Former Florida Gov. and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said today he does not believe President Trump obstructed justice when he fired former FBI director James Comey, but he urged the president to focus on governing rather than the controversies that have beset his still-fledgling administration.

“No, I don’t, but who cares what I think,” Bush said when asked whether Trump obstructed justice. “There is a process underway and the testimony today is not as relevant to me, in that regard, as Mr. (Special Counsel Robert) Mueller’s activity."

Bush spoke to a standing-room-only crowd of finance industry executives and researchers at the 12th Annual Carroll School of Management Finance Conference at Boston College. His remarks came just minutes before Comey began his testimony about Trump before the Senate Intelligence Committee this morning.

The testimony was carried on all three major networks and had people eagerly checking Twitter to see whether the president would respond.

“There’s a bar in D.C. that’s giving away free beer for every patron — they opened early this morning — for every tweet the president unleashes on Comey’s testimony,” Bush said, drawing laugher from the audience. “That’s a fairly self-destructive way to go about things. It’s not going to solve the alcoholism problem in our country either.”

During his comments and through the question-and-answer period that followed, the onetime GOP-presidential favorite lamented the lack of compromise and the constant quarreling that has engulfed Washington. Bush said he can’t escape political talk, even when watching ESPN or the Weather Channel.

“It would be great to get back to the business of governing and less about the swirling controversies,” Bush said. “I just think the president needs to focus on doing his job. There are great opportunities for him to hire people, he's done pretty well there. The judicial appointments have been good, he’s got a great foreign policy team, he should be president and stop creating all the controversies — let that process takes it’s place.”

Bush added, “My guess is (the Comey firing) won’t be viewed as obstruction of justice but I’m just watching it like you, on ESPN.”

During his address, Bush referenced his former campaign rival several times, including his hope that Trump would follow through on a major campaign promise to rid D.C. of Beltway insiders.

“ ‘Drain the swamp' was a classic line, it resonated with me,” Bush said “I didn't vote for the guy, I’m not a big fan and everybody knows that, but I was hopeful that he would drain the swamp and the swamp draining would include lobbying reform…which could be done by executive order if the president really wanted it.”

Bush was also asked who might run for president from the Democratic Party in 2020 and whether Trump would face any primary challenges in a reelection bid.

“Let’s call Carnac,” Bush said, drawing laughter from the crowd that appreciated the dated reference to a Johnny Carson fortune-telling character. “It could be Johnny Carson — entertainers now are home runs, Oprah, (Disney CEO) Bob Iger.

“I think the attitude is, ‘Look at all the people who ran last time, they looked like a bunch of clowns,’ including me, I’m sure, so, ‘I can do it,’ ” Bush added. “It could be a sports person, it could be (Dallas Mavericks’ owner) Mark Cuban. All of that is fun to speculate about, but it’s way too early to determine the fields of either party. Let's just get through June.”

Bush, speaking on the 92nd birthday of his mother, former First Lady Barbara Bush, began his talk with a humorus anecdote about a woman he said he ran into in San Francisco as he prepared to fly out to Boston. Echoing a similar anecdote he had related in 2007 after his term as governor had expired, Bush said the woman kept glancing at him as if she knew who he was, but wasn’t exactly sure about it.

She finally worked up the nerve to approach him, Bush said, and asked, “didn’t you used to be Jeb Bush?”