Firing James Comey: Was it President Trump's greatest miscalculation?

Kevin Johnson | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump allies take aim at Comey's credibility The White House and its allies are scrambling to offset potential damage from fired FBI Director James Comey's congressional testimony, an appearance that could expose new details about talks with Donald Trump about the investigation into Russia. (June 6)

WASHINGTON – When President Trump declared war on the U.S. intelligence community for its collective finding that Russia sought to steer the election in his favor, the president sowed a palpable level of suspicion among its top leaders.

In one infamous early-morning tweet, fired off just 10 days before his inauguration, he took a thinly-veiled shot at the FBI for the alleged “leak’’ of an unsubstantiated dossier purportedly detailing the Trump campaign’s ties to the Kremlin and allegations that the president had cavorted with prostitutes while in Moscow.

“Are we living in Nazi Germany?’’ Trump wrote.

The raw assertion from the president-elect did not escape the notice of top FBI officials, people familiar with the matter have said. So it should have come no surprise then, that former FBI director James Comey — increasingly suspicious of the president’s unusual outreach to him in the days before and after the inauguration — kept detailed memos about their communications.

When Trump abruptly dismissed Comey last month, the president effectively freed the former director to publicly air some of the most potentially damaging information to his young presidency.

Now, as Comey prepares to speak for the first time since his firing – a Senate hearing that's turned into a highly anticipated live television event for its explosive disclosures about Trump's requests for loyalty and alleged attempts to derail aspects of the FBI's inquiry into Russia's interference in the 2016 election – former colleagues and legal analysts said the former director perhaps embodies the president's most consequential miscalculation.

"President Trump badly misunderstood the makeup of Jim Comey,'' said Chris Swecker, a former assistant FBI director who once worked with the former director. "If he had studied up on Jim Comey, he would have quietly let the Russia investigation take its course. Was it wise to take on the intelligence community the way (Trump) did? I think he knows the answer to that now.''

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Alone, Comey's assertion that the president pressed him to drop the FBI's inquiry into national security adviser Michael Flynn's contacts with Russia – outlined in an extraordinary written statement filed in advance of the former director's appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee – is enough to inflict enormous damage, analysts have said.

At the very least, said former Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller, it will likely revive allegations of obstruction of justice.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who last year issued the government's assessment that Russia had interfered in the U.S. election with a campaign of cyberattacks and leaks of stolen information to websites such as WikiLeaks, went even further Wednesday in outlining the potential peril to the Trump administration. In a speech to Australia's' National Press Club, even before Comey's prepared testimony was made public, Clapper said that the Watergate scandal that doomed the presidency of Richard Nixon, "pales ... compared to what we're confronting right now.''

Since Comey's firing last month, one blockbuster revelation after another has added detail about Trump's suspicious outreach to Comey related to the looming Russia investigation. The latest thunderbolt, however, was delivered Wednesday by Comey himself.

In vivid detail, the director also does not spare Attorney General Jeff Sessions from scrutiny, confirming that he unsuccessfully solicited Attorney General Jeff Sessions' assistance in walling off the FBI from Trump. The disclosure opens a new and dangerous avenue of exploration for the four congressional committees now investigating Russia's interference and Robert Mueller, the Justice Department's special counsel now overseeing the government's counterintelligence inquiry.

"If Comey did share his concerns with the attorney general, who later played a role in his firing, that could put the Justice Department leadership in deep trouble,'' said University of Notre Dame law professor Jimmy Gurule, a former Justice and Treasury Department official in the George W. Bush administration.

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Yet Comey's appearance Thursday before the full Senate Intelligence Committee and the larger court of public opinion also is not without risks for the former director. Miller said Comey's disputed handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation removed the "bullet-proof armor'' that long-shielded the his reputation for solid judgment and unshakable integrity.

"Beyond the hearing room, people will be dissecting every word he utters,'' said Ron Hosko, a former chief of the FBI's criminal division and an ardent Comey supporter. "They will be looking to see if he has inflated claims about his conversations with the president. If people feel that it looks like political payback for his firing, there will be a strong response. I don't think that's the case at all, but I'm expecting the deep political divisions in our country to be on full display.''

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate panel, said earlier this week that Comey will be given wide latitude to tell his story.

"He can't talk about anything that is classified,'' Burr told reporters. "But I haven't gotten any indication that he is constrained in any way, shape or form.''

And over the seven pages of testimony Comey filed Wednesday, he appeared to hold little back. He drew from the catalog of memos he prepared over four months, acknowledging that he felt "compelled" to document his conversations with the president starting with their first Jan. 6 encounter at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where Comey gave a tense briefing about the contents of the now-infamous dossier.

"Creating written records immediately after one-on-one conversations with Mr. Trump was practice from that point forward'' in nine conversations with the president-elect, Comey said, adding that "this had not been my practice in the past." Comey says he had only two conversations with former President Obama in nearly four years.

And Comey's testimony is remarkable both for the fulsome summaries of his conversations with the president but also for the imagery he uses to set the scene for nearly every contact.

At a Jan. 27 White House dinner, where Trump allegedly seeks a pledge of the director's loyalty, Comey set the scene: "It turned out to be just the two of us, seated a small oval table in the center of the Green Room,'' Comey said. "Two Navy stewards waited on us, only entering the room to serve food and drinks.''

At that dinner, Trump made an unusual request. "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,'' Comey said, which he described as "at least an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship.''

And at a later Feb. 14 encounter, the director recounted with extreme detail another unusual suggestion: "I hope you can let this go," Trump said of the FBI's examination of Flynn. As Comey put it, "I understood the president to be requesting that we drop any investigation of Flynn in connection with false statement about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in December."

These quotes from Comey's contemporaneous memos, coupled with his analysis, will not only make for riveting testimony – but also ensure that Trump's account would not define him.

Though Comey does acknowledge, as the president has previously asserted, that he told the president on three different occasions that he was not a subject of the ongoing Russia investigation.

Trump's camp seized on that information Wednesday, saying that it amounted to a public acknowledgment that the president was not under investigation in any Russian probe. Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz said the president "feels completely and totally vindicated'' and "is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda.''

Some Republicans, including former Comey colleagues, have strongly disagreed with the former FBI director’s decision to testify, yet they also acknowledge that criticizing him publicly comes with more potential risk.

As FBI director and former deputy attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, Comey aggressively worked behind the scenes to establish strong relationships with Republicans and Democrats. Before political firestorm that followed his decision not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server while secretary of State, Comey was widely viewed as a rare honest broker.

And even following his controversial handling of the Clinton case – while many questioned the director’s judgement – few have challenged his integrity.

Nevertheless, one former colleague, who declined to be identified because of his continuing friendship with the former director, said he and others are bothered that Comey would be willing to disclose private conversations with the president, despite Trump's questionable intentions. The former colleague described the upcoming testimony as unseemly.

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Others regard Comey's testimony as necessary.

"The rule of law in this country depends on public officials not politicizing or corrupting law enforcement,'' said Vanita Gupta, former acting chief of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in the Obama administration. "It is vital that the American public and their elected representatives hear from former FBI Director Comey about any inappropriate contacts from the White House in the course of conducting a nationally-important investigation.''

Since agreeing to appear at Thursday's hearing, a source familiar with Comey's activities said the former director has been preparing largely alone with input from a close circle of confidants and advisers. Although Comey does not believe he faces any legal jeopardy related to his testimony, he has a lawyer to provide counsel.

The White House, meanwhile, has decided it will not block Comey's testimony by asserting that their communications were private. But Trump has not ruled out the possibility that he may offer his own Twitter commentary during the Senate session.

Asked earlier this week whether he had a message for Comey, Trump said:

"I wish him luck.''