bias can. Do you stand by those remarks . Very much so. But you never allowed the Democratic Party to leverage the federal governments most invasive capabilities against President Trump, and you personally signed off on it. You also knew at the time that other officials in the department of justice have serious concerns. Do you know who stuart evans is . Hes a lawyer and the National Security division of the doj under president obama, wasnt he . I dont know for sure. I think he was a career official in the department of justice. In the division of the department of justice before the first carter page application mr. Evans raised serious concerns about the partisan nature of the information provided by mr. Steele, did he not . Hneeded if the Inspector General reports it on pages 136 and 137 of the report. And you. Knew of those concerns before you signed off on the application, didnt you . I dont think i knew before. I remember reading the footnote. The Inspector General found and i quote, october 12, 2016, evans concern was briefed to comey. And you signed off knowing the thearch was funded by Democratic Party, knowing senior officials in the department of justice had serious concerns you signed off nonetheless. Lets talk about what you did or didnt know when you certified that application did you know the allegations in the dossier came from some sources, not from their own knowledge . There was a network of sources and some sources. Did you ask who the primary so source was, did you ask the fbi to bring any steps to identify before submitting the application to the fisa court . What the Inspector General concluded is the application seemed factually and legally sufficient and he had no questions or concerns before he signed it. Surely you realize the sourcess identity and his motives the sub source we now know may well have been a russian agent that that would affect his credibility, correct . I thought it was important we were informing the court of any potential bias from any source andth i remember reading languae in that initial filing that addressed the potential bias the reporting. So your testimony now is that you informed thehe court of potential problems with the sub source of political motivations, connections to the Foreign Governments. I understood the question to be about whether we informed them about potential bias. I didnt know the identity or any information about the sub source. You personally authorized a surveillance on an individual associated with the president ial campaign during that campaigns ongoing time period in october of 2016. You signed off personally on the further applications based on information from the source that you believed worked for the Democratic Party and the source of information coming up for a suspected russian agent, yet you did nothing to try to verify any of this information. You brushed aside the concern of highlevel National Security lawyers at the department of justice. How are the American People to trust you or the fbi following abuses like this . I disagree with the predicate. The fbi is an organization that is independent and flawed. Im not necessarily worried about the fbi as a whole. Im worried about you and what you certified that led the court to conclude that it had been mislead it repeatedly and due to the nature it could no longer trust with th the federal bureaf investigation needed so what you said and subsequent cases those i suggest to you that is an incredible dereliction of duty andmi a betrayal of your responsibility as the director of the fbi. If i could, one last thing i want to follow up on. The letter to the chair man from john radcliffe, which i know you have seen as you mentioned earlier, he says on september 7, 2016, u. S. Intelligence officials forwarded and investigated referral to the fbi director james comey regarding the u. S. President ial candidate Hillary Clintons approval plan concerning donald trump and Russian Hackers as the means to distract the public from her use of a private mail server, did you open up an investigation . I dont know what that refers to. That doesnt ring a bell with me. You didnt receive any investigative referral of this nature . I dont remember it. I dont remember seeing anything described in that letter. I have to say i realize my time is expired. I find it extraordinary. They received no attention from the fbi. The director and others have plenty of time to go and seek surveillance warrants that are so flawed the court has said it can trust with the fbi says in future cases. This is an extraordinary abuse of power and its time we hold people responsible. Thank you, senator blumenthal. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for your service to the nation and for your family as well. Your wife in particular. I think that this hearing is likely to attract as much attention and land with the same giant flood as the previous hearings. The American People are really focused on the direct and imminent threats to the nation. The pandemic continues to kill almost a thousand a day given to the neglect. People continue to lose jobs. Millions are unemployed and Small Businesses are struggling. Here we are relitigating a controversy that is 4yearsold an investigation into russian interference the russian interference is ongoing and at this very moment. The Security Director warned publicly russia continues to spread disinformation in the u. S. That is designed to undermine our democracy. And i can say the information we have received in briefings is chilling. We have received that information and confidential classified briefings that i wish could be made known to the American Public with of the same kind of alacrity documents have been declassified in the preceding and they need to know about the threat of White Supremacists. The current director of the fbi said again, publicly, racially motivated violent extremists are, quote, a National Threat priority. A National Threat priority. A security danger to this country. They are the same White Supremacists the United States last night said should stand by. That statement is one of the most important and horrifying in my lifetime. Mr. Comey, in your time as fbi director, did you see an uptick in white supremacist activities in the United States . And if so, with what kind of consequence . Yes, it is my recollection the potential acts of violence and intimidation and all the things that come with a criminal group and aim in the way that mr. Ray has articulated . He was assigned to the counterterrorism division. Do you think that more resources can be devoted to this threat . You can never the way that these groups do. With senator durbin, hirono, warner, kane, joe legrand and others, and there is a measure that would seek to address the growing imminent threat of White Supremacists impact and violence. I commend you and the current director for focusing on it. I want to turn to the statements that earlier you made in response to senator durbin about the 420 million in debt that has been disclosed as owing by the president. Youve done a number of National Security background checks. And in those background checks, my understanding is a question relates to debt owed by the individuals. Is that correct . Yes, thats correct. The reason for that question is to indicate and disclose whether or not that individual has concealed, correct . Correct. One aspect of exploring the financial situation is that. Why is it that those facts are important . Because deciding whether someone is trustworthy with National Security information involves understanding of they are vulnerable to exploitation by an adversary or criminal group. So somebody owes a lot of money and is trying to hide that, that allows thehe adversaries to gain leverage over the person and force them to do something they shouldnt do and to try to recruit the Foreign Government officials to become assets of the United States government, so the adversaries do the same to us. The president of the United States isnt subject to any background security investigations as most highranking officials are. But it is the concealment of that debt, not only its gargantuan size, but the hiding of it that potentially make them vulnerable or extortion or other proper influence, correct . Thats right. Even if it were fully transparent it would still be concerned about the vulnerability of the adversary would cut a secret deal to reduce the debt even if the public knows about it. So, any individual in the position of responsibility who is concealing the debt as well as the debt itself makes him or her more likely to be an asset in the influence or subject to extortion, correct . It creates a serious counterintelligence concern that you would want to address in deciding on the suitability. Thank you very much. Thank you. Senator, to follow up on senator blumenthals questions, would you be concerned about a counterintelligence threat or compromise of a candidates Family Member receiving millions of dollars from a corrupt in ukraine, that a candidates Family Member was receiving millions of dollars from the deputy mayor of moscow, that a candidates Family Member was getting 1. 5 Million Investment portfolio from the china bank . Would that concern you . If i were still in the fbi i would be concerned to exert leverage over a government anficial, potential Government Official or someone close to them in an effort to influence them. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, if i may just clarify, the question you just raised is a hypothetical related to a non Government Official. What we have here, and what the records reveal quite starkly the president of the United States, the commanderinchief is vulnerable to leverage and manipulation, even possible blackmail. I understand your point, and you have the right to make it. It wasnt a hypothetical. These things happen. Senator. Thank you mr. Chairman and mr. Comey for being here. I am not going to ask some questions that have already been asked by prosecutors and lawyers whose preambles and predicates you have rejected. So instead of this, i want to go more from the management perspective. We had general horowitz before the committee, Inspector General horowitz, and he identified as you are aware of the 17 errors and omissions. As i look at some of the errors and omissions, do you think we know one that was identified as a crime what do we do with the remainder . In the reports and findings do you think they were valid . I do, and i hope that it was followed by a root cause analysis to figure out exactly why this happened and how should dowe change to make sure it doesnt happen again. Lets say you came in as the new director of the fbi after the prior director and their Organization Study we found these errors and omissions. If it didnt rise to the level of a crime in your opinion, do you think that it at least should have prompted terminations and disciplinary action on the part of these are all highly trained, highly educated, highly experienced professionals in the fbi. By the way, the majority of them are great people, but its a big organization. What about the remainder . You are the director and got this report from the inspector cageneral. What do you do, what is your remediation plan . Youou say you would want to streamline the process. What would you be doing right now to address the 16 other errors and omissions that occurred under prior to your watch lacks. Id be doing two things. Looking wide and narrow. Wide to see with the systematic problems are and narrow to try to understand when these employees made these decisions, what were they thinking. So the misconduct turns on whether someone was intentionally engaged in wrongdoing and a range of misconduct short of that. You want to assess that with personal knowledge and make the judgments based on that. You were quoted and i want to read this so i dont get the words wrong,g, but saying that t was handled in a thoughtful responsible way by the doj and fbi. He went on to say that it was abused as nonsense. Do you still stand by that . I dont think that it was abuse but wrong in having confidence in the process and oversight. I was too confident in this extensive complicated system. What would have prompted you on the front end to think that it was okay . I think you already said in prior testimony there were things in the process that should have been improved. Why under your watch were we not already trying to do those kind of changes . My confidence was based on the fact that it was regular oversight in the department of justice, regular audits of the cases, and that i also understood the complexity of the process. Agents would complain to me everywhere i went. Its too hard to get if i said. Too many people to check off and too many people to review my work. Knowing the process that included regular audits gave me confidence as a business leader, government leader that we have a sound healthy process and that was wrong. Mr. Comey, one of the things that worry me since we are talking about an investigation of someone running for president of the United States, i, like senator sasse, resisted some of the changes that my colleague senator lee was putting forward, but i feel like i have confidence in the process and clearly i shouldnt have. And even the fisa court has expressed their concern and information presented to them. But you know what i really worry about, i worry about people that would never have a hearing on their case before the Senate Judiciary committee. I mean, we are here because we are talking about a highprofile elected official, but do you have any concerns of the same sorts of lapses and i do think people should be held accountable and prosecuted. Do you have any concerns if we go back over the course of the fisa process that we have had innocent people out there subjected to the same process, and potentially wrongfully received a warrant and surveillance . Sure. Its a reasonable concern. The Inspector General did look across dozens of cases and found mistakes i think he said in every case. That is a serious concern. This is a systemic problem. That doesnt mean the lawrence what not have been issued otherwise. If i were still there its something i would think about every day. I have another question. Remember general Inspector General horowitz i asked a series of questions, and in the report, when he talked about a possible political motivation for some of those involved and identified in the investigation, i asked about did he see any evidence of a political motivation, he said that was murky. If youve gone through it, and im sure you have, do you believe that it was absent a political bias, just a paperwork error or business process that needed to be streamlined or how did you feel about the murky description general horowitz gave to the motivations of people . We have seen the emails and communications. How do you feel about that . Do you honestly feel that this process as the Operator Level was truly devoid of any politicalho bias . And im not just saying that. Im saying it because i read the horowitz 400 page report. In the case opening in the conduct and investigative decisions, there was no evidence found of political bias. [inaudible] if horowitznd finds something, e knows how to say it. Hehe found the opposite, so thas why i say that. Why would Inspector General horowitz, who i think is very capable as an Inspector General, goes so far as to say that it was murky . You say that theres no doubt, but we have some say that it was murky based on the same information that i read in the report. Im sorry, senator. I dont know where the murky comment comes from. Im talking about the report that ive read very carefully a number of times and he makes that finding. We found no evidence of political bias in a any of the investigation. A final question, mr. Chair. I have about 45 seconds of a late start. I know hunter biden was appointed to burisma while you t i just want to make sure senator hirono. Thank you mr. Chairman. The chair noted that he is committed to trying to save the fisa system, and in fact, they dug very deep into the crossfire hurricane investigation and then the 400 page report as mr. Comey noted, he filed no evidence of political bias, but he did note a number of changes that should be made to the fisa application process. And in fact, fbi director ray is doing those changes. So, if we are committed to making changes to the application process, andan we al share that concern, the hearing today should be focused on whether or not the fbi and fact is making those changes that the inspector horowitz n backed out and he is very thorough investigation. Mr. Chairman, we understand that radcliffe entered a statement claiming the declassified information, selective declassifieds information you released yesterday about Hillary Clinton from russian sources, quote, isnt russias disinformation, and yet, acknowledged that the information he released may be, quote, a fabrication. I find it amazing that we have dni radcliffe issuing this kind of information, practically on the eve of an election, making an obligation, in fact pushing off russian disinformation which he acknowledges. And i think we should have him before the committee so we can question him. The Intelligence Community special counsel mueller and Bipartisan Senate intelligence all found that russia interfered in the 2016 election. Mr. Chairman, you have acknowledged that. We all know this. And we also know that the interference waser in favor of donald trump. It clearly didnt give any weight to the effort to smear igllary clinton, and this committee shouldnt either. More importantly, i do associate myself with the comments made by the democrats on the committee who are wondering, along with the American People, why we are going over the same thing that weve already gone over the has to do with the premises underlined in the crossfire hurricanee investigation. So, we know this is being done somehow to bolster Donald TrumpsReelection Campaign through misinformation, which even today, russia is pushing out. So we should be concerned about whats going on in the 2020 election. And i have to say thanks tothe President Trump and my republican colleagues. Here we i are sitting here. Millions of people are without healthcare. Millions of people are without jobs. Except to discharge a duty to protect our democracy the foreign adversaries are operating in the unitedpr state. Mr. , you know what russia is doing right now is to use this information to interfere hi tountil on elections put thisn kind of information with Hillary Clinton that is engaging and right now with the proxy and online journals et cetera and then to be focused on those kinds of interference with that because the student has those efforts. I dont know enough to say, senators. Walking on on working on the investigation of the origin of the russia probe she resigned and reportedly out of concern the team was pressure for political reasons to issue a report before completing the work. And with that classified evidence with the russia probe. And with those reelection chances with the Justice Department to coordinate on multiple press releases about a just opened investigation into alleged the disc one illegally discarded ballots in pennsylvania . You testify doesnt just now these actions raise concern about bias and appearance of bias in the attorney general making these disclosures does this reflect a bias where appearance of bias on the part of the attorney general . I know those particulars well enough but in these that are at odds with the nature of that department by all americans. With the Attorney Generals Office is at a concern for all of this. Because we need that institution to be seen as separate from our tribal warfare. And where the attorney general access the personal lawyer and friends that and that is a priceless thing under threat. Even though i acknowledge those officials that continue to human asked a number of questions about those that President Trump does on that he owes do you think we should require all candidates to disclose significant sums of money they owe to entities or even countrieses . My opinion on both of those is worth no more than any other americans. We all went to understand what is going on with our leaders to make a sound choice when we were in november and i will leave it there is thank you testified it is important for those of us to call office of public trust to disclose those two home we all large sums of money because then we open ourselves up to various kinds of influences. That would not be good for our country. Thank you very much. I want to make a brief comment with the radcliffe revelationsyo and why they matter. I dont know how accurate the underlying intelligences know people say it wasnt russia disinformation but if it is question. T the how can it be september 72016 the Intelligence Community asked the director of the fbi the assistant director look at the Hillary Clinton as a means to distract the public and thats a pretty big deal everything trump looks at nobody we looked at this and so the point we are trying to make and is only assassinated in smoking gun. This is a director call me and everyone watching the seek to assess access information that they consider most private and talk about the crider page investigation and no one is doubting that. With that Opposition Research report compiled by Christopher Steele who was is hired by fusion gps acting on behalf of the Clinton Campaign that dossier that was Opposition Research on donald trump. We thought it was just that until last week when attorney general bar authorize the declassification of a specific footnote of the Inspector Generals report on the crossfire hurricane investigation from late lasten year. That is the letter dated septem. The declassification of that footnote reveals something more disturbing of the dossier and that revealed the the one that was a subject of a counterintelligence investigation into thousand nine and 2011 due to the apparent ties to russia. And that same document that alleged was a russian spy and then the fbi brought it line and sinker. Or at least and in the sub source it was revealed and then to make them an offer in quotes to make a little extra money if they have access to classified information. Those people reported this encounter and then also stated persistently asked with a particular military vessel. And thankfully that was reported. The sub source was in contact with the known russian Intelligence Officer and was invited to the russian embassy. And they knew all of this when they sought the first renewal of the carter page phase application. Unlike those other people who reported strange encounter encounters, what exactly did the fbi do . They never provided the information to the fisa court. Not one lick. They signed off on a violation of their privacy using reports to create a 32nd political ad. Of that is likely a russian spy. That the steel dossier with there sub source provided to steel himself. The Crossfire Hurricane Team to seek those fisa warrants on carter page. Director comey that it was okayed with the approach of crossfire hurricane to use steel in investigation. And with that counterintelligence investigation of the primary some sore. I do not. To believe and for the director of the fbi. It is important to make it less credible or more credible thats it for interesting with the fisa warrant i would want to know what those sub sources if that is relevant information. I thought you were asking if it was relevant to tell the director. Im not writing the affidavit or investigating the case its important for those running the case to say a sub source has connections todada russia me that more oror less credible and then to decide what to do with it. But as director you were signing off on the fisa warrant application. Re i do think it is information that should be provided to you as director of the fbi. Do you believe the department of justice and the fbi have a duty of candor to the fisa court . Very much. Yes. Do you believe they have a duty to present this exculpatory evidence to the court . I think they have a duty consistent with that to assert a complete picture so they should supply it. Yes they do. Ladies and gentlemen if you are watching this at home, i do think people are interested in this. They want to know about the tdoj this isnt about political retribution or sour grapes but equally neededl effort of our government to influence politics by using compromised foreign intelligence actors. This is a very very sad example of what could absolutely go wrong in our government. Thank you mr. Chair. Booker. Or. Thank you you think it would have been here long enough to get it to work. Waste of time is so concerned about the priorities of this Committee Given that elections have alreadykn if begun and to e an urgent and ongoing crisis and it has been cleared by the and thedepartment interest to continue with the investigation. Bad i really think that given the existential threat to our current election processes the dangers that we have that substantive dangers of violence and the real substantive dangers with the ongoing election we should be focused onu that. And then to focus while he refused to condemn white supremacist and calling on one group to stand back and stand by. In august 2019 director, you publish the oped in the New York Times how President Trump was deliberately fanning the flames of racism in america. Hene every american president knowing what lies deep within our country there is a unique responsibility to say loudly and consistently White Supremacy is a legitimate. Encouraging racial resentment ecan spawn violence. And aimed at people by virtue of their skin color is terrorism. What does it mean to call on the hate group that expresses White Nationalist views to taand back and stand by . In the basement of our amazing country has been a small amount of radioactive stew we have control that with law and culture and when the president of the United States starts to talk about that kind of group he pulls it out of thats do we have polarized 50 years to suppress racist violence is deeply Disturbing Development i hope you see the same way no matter of your politics. Is a true the domestic terrorist actions killing american lives from a church in South Carolina from a synagogue in pittsburgh by right wing organizations with hatred and bigotry and how are those comments to condemn White Supremacy like the power boys and those extremist groups like them and other whitem, nationalist groups to conduct such violence how is the psychology of these groups . It is the eyes of the people that make up the radioactive stew it controls more people to the world the two groups its a free pass and nobody wants to the present is tried to correct what he says but i hope you would. You are not alone the dangers of White SupremacyChristopher Ray recently testified racially motivated violent extremism primarily carried out by white supremacist account majority of the domestic terrorist threats. As the president calls to such groups that the president said if he loses the election will be a legitimate and has failed to commit himself and then how they address the threat. And then the president is using gasoline to spam the higher maybe when he said stand down and stand by but a i hope that he will say that what he really meant to condemn these groups. So less than 45 days away yodo you have cause for alarm about these groups of words of the president of the United States. And that creates a dangerous place for all of us not just people of color but every community these the sentinels and the president of the United States issued charged with tamping it down and not letting every. Here we are in the United States of america where the current fbi directore , past fbi director are both saying unequivocally that we are facing a threat of domestic terrorism. In clearly saying the words of the president of the United States is not calling her unifying were bringing us together or condemning this but fighting it, to use your word to spray gasoline on the fires of hatred going into an election where he is specifically talking to people and to do things like show up up pollingki sites. That you are on the verge of seeing a real democratic ideals and a smooth this is a dangerous moment in time we know from San Antonio Texas and a number of other than those invoke the actions of the president of the safe for violent actions it is a frightening time for america. And for us not to be assemblingvosi the bipartisan wl of the Judiciary Committee of the United States senate to act against this to see the agony of the africanamerican church in the san Antonio Walmart and in the synagogue in pittsburgh and so many other occasions when hate crimes are on the rise. Shameful we are doingcc nothing the only thing is for good people to do nothing. The president sprayed gasoline on the fires of hate. On the eve of this contentious election we are standing by letting the arsonist that is our president continue to menace the democracy we all cherish. Thinking mr. Chairman. That depends on law and orderde and truth telling and the system being fair to those that are accused of leftdoublequote being informed of exculpatory information. That is with this hearing is about and will continue these types of hearings to get to the bottom. Thank you mr. Chairman. Mr. Comey have you ever heard the expression power doesnt change people, it just unmasks them. I dont think so ;semicolon the copies of the book have you sold . I dont know. I live new one coming out in january about the Justice Department i hope that sells a lot also. I know the numbers. You enjoy attention, dont you mr. Comey . I do for my family not recognized with my deal a celebrity flame i hope will go away very soon. You have been an equal opportunity eagle test. You have tried to on egotist is going both trump and clinton. Talk about clinton first. You investigate is secretary Clinton Emails in her server did you not . And you concluded there were no criminal violations quick. That a reasonabler prosecutor would pursue. And you commented on your behavior and say extremely careless but in your opinion there was no criminally intent. What were you thinking of . This is the democratic nominee for president of the United States . Women to have an impact on the investigation. That was a summary. Im sorry i misspoke. Dont you realize that could have an impact on the election . Potentially. Sure. Week. Im sorry go ahead. Is trying to offer conspiracy of the intention to the American People. You give them a for those that transparency. Nevermind what i said and then i will reopen the investigation i told the chair the committee to that investigation to examine more material. And then a few days later right before the election is that nevermind. She didnt do anything. No i said the examination is completed and it doesnt change our view. Were talking about the democratic nominee for president of the United States but you dont think that would have an impact . I could potentially no matter what we did. You like attention . Yes. Both of those are two at the same time. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions and you dont like attention. Lets talk about trump. You wanted to not carter pag page. That is not accurate. When he went and got these war is to investigate doctor page that you will remember that much about come to follow himh around . From those lawyers of doj. And you follow them around with the authority from pfizer . They didnt need authority this is about electronic surveillance. Wiretapping . You could collect electronic information. Wiretapping . The oldfashioned term but yes it Gave Authority to collect electronic communication. Can him . I think there was authority. Did you can his mail . I think that was included. You dont remember . Its easy to figure out crem. Thats fair. You said today that if you knew now what you did not know then you wouldnt have signed the application . I would not have signed that narrow certification and want to know from the team how we thinking about this. And you dont like attention. Man who are investigating the republican nominee for the president of the United States your he finished the democratic nominee then you have a pfizer warrant that was a lie. Didnt you to check to say this is the nominee for president of the United States. Lets sit down and talk about your evidence. You never did that . Senator we were never investigating the candidate mr. Trump was about a surveillance warrant on someone nohe longer associated with the campaign. She i didnt coordinate the interview with her in advance and i understood her concern about that. She understood my explanation afterward why i used my authority to do it without coordinating. I stand by my earlier answer. I love attention for my grandchildren and children and my wife. The rest of it, i could let the politicians have it. Can we agree that the fbi is the premier Law Enforcement agency in Human History . I think so, at risk of offending the dea. I think so. Mr. Comey, if youd chosen a different career, say a driving instructor, and you never pursued a career in the fbi, dont you think the fbi would be better off . I didnt pursue a career in the fbi. I was teaching at columbia when i wasas asked to become fbi director. So, we will go to the next, senator blackburn. Are you aware that mr. Barnett, the lead investigator of the flynn case, recently said he didnt believe there was a crime involving general flynn . I read his report and i think it does say he thought that before january 5th or before flynn wass interviewed. Howell normal is it for the lead investigator to believe the person hes investigating didnt commit a crime and went so far as to say he thought the whole team was out to get a trump . Me is that a normal thing in the fbi, is that something the court should consider as to whether or not this is legitimate prosecution . I think mr. Barnett was confusing the nature of the investigation, which is a little bit concerning if he was working on it heres the point, mr. Comey. You set flynn up to get prosecuted. Its a counterintelligence investigation and this man was the incoming National Security advisor. He had every reason in the world to be talking to the russians about the changing policy, but this whole thing, setting up an interview in the white house, going around normalgi procedures bothered a lot of people. Aret you aware agents failed at the investigation conducted so poorly that they had to buy Liability Insurance or thought about buying Liability Insurance . Ive not although i thought all fbi agents i want the public to know this was so bad by the people involved, they felt like they needed to buy Liability Insurance. The man involved investigating didnt believe he had a crime and they charged with giving false information about a contact with a Russian Ambassador when he was the National Security adviser, which was on tape. When mr. Barnett looked at the interaction, he said i havent changed my mind. I think thats why the department of justice is so upset with the flynn prosecution. Senator blackburn. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Comey, we thank you for coming and appreciate havingng your time. You know, this is our day number three hearing. Weve talked with Rod Rosenstein and weve also had the opportunity to talk with sally yates. In her testimony she did say she thought you went rogue on the situation. That is of concern for us, and one of the reasons we wanted to hear from you today. And i will tell you this, as i talked to tennesseans, one of the things they are trying to figure out is quite simply this. Somebody cooked up this plot. They came up with this. And then somebody gave the order to carry this out. And somebody did the dirty work. But then when you talk to rosenstein and sally yates, basically you say you didnt know anything about any of this. And you did not know any of this was going on. So, why dont you tell us who came up with this plot . What plot are you talking about, senator . Spying on the president. There was no spying on the president. You say there was nopy spying on the president. No problems with carter page getting the fisa warrant, no problems withwa papadopoulos, there was no problem with general flynn. You are saying that you had just cause for every bit of that, even though as the chair man just said and senator kennedy said, youry goal was to get to the president , right . Im not sure i understand what your question is. That is not surprising to me. Let me ask you this, the book that you are writing, what we find those fiction or nonfiction . . Nonfiction. Nonfiction, okay. I guess youve got plenty of facts that are footnote and can back you up. You can read the ig report, report, the senate report. Lets talk about the ig report, as a matter of fact. Ibo think its interesting, because when the ig report really contradicted your statements, you claimed that the fbi did not spy on the Trump Campaign in 2017. And the ig report contradicted you on that. Is that a question . Yes sir, what do you have to say about that . Im not aware there is a contradiction on that in the ig report. You are not aware of that, all right. I assume you are aware of the article posted to the Washington Post under your byline. May 208th, 2019. James comey, no treason, just lies and dumb lies. You recall that article . Yes, senator. I wrote that. You did write that. And do you still stand by that article because it alleges that joseph was a russian agent. I think thats right. I think the Intelligence Committee found that he was representing russians and communicating with papadopoulos. Okay. And so, you are standing by that article. Ive read it last in may of 2019, but theres nothing i can think of now that i would want to change. And nothing has changed your opinion. Senator, i dont know what the opinions are that you are asking me about, but i dont know anything about something i wrote in 2019 that i would want to change. And if somebody wants to know your opinions, they can buy your books . Or read the postt or come to the hearing. Right. Who came up with this plot to carry this out. Weve seen the emails, the communications between struck and page. Weve read the ig report. We know there were things that seem to be conveniently overlooked, and it is astounding to me that as the head of the premier Law Enforcement agency, you, rosenstein and sally yates knew absolutely nothing. But then, you knew enough to go to january 5th meeting in the oval office. Did you call that meeting or did either president obama or Vice President m biden call that meeting . I dont know who called it. I was asked to come to the white house for that meeting, the waiefing on the fifth of january. Were asked to come. And who issued the invitation to you to attend that . I dont know. Okay. Who mentioned the logan act and using that against general flynn . Nobody that i recall. At the white house i remember discussing discussing it with the fbi but not at the white house. Okay. And then what were peters trucks notes as later relayed to him whatk did he mean by instructing you to make sure you had the right people on it . I dont know whatha peters trucks notes reflect. I dont remember hearing those words of president obama. I remember the president saying do this in a normal way. That was the way that i understood it. Okay. So, still there is a veil of vagueness around your recollection and memory when it comes to these incidences. Do you have any regrets . My memory is pretty good. I dont tend to remember her exact words unless i write them down. I remember the words to my marriage vows though it was 1987. I dont remember specific words in that january 5th meeting. But i can write a memo about it afterwards. I call that a selective memory. You choose to remember certain things and you choose to be vague about other things. One of the things we do know is the American People have been deeply troubled by the fact that the fbi could have conducted themselves in this way. The doj could have been involved in this. They want to trust the institutions of their government. They see someone in you who is very arrogant, who is very dismissive and is very condescending to the concerns that they have about the structure of government and the american taxpayer. They are paying the paycheck for every Single Person that is in the doj and the fbi, and they expect their best efforts. According to ms. Sally yates, you didnt give the best efforts. You chose to go rogue. I yelled back. Thank you. Mr. Comey, i really appreciate you coming. You didnt haveac to do this. You chose to do it, and i want to thank you read mr. Comey, are you still there . Im still here. I want to thank you for coming and we will wrap this up. Is it fair to say that knowing what we know now, crossfire hurricane wasnt done by the book lacks. No, that is fair to say. That is fair to say. It wasnt done by the book. No, im disagreeing with you. Well, god help us all, my friend, if this is by the book. God help the United States of america if this was done by the book. It was such an egregious violation of fairness, exculpatory information, failing to tell the court the unreliability of information before the court that was outcome determined against an american citizen. If this is by the book, we need to rewrite the book and i promise we will. Thank you very much for coming. Thank you. Now what we will be doing next. This committee will be going down the ladder of who signed warrant applications to get a fisa warrant against carter page. Weve had rosenstein, who was the acting attorney general, sally yates who was the acting attorney general for this, the number two at doj when it was she in charge. Both say i wouldnt have signed a warrant application if i knew then what i know now regarding mr. Carter page. Now we have the fbi director that came into the hearing today and said the three times he signed the application against carter page he wouldnt have signed it knowing what he knows now, knowing then what he knows now. So, where are we headed. Mccabe is next, the number two at the fbi. What am i worried about to the public . Im worried we are going to blame this on some lowlevel people. Somebody has got to be blamed for withholding exculpatory information fromeo the court tht would have saved an american citizen a lot of grief. Somebodys got to be blamed by using a document prepared by a Foreign Agent on the payroll of the Democratic Party who hired a russian agent to create a document called the dossier that was full of falsehoods that led to the obtaining of a warrant against a member of the opposition t Party Campaign tea. Somebody has to a pay that pric, because if they dont, we will keep doing this again. If it can happen to a republican, it can happen to a democrat. So, everybody at the top says not me. How is it possible that the director of the fbi in one of the most important cases in the history ofsi the fbi was not mae awarei, of the fact that the cia called the dossier the critical document to get a warrant against carter page internet rumor. How is it possible that he did not know that the primary sub source was a single individual suspected by the fbi of being a russian agent . How is it possible, and he wasnt informed by people in the fbi. After two interviews in januaryr and march of the russian sub source, the russian agent that the dossier was bar talk, heres a and you need to take it with a grain of salt, that none of that made it into the next warrant application in april. None of that made it into the top of the fbi. How is it possible something this important to the country that is not remotely possible to me that the case falls apart and nobody tells anybody at the time. So, to those that found this out that interviewed the sub source, to those that were made aware that the sub source was a potential russian agent, they want to hang you with this. If you didnt tell the court, then you are in trouble. If you didnt inform your superiors, you are in trouble because there is a duty of candor to the court. So, those of you who knew that the dossier wasnt reliable, was internet rumor in that information the sub source disavowed the reliability of a document and you didnt tell anybody about it, you need to be fired or you areit subject to going to jail. If you didnt tell somebody, then youve done your job. But here is where we are headed apparently. And one of the most corrupt investigations in modern history involving the nominee of the Republican Party where the fbi used a document prepared by a Foreign Agent, Christopher Steele who hired a russian spy to create a document to get a war against an american citizen against russian disinformation at least in part that we end this whole drama and say these things happen. Nobody at the top needs to be held accountable, other than its my fault intellectually. Somebody needs to be fired or go to jail. Mr. Kleinsmith is pleading guilty to altering a document exculpatory to mr. Page. Without the dossier, there wouldnt be anything against mrn context could be explained if you understood mr. Page had been working with the cia, something the fbi knew and failed to tell the court. He went through hell because of the dossier. Not one person has been prosecuted for colluding with the russians and the trump world. Why does the revelation matter . The director of the fbi was informed by the Intelligence Community in september of 2016 that there was a plot being cooked up by the Clinton Campaign to accuse trump of being involved with the russians to distract from her email server problem. The fbi t director doesnt remember that interaction. Heres the question. Do you think if this information involved trump they would have done something about it. Ive looked in the file. I cant find any evidence that they took it serious. It doesnto matter if its reliable or not. The question is did the fbi pursue evidence against the Clinton Campaign with the same vigor they did the Trump Campaign. Can you imagine what the media would be saying today if this revelation were about trump. Can you imagine how breathless it would be if the fbi just ignored it . Can you imagine how this would be betraying on the newspapers and tv networks of this country if the Republican Party had hired Christopher Steele, who hired a russian agent to investigate the Clinton Campaign, to get a dossier accusing her of horrible things that were all russian disinformation, hearsay and innuendo. To the american media. You gave mueller a lot of coverage. I supported the Mueller Investigation because i think it was important that we run these allegations down. Where theres accusations about the integrity of our elections, about the role of russia we should all be concerned. But now that we know, now that we know that the carter page fiasco was an effort by a Political Party to create a document to be used against an american citizen weaponize in political research, nobody seems to care. My colleagues talked about everything but the issue before us. I care. I supported legislation protecting mueller from being fired. Why . Because i care. I agree with the following. If the democrats were in charge, we wouldnt be m having this hearing. The horowitz report, 17 violationse, of protocol and policy regarding the carter page warrant application. Thank god for mr. Horowitz. We found more, even more stunning violations. The house Judiciary Committee has declared war on the Trump Administration every way you can including impeaching him, but they have yet to hold a hearing with mr. Horowitz. This committee has hadad hearins about russia involvement in our election, about their methods and their means. We call sally yates and clapper to telklapperto tell us about ts about flynn at a time when people didnt know. So, i want to end with th of ths about the flynn matter. It is not normal, ladies and gentlemen, that the agent involved in investigating a case, mr. Barnett, felt like there was no crime and the man gets prosecuted anyway. Its not normal for the agent in charge of t investigating case o believe that the organization was out to get him and in this case trump. This isnt normal. The people in the field wanted to drop it. They kept pushing it. They manufactured a crime but he wasnt colluding with the russians. He had every reason innu the wod talking with the ambassador because he was going to be the incoming National Security advisor. It isnt normal that the fbi takes a politically contrived document from a russian agent paid for by the Democratic Party. That isnt normal. Somebody needs to be held accountable. Not only is it not normal, its incredibly dangerous. So what will we do in this committee, we will keep moving forward. Im going to call everybody that signed the application andll ask them if he knew then what you knew now what do you have signed the application against carter page and byen the way, how is it possible the people in charge seems to know nothing about egregious abuses and one of the most important cases in the history of the fbi. Stay tuned. That the virus will disappear, that a miracle is coming. A president who was willing to lead, willing to be a role model before the nation. While joe biden said at the National Convention that no miracle is coming, we actually think we might just be a short time away from when america will produce the first safe and effective Coronavirus Vaccine and we will begin to deliver it to the American People the moment it is approved. Watch the debate between Vice President mike pence and harris. Live october 7th at 9 p. M. Eastern from the university of utah in Salt Lake City and stay with cspan for the second president ial debate town hall with President Trump and former Vice President joe biden taking audience questions life from the center for the performing arts in miami. Thursday, october 15th. Watch the debate live on cspan. Listen on the cspan radio app and go to cspan. Org debate. For streaming of cspan debate coverage there is also a link to each of the questions. Watch our debate video from the cspan video library. His conference would like to pass another Coronavirus Relief bill but the house proposal was still too high. Leader mcconnell was asked about the president s statement in the debate when asked to condemn White Supremacists. This is about 15 minutes