My God

My God, the guy publicly asked Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.


Is it any wonder that the guy (per today's testimony below) never asked Comey about  "what you should be doing or our government should be doing or the intelligence community to protect America against Russian interference in our election system"?

Or why "the president seemed unconcerned by Russia's actions in our election"?

Or more to the point, is it any wonder Trump would want to shut down the Russia investigation? Possible legal vulnerabilities for him include providing "substantial assistance" to a foreign national making election expenditures in violation of FEC Reg.110.20, and aiding and abetting, or being an after the fact accessory in the criminal theft of information (see Smartest colluders). [Edit 6/9:  For some expert commentary, see Campaign Finance Law: When “Collusion” with a Foreign Government Becomes a Crime and Campaign Finance Law: When “Collusion” Becomes a Crime: Part II]


[From todays' testimony]
HEINRICH: The president has repeatedly talked about the Russian investigation into the U.S. — or Russia's involvement in the U.S. Election cycle as a hoax and fake news. Can you talk a little bit about what you saw as FBI director and, obviously, only the parts that you can share in this setting that demonstrate how serious this action actually was and why there was an investigation in the first place?

COMEY: Yes, sir. There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever. The Russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. They did with purpose. They did it with sophistication. They did it with overwhelming technical efforts. It was an active measures campaign driven from the top of that government. There is no fuzz on that. It is a high confidence judgment of the entire intelligence community and the members of this committee have seen the intelligence. It's not a close call. That happened. That's about as unfake as you can possibly get. It is very, very serious, which is why it's so refreshing to see a bipartisan focus on that. This is about America, not about a particular party.

HEINRICH: That is a hostile act by the Russian government against this country?

COMEY: Yes, sir.

HEINRICH: Did the president in any of those interactions that you've shared with us today ask you what you should be doing or what our government should be doing or the intelligence community to protect America against Russian interference in our election system?

COMEY: I don't recall a conversation like that.

HEINRICH: Never?

COMEY: No.

HEINRICH: Do you find it —

COMEY: Not with President Trump.

HEINRICH: Right.

COMEY: I attended a fair number of meetings on that with President Obama.

HEINRICH: Do you find it odd that the president seemed unconcerned by Russia's actions in our election?

COMEY: I can't answer that because I don't know what other conversations he had with other advisers or other intelligence community leaders. I just don't know sitting here.

HEINRICH: Did you have any interactions with the president that suggested he was taking that hostile action seriously.

COMEY: I don't remember any interactions with the president other than the initial briefing on January the 6th. I don't remember — could be wrong, but I don't remember any conversations with him at all about that.