What James Comey’s gripping Senate hearing told us about Donald Trump

On the surface, former FBI Director James Comey’s long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee hearing was underwhelming, failing to turn up a clear smoking gun. A closer analysis of what Comey said, however, portrays a damning picture of the president’s behaviour and, in doing this, undermines several of the arguments used by both the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. In particular, three main themes stood out.

First, from the outset, and in his answers to senators, Comey highlighted the reality and the gravity of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. He stated that there should be “no fuzz on [the issue] whatsoever”: the Russians interfered in the electoral process.

“It’s not a close call,” he added, “it’s about as unfake as you can possibly get” – a sure reference to Trump’s suggestion that the allegations regarding his campaign collusion with Russia was “fake news”.

More ominously yet, Comey also stressed that the Russian effort is clearly directed from the Kremlin and is a long-term strategy aimed at undermining future elections and the integrity and credibility of American democracy. This is made even more concerning by Comey’s admission that the president has never shown any interest in Russia’s behaviour and actions, nor in what measures could be taken to prevent future interference.

Second, while being very cautious in his account, Comey made unmistakably clear how poor an opinion he has of the president and the White House. In his opening statement, he accused the White House of lying about the FBI and, in particular, of lying regarding the reasons for Comey’s firing and, by doing so, discrediting the bureau. The administration decided to defame Comey and the FBI, saying that the bureau was in disarray and that it had lost confidence in Comey’s leadership. “Those,” said Comey, “were lies.”

Comey’s wariness of trusting the president became something of a theme. When asked why he had felt the need to write memos about his meetings with Trump when he didn’t do the same after meetings with other officials, Comey suggested three main reasons: circumstances (the president had insisted on meeting Comey alone); the sensitive nature of the investigation; and Trump’s own behaviour. As he plainly explained, based on Trump’s record, Comey feared that at a later stage, the president might lie about the nature and content of the meetings.

Comey drove that message home when asked how we could move beyond the he said-he said situation. As he put it, to decide who to trust, one would have to assess the consistency of a person’s statements, as well as look at his track record, demeanour, and record over time; a clear signal that on all these scores, Comey’s record is better than Trump’s.

In defiance of the president’s tweets on the matter, Comey also confirmed his hope that there are tapes of the conversations. Beyond the president, Comey also criticised the attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Sessions should have refrained from any involvement in the Russia probe, after recusing himself, but Comey’s firing proves otherwise. Comey also repeatedly asked the attorney general not to leave him alone with Trump, but Sessions never showed an interest in discussing with Comey the nature of the meetings.