Two weeks ago, after a month of breathless speculation, former FBI director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee about the events leading up to his abrupt and dubiously-justified termination by President Trump. Because Washington is composed exclusively of J. Crew-clad West Wing aficionados who still maintain a group text with their high school debate club friends, our nation's capital shut down for the morning: broadcast networks aired the hearing live, bars opened early to allow for drunken group viewing of the proceedings, and, according to the good people at PornHub, users in the District Columbia streamed significantly less pornographic material than they usually do at midday on a Thursday. Truly, Director Comey's testimony was a historic moment.

In addition to the product for which they are best known, PornHub maintains a robust analytics team that publishes mildly amusing—and occasionally profoundly grim—insights into what its users are searching for, and when, and how often. ("I go to PornHub for the real-time data analysis" is the new "I read Playboy for the articles.") Their latest report indicates that in and around our nation's capital, video-related browser tabs remained firmly locked on C-SPAN while James Comey held court.

James Comey’s testimony began at 10am ET on June 8th, and compared to an average Thursday, traffic in the Washington D.C. region was down 10.1%. Traffic to Pornhub remained well below average until noon hour, when it had a quick recovery and remained near normal levels for the rest of the day.

In graph form:

Courtesy: PornHub

A week later, when it was Attorney General Jeff Sessions' turn to testify under oath, the spectacle of this suit-clad Foghorn Leghorn spluttering indignantly and fabricating legal doctrine for two hours managed to command even more attention from the horny politico class than Comey:

Courtesy: PornHub

It's good to know that, even in an era in which an unfathomably vast universe of adult content is available to anyone with a web-enable device at the touch of a button, the chance to witness the revelation of potentially impeachable conduct on live national television still provides the American public with enough excitement all on its own.

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