Story and that is james comeys testimony today at the Senate Intelligence committee. This evening, we want to hear your reactions to todays hearing and get your views on the russian involvement in 2016. Theres how you can participate. At thisans dialin number, democrats here, independence and third parties called the number ending in 8922. Our fourth line is the international viewers. That number is on your screen as well. Your views asr well. If you havent seen todays hearing, it is repairing starting right now on cspan2. You can watch it there or watch it online at cspan. Org in its entirety. It is two hours 40 minutes. As were from you this morning, we will also be playing key portions of the hearing and some of the related press conferences that occurred. Lets begin by looking at some of the headlines that have, for hearingthe aspects today. Lawyer calls for an investigation of comite for leaking privileged to mitigations. The wall street journals takes, comey, i felt directed to drop rope. The New York Times as saying comey says trump tried to derail inquiry and accuses the white house of lies. Heres the washington times. Trumps lawyer slams the memo leak and thinks authority should investigate. The washington post, comey hopes he shared notes. Two more will want to more we want to show you very he is a full, that is what they say. The last report has several and they have top stories such as the testimony giving red meat to both sides. The New York Times story is debunked. That is some of how it has been playing out a little bit. Before we get to your calls. We want to show you former director comeys Opening Statement at the hearing today. Mr. Comey thank you mr. Chairman. Bestrs of the community committee, thank you for bringing me here to testify today. Ive submitted my statement for the record and i want repeating offerng to i would brief introductory remarks and welcome your questions. Director inppointed 2013, i understood that i served at the pleasure of the president. Even though i was appointed to a 10 year term, which congress created in order to underscore the importance of the fbi being outside of politics in independent, i understood that i could be fired by a president for any reason or no reason at all. On may 9, when i learned that i had been fired, for that reason i immediately came home as a private citizen. Then, the explanations, the shifting explanations. They confuse me an increase on concernedreasingly me. They confuse me because the president that i have had multiple conversations about my job before and after he took office, and he had repeatedly told me i was doing a great job and hoping i would stay to i repeatedly assured him that i and serve theay remaining six years of my term. Its only repeatedly that he talked to lots of people about me including the attorney general. A learned that i was doing great job and that i was extremely wellliked by the ei force. Workforce. It confused me that when i saw on television, the president saying that he fired me because of the Russian Investigation. I learned again from the media that he was telling private my firing had relieved a great pressure on the Russian Investigation. I was also confused by the initial explanation that was offered publicly. By some theas fired decisions i had made during the election year. That didnt make sense to me for a whole bunch of reasons all theg the time, and water that had gone under the bridge since those are decisions have had to be made. That didnt make any sense to me. Although the law required no reason at all to fire in a guy director, the administration and, more to deep amy importantly, the fbi by saying the organization was in disarray. And thewas poorly led workforce had lost confidence in its leader. Those were lies. Lain and simple im so sorry that the fbi workforce at the near them, and im so sorry that the American People were told them. I work every day to help make that organization better. And i say help because i did nothing alone at the fbi. There are no indispensable people at the fbi. The organizations great strength is that its values and abilities run deep and wide. Fbi will be fine without me. Mission will be relentlessly pursued by its people, and that mission is to protect the American People and uphold the constitution of the United States. I will deeply miss being part of that, but this mission will go on long beyond me and any particular administration. Sage before i close. I want the American People to know this truth. Strong, andonest, the fbi is and always will be independent. Now, to my former colleagues if i may. Im so sorry that i didnt get the chance to say goodbye to you properly. It was the honor of my life to service ideal, to be part of the fbi family, and i will miss it for the rest of my life. Thank you for standing watch, thank you for doing so much good for this country. Do that good as long as ever you can. That was about 10 a. M. This morning. Your phone calls. I want to show you this from the hill. They had a closed session after they had this open session. Hills, and wehe told senators about possible third sessions russia meeting that had not been reported before. Interestingly, attorney general Jeff Sessions had this tweet from may 9 and to his twitter feed. It says that interesting that senator schumer thought that obamas department can investigate themselves on hillary, irs, and fast and furious. Republican line, did you hear the testimony today and what do you think . This is faith from phoenix organ, yes i did. I wanted to say three things. Im 77 years old, i have never seen a more honest man in politics, man or woman. Three, comey for president in 2020. That stay on the republican line. Daniela is on independent one. She is from mechanicsville, new york. I daniela. Libertarian and was for the nomination before President Trump had the nomination. I voted straight republican after that. I have three things to say. I watched the hearing twice. Number one, comey not only purged himself more than once during his testimony, but she outed himself as the leaker. He made that speech about the fbi being honest, this this and that. He was trying to wrap himself in the honesty of the agency as if, because of the agency being honest, that he is. That is incredibly offensive. The man is awful. Was actually unfit to be the fbi director just for being a leaker, and then he proved himself as a perjurer. I hope they prosecute. I hope they investigate comey. Really, it is shameful. It is absolutely shameful. He sits up there, and the latest , a foreign power tried infiltrate a whatever, our democracy. Trying to keep thats russia lie alive. It is awful. Patricia in hollywood, florida. Good evening, i did watch the hearing today. Honestly i feel like the termination of james comey was an atrocity. I think it was an atrocity against our government. It is a shame that the president would approach someone involved in the investigation and as for him to be loyal and to pay say and to say to him that i hope youll be loyal threatening him for his job. Inevitably he did get fired. I hope this thing is handled properly and fairly and i think there is wrongdoing i want to thank james comey for his dedication to our country. That is patricia on our democrats line. On our is a republican line. Heres what he has to say. Director, to the special counsel review and or added your written testimony . No. Do you have any doubt thats russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 elections . Mr. Comey none. Do you have any doubt that the russian government was behind the intrusions and dnc and the triple c systems and the subsequent weeks of that information . Mr. Comey no doubt. Give any doubts about them being behind the intrusion and the state voter files . Mr. Comey no. Theo have any doubts that official the russia government are you confident that no votes cast in the 2016 president ial election were altered . Mr. Comey im confident. When i let this director, i saw no indication of that whatsoever. Director coming, did the president at any time ask you to stop the fbi investigation into russian involvement in the 2016 u. S. Elections . Mr. Comey not to my understanding, no. Individual working for this administration including the Justice Department as you to stop the Russian Investigation . Mr. Comey no. When the president requested that you and i quote lets go, flynn hadnn with russiand talk officials. In your estimation, was general flynn, at that time, in legal jeopardy and, in addition to that, did you sense the president was trying to obstruct justice or trying to seek for a way for Michael Flynn to save face given yet already been fired . Mr. Comey general flynn at that point in time was in legal jeopardy. There was an open investigation on his statements and russian contacts and the contacts themselves. That was my assessment at the time. I dont think it is for me to say whether the conversation i had with the president was an effort to obstruct. I took it as a disturbing, concerning thing. That is a conclusion that the special counsel will work toward to understand the attention intention and whether that was a offense. Is it possible that as a part , the fbinvestigation could find evidence of criminality that is not tied to elections6 11 2016 with coordination for russians . Mr. Comey sure. There could be something that just fit the criminal aspect that doesnt have anything to do with the election cycle . Mr. Comey correct. And any, likes investigation, and you turn over rocks, you turn things unrelated to the primary investigation that are criminal in nature. Comey yourummey have been criticized on providing the findings directly to the American People. Have you learned anything since that time that would have changed what you said or how you chose to inform the American People . Mr. Comey honestly, no. It caused a lot of personal pain for me, but as i look back, given what i knew at the time. Was the best way to protect the justice institution, including the fbi. In the public domain, is this question of the steel dossier. Its a document that has been around for over a year. Firstt sure when the fbi took position of it, but the media had it before you had it. And before we had it. At the time of your departure from the fbi, was the fbi able to confirm any criminal allegations contained in the steel document . I donty mr. Chairman, think that is a question i can answer in the open setting. It goes into the details of the investigation. Director, the term we hear most often is collusion. When people are describing possible links between americans and russian Government Entities related to the interference in our elections. Would you say that it is normal for foreign governments to reach out to members of an Incoming Administration . Mr. Comey yes. At what point does the normal contact crossed the line into an attempt to recruit agents or influence for spies. Mr. Comey difficult to say an abstract. It depends on the context whether it is to give it go part covert, orit is otherwise. At what point with that recruitment be a counterintelligence threat to our country . Mr. Comey again, difficult to it answer in the abstract, but when the foreign power is using a special coercion or some sort of pressure to try to coopt an american, especially a government official, to act on its official, that is a serious concern to the fbi and at the heart of the mission. If you have a 36 page document of specific claims that are out there, the fbi would have to, for counterintelligence reasons, try to verify anything that might be claimed in their, one, and first and foremost, the counterintelligence concerns that we have about blackmail. With that be inaccurate statement . Mr. Comey yes. When they receive a credible allegation that there is some to course in american, that is a basis on which an investigation is open. When you read the dossier, what was your reaction given that it was 100 erected at the president elect . Mr. Comey not a question i can answer in an open setting mr. Chairman. When did you become aware of the cyber intrusion . First russiae connected cyber intrusion i became aware of was in the late summer of 2015. In that timeframe, there were dcccthan the dnc and the that were targeted . Mr. Comey correct. It was to target Near Government agencies like nonprofits. Khamenei entities you think the russians targeted in that timeframe . Mr. Comey i was a in the hundreds. It could be thousands, but at least hundreds. When did you become aware that data had been textile traded xpo did you, the director of the fbi, have conversations with the last administration about the risk that this post . Mr. Comey yes. Share with us the actions that they took. The fbi had already undertaken an effort to notify all the victims. Consider thewe entities that were attacked as part of the spear phishing campaign. So, we notified them in an effort to disrupt what might be ongoing. Then, there was a series of ongoing interactions with through the rest of 15 into 16. Throughout 2016, the administration was trying to decide how to respond to what they saw. Sen. Burr the fbi in this case, unlike other cases you investigate, did you have access to the actual hardware that was hacked . Or did you have to rely on a third party to provide you the data that they had collected . Mr. Comey in the case of the , we didnte dccc have access to the devices themselves. We got relative forensic information from a private party. A high class entity that had done the work. We did not get direct taxes. But no content . Mr. Comey correct. Sen. Burr isnt content and important part of the forensics from a counterintelligence standpoint . Mr. Comey it is, although what was briefed to me by my folks at the time was that they had gotten the information from the private party, that they needed to understand the intrusion by the spring of 2016. Sen. Burr let me go back, if i lete up briefly, to me go back, if i can briefly, to the results of the email. Was your decision influenced by the attorney generals termini meeting with the former president bill clinton . Mr. Comey yes. In an ultimately conclusive way, that was the thing that cap it for me to protect the credibility of the investigation. Sen. Burr where there other things contributing to that that you can describe in an open session . Mr. Comey there were other things that contributed to it, one significant item i cant, i know the committee has been briefed on, the public accounts of it that are nonsense but i understand they have been briefed on the classified fax. Ie only other consideration can talk about it open setting is, at one point, the attorney general had directed me to not call it an investigation but a matter which confused and concerned me. That was one of the bricks in the load that let me to conclude that i have to step away from the department if we are to close this case credibly. Sen. Burr director, my last question. Youre not only a seasoned prosecutor, you have let the fbi for years. You understand the investigative process. You have worked with this committee closely, and we are grateful to you, because i think we have mutually built trust. Trust in what your organization does and what we do. Is there any doubt in your mind that this committee can carry out its oversight role in the 2016 russian involvement in the elections in parallel with the now special counsel that has been set up . Mr. Comey no doubt. It can be done, requires lots of conversations, but mueller is one of the great pross. We are back live. We want to get your reaction to the comey testimony today. Michelle and nashville tennessee, republican, good evening. Good evening. I did not feel comey is credible i feel he is like a spoiled child. I didnt get what i wanted. Trying to make excuses for his actions. I think he, Loretta Lynch, and clinton should all be under investigation for collusion. I cannot believe how the media is running this russia thing. If we are so weak, russia has so much control, we should all be very scared. [laughter] and that is what i have to say. Michelle you thinke, what did of the testimony about the president keeping him in the oval office alone to talk to him . I understand that there are issues of security thats none of us that are beyond will know. It doesnt look good, but we do not know what was said. I do not feel that he was coerced in anyway, and he even said so. Like i said, that is part of his trying to make excuses for his actions. Thank you, maam. An is it just wasnt bill brian is in jeffersonville, indiana. Thanks so much. I found it odd that there was an and information that the russian hacking was 2015. That was a year before the election to shore this up. Where was comey then to tell us about all this . Organizations had been hacked, i think we should have done a little bit more before the suppose it russian involvement in our election. Ive yet to see any factual information that there was any involvement in the election process. Brian, are you a supporter of trump . I am. Ihave become more so because eontinue to see th orchestrations and witchhunt. I feel sorry for him. I dont think he is a seasoned washington pro. I think he has the best interest of the people and country in mind. I hope we give him a chance to prove it. Tirades by the media and fbi continue to hurt us. Wrinkly, i did with two russian families at a bedandbreakfast and i found them delightful. I hope we continue to have conversations with the russians, north koreans, and any other adversaries. I dont know that the russians have been anything adversarial to us. We act like were scared of them, why. That is bright in southern indiana. We have someone on the rug republican line. Good evening, jim. Good evening. From what im seeing on tv and cspan, there is no obstruction of justice. Basically, what it boils down to, it is comeys word against trumps word. There is nothing there. I would like to say that Congress Needs to stop wasting our money with these hearings and spend it straightening out the country. We probably wouldnt have a deficit right now. What did you think of your senators questioning today . Did you see the hearing . I heard something on the radio about it. I didnt see the hearing. Thats because i was at work. I saw some of the things on it tonight. Marco brought up some good points. I dontut the really know what he said but i know when he said with a point it was a good point to bring up. To be honest with you, these hearings are a waste of time. Everyone is always trying to interfere with everyone elses elections