Transcripts For CSPAN3 LIVE Reaction To James Comey Testimony 20170608

Elections, his interactions with President Trump over the last three or four months or so. And the fate of former National Security director michael flynn. We are opening up our phone lines to hear from you, your thoughts on the hearing today. And heres how you do that. 20274898921 republican line. 2027488920 for democrats. For independents and all others, 2027488922. Well also look at lots of tweets out there, the comey hash tag. Look for those and your comments on facebook, as well. If we see more members come up before the cameras, well take you there live. The committee has a closed session now. You may have heard richard burr talking about that. Senator burr, rather, talking about that. Closed session with james comey but that will about do it for the day. Our coverage looks like this, we hope to take you live to hear from President Trumps attorney to make a comment on todays hearing. Hell be at the National Press club sometime between 1 30 and it can. Aiming to show it to you live. Also, our coverage this afternoon includes a reair here on cspan3 of the entire hearing and again tonight at 8 00 eastern over on cspan2, as well. So we look forward to your calls. 2027488921 for republicans. 2027488920 for democrats. And independents and others, 2027488922. The reporting of New York Times, heres the take on the hearing this afternoon, the front page, comey accuses white house of lies. The fired fbi chief says he and his agency were defamed. A lean at the daily call we are a similar take. Those were lies. Comey accuses Trump Administration of defaming him, of lying. Lets go to auburn, massachusetts, and hear from andrea on our democrats line. Caller hi. Im andrea. Im a student from massachusetts. And i think that its important to think about the demeanor of our current president and what that means when hes talking about whether or not he hopes for something. When you talk about demean know, what do you mean . Andrea, make sure you mute your Television Set or youll feedback. Well go to mitch in milwaukee, wisconsin. Republican line. Did you watch the hearing this afternoon, mitch . Caller yes. I watched the later part just before the before the closing of the hearing. And i was thoroughly confused by senator mccains questioning of, you know, where he was going with that with comparing to senator clintons hearing. And with the current hearing. Its something you should elaborate on that and why senator mccain was following that. And i also really appreciated the senators comments at the end with regard to having nine public hearings this year which is double the normal amount in a full year. So, im just curious as to why theres, like senator mccain and others, are blowing so much smoke into this hearing. Seemed to really pertain much to whats at hand today. Well, the reason that senator mccain got to ask questions, he and senator reed who also asked questions are considered exofficio me believes of the Intelligence Committee because they had the Armed Services Committee Rather in the u. S. Senate. We have cameras outside the closed Briefing Room this afternoon. That closed briefing with james comey and the senate Intelligence Committee members getting under way shortly. If there are any reaction from senators, well bring it to you live as we are able. Binghamton, new york, on the others line, good afternoon to you, james. Caller yeah. I was really disturbed by the whole thing but then at the end when mccain was talking, i was with friends and none of us could understand what this guy was saying. I mean, he sounded senile and confused. Okay. Outside of john mccain, whats your takeaway from what did you learn from this hearing with james comey . Caller biggest take away is mccain is old and senile. Theres an investigation that needs to be done. Heres nathan in the bronx, new york, democrats line. Caller hi, afternoon. So, i just wanted to say that this is just textbook obstruction of justice on behalf of trumps part. I mean, you can tell right away. And i see that a lot of senators they are focusing on that. On he said i hope. But i mean, if your boss tells you i hope you do something, if the president tells you i hope you do something, thats clearly a direct order. You think that the president was intentionally trying to get james comey to end the investigation on the caller yes. On mr. Flynn, michael flynn. Caller yes, thats correct. I do believe that he was intentionally making asking comey to end the investigation and you see that. He was just asking favors after favors and usually that he was actually trying to get comey to beg for his job. Because he wanted to be able to ask for favor from him. This afternoons hearing, todays hearing, rather, 2 hours and 45 minutes. We welcome the cspan radio listeners. Taking calls and comments hoping to bring you comments from the president s attorney whos set to make a statement sometime between 1 30 and 2 00. Again, well show all of this later in the program schedule. And were hear fer from now on t thor. Chris says, american rg learning how the government works. Kai says i want to hear the closed session. Thats going to be any new answer for everything. This one says the well orchestrated sour grapes brought to you by james comey. We mentioned that our cameras outside the room. Any comments from senators well bring them to you live. Cody, wyoming, jan, republican line. Caller yeah. I wanted to comment what i saw today was a man whos under extreme stress and i felt sorry for that. I know hes done good things for the country. There are a couple of things he brought up that were really interesting. One was the idea he leaked something to the press with what the guy so transparent and forthright i find that surprising. Another one that he was afraid to say to trump, you know, well, you know, thats crossing a boundary. Im not comfortable with that yet heres a man who stood up on national tv before an election and basically called in to question Hillary Clintons honesty and while i think hes an honest man i think he has some real issues with timing and with what he said and brought drama to the United States and the country which is so divided doesnt need. In the end, do you discount much of what he said or do you think that most of what he was testifying about today and what he published in his written statement yesterday is pretty much accurate . Caller right. Well, i dont say its not accurate. I think it was definitely fueled by emotions to some degree and i feel that it was fueled by a feeling of being wronged and of being confused. I thought it was interesting, you know. I thought a lot of things he said were interesting but the fact that Loretta Lynch, admitted Loretta Lynch had asked him to not call an investigation and he didnt consider that an important issue but trump saying that james flynn was a good man, nl you know, that did. It was confusing and i felt fueled by emotions. Appreciate that. To jeremy next in lee, massachusetts, democrats line. Caller im going to say this. Anyone think that excuse me. Forgive me. John mccain just had a stroke . Is he okay . Can someone check on him . Please. John mccain got the last question this afternoon as whats called an exofficio member of the committee. Our caller from massachusetts, senate this afternoon, voting on the nomination of scott brown, former senator to be ambassador to new zealand. Thats a thing moving the afternoon along for the u. S. Senate and senators now on the Intelligence Committee, closed door briefing, they will have that vote on the senate floor in just a bit. The house is in session today, as well, taking up a major piece of repeal legislation looking to repeal or change large portions of the dodd frank financial regulations law of 2011. Speaker ryan in the Daily Briefing today was asked about the Intelligence Committee that was happening as he was speaking. Heres some of what he had to say. First, i think people now realize why the president is so frustrated. When the fbi director tells him on three different occasions hes not under investigation, yet the speculation swirls around the political system that he is. Thats frustrating. Of course the president s frustrated. I think the American People now know why he was so frustrated because the speculation allowed to swirl when he was told by the fbi director he wasnt under investigation. Look, as far as the conversations and all of that, i wont speculate on any of this. I would just add that, of course, there needs to be a degree of independence between doj, fbi and a white house and a line of communications established. The president s new at this. Hes new to government. And so, he probably wasnt steeped in the long running protocols that established the relationships between doj, fbi and white houses. Hes just new to this. And so, i think its what i got out of that testimony is we now know why he was so frustrated when the fbi director told him three times theres no investigation of him. Yet, that speculation was allowed to continue. So obviously, we now know why he was frustrated. All of speaker ryans briefing available at cspan. Org. Here on cspan3 and cspan radio, we are taking your calls and comments. The Intelligence Committee has finished its work for the day in an open setting. Think near a closed session now with former fbi director james comey. Getting you reaction, 2027488921 for republicans. 2027488920 and democrats and others 2027488922. Well show you the hearing this afternoon. Were waiting to hear now from the president s attorney mark kasowicz. He is supposed to be there to make a statement and dont expect a full News Conference but whatever happens we will have it for you live here on cspan3, cspan radio. Back to your calls and comments, ken on the independent line, maryland. Caller hi. Hows it going . Thank you for having me. I want to touch on what speaker ryan said. I think saying that President Trump is new to the whole political situation is an absolute excuse. I mean, it is not an excuse whatsoever. Hes the president. And he should i mean, he should know how to handle himself in situations such as this one. I was going to try to touch on mccain but seems like everyone else covered that. But yeah. I think its an absolute excuse and to fire comey out of frustration hes absolutely right. There needs to be some chain of communication established there. Let me ask you about the president s experience on that because this was talked about a couple of times in the hearing and mentioned in james comeys written statement about the meeting at the white house and everybody was asked to leave the room and attorney general sessions stayed a bit longer and the president asked him to move. Whose responsibility is it there for say should the attorney general at that point have said, mr. President , i need to be in the room at that point . Caller i think so. I think so. I think comey, its hard for him to negate trump and say, you know, i dont want to be here in the room with you. I think trump put him in a lot of awkward situations such as that and i believe that the attorney general i think that responsibility did lie on him there. But as far as Everything Else goes, i think that comey handled himself with complete respect today, with complete respect to trump. He didnt put trump under the bus as many would expect from someone that was fired for you know, a reason that most likely was not true. All right, ken. Lets hear from peter next in summerville, massachusetts. Democrats line. Caller hi. Hi, thanks for taking my call. Sure. Caller i just wanted to appreciate just reasons, level discussion about all the issues. It made me feel a lot better about the situation, everything is very serious. Theres a lot of probables. We have to get to the bottom of this to restore confidence in the country and in the system. But just watching the you know, the debate, i heard a lot of reasons, criticisms from republicans. I thought that questioning whether or not comey should have gone to, you know, said directly back to trump that, you know, you shouldnt talk about this, thats a reasonable question to ask and i thought comey had a reasonable answer and i thought that, you know, it was a great debate and i really appreciated it. And i feel good about the country. Appreciate that, peter. Just to let you know, well reair the entire hearing today. A couple of opportunities for you this afternoon here on cspan3 and 8 00 tonight on cspan2. 8 00 p. M. Tonight on cspan2 and over on cspan also showing it but reaction from capitol hill and your calls, too, as well, tonight. Well continue to take your calls here on cspan3. Getting your reaction and aiming to you live to the National Press club for the statement by the president s attorney. Heres burtonsville, maryland, sarah, on the republican line. Welcome. Caller hi, thank you for taking my call. Im part of the group that trump hates. Im somali american muslim. I want to come to his defense and i found it appalling that media is just going crazy. You know, bombarding him with one accusation after another. And i find it interesting. I think we should all read between the lines. I think theyre applying pressure on him for some other reason and not being stated and i think all of this is a big, big propaganda because this is a National President and hes done a lot of great things. Also, he has his faults and his shortcomings but the bottom line is he is a nationalistic president. He is for the people from the people and by the people and i find it, you know i find it, you know, kind of interesting that the media going berserk and calling him out on just, you know, really, really just saying one after another and the International Trip i think theyre eviscerating him. I think theyre character assassination happening and i think theres you know, i think that the media should respect that he was chosen by the people. And the media is Corporate Media at the end of the day. And, sara, let me ask you. The point was made we heard from Speaker Paul Ryan saying basically the president s new to the office. Do you think thats part of the issue here . Caller his being new to the office . Hell shake things up. I dont think thats an issue. I think its refreshing. I find that refreshing. You get the same old, same old with all the other people that have been in politics forever. He is a breath of fresh air. He is a new perspective. And believe me when i say this. I understand his shortcomings and bigotry but same time looking at the Bigger Picture which is that hes nationalistic and doing great by the country and will do great by the country if we allow him and we dont try to, you know, try to turn him into a big monster and just go after him. Snun at this hour, the president is speaking to the faith and Freedom Coalition gathering in washington. Well show you later on in the schedule, as well. It is online at c 46 span. Org. We are waiting to hear from the president s attorney who is set to speak to reporters, a statement coming up sometime between 1 30 and 2 00 this afternoon. There was no white house briefing. They had what was called a gaggle where the spokesperson will informally meet with reporters and from that gaggle chris of cnn tweeting the testimony of james comey, Sarah Sanders saying, quote, i can definitely say the president is not a liar and frankly im insulted by that question. Todays hearing and calls. Cold chester, vermont, stu, on the others line. Go ahead. Caller hi, yes. Thank you for taking my call. I was going to comment on senator mccain but i have a feeling thats the topic of discussion but what i wanted to mention business that getting to director comeys point about demeanor and taking the whole body of evidence into account when making a decision, i think that given the demeanor of our current president and the demeanor of director comey i think speaks a lot to the character of both of these men and i think that director comey in documenting his conversations that he had with the president shows that he knew that something was up and this is a seasoned litigator whos been in government for a long time and quite frankly, his note as a fbi agent or any fbi agent can be used as evidence in a court of law so i wasnt a big fan of comey. But i think today hes swayed my opinion a little bit. Legal career including the district attorney, federal attorney in new york city and also as Deputy Attorney general in the bush administration. And four years as fbi director appointed by barack obama in 2013, fired by President Trump may 9 of this yearment lets get one more call and hear from panama city, florida, on our democrats line. Kelly, go ahead. Caller yes. I would like to know why its not being discussed whether or not we should be concerned at the local or the state level as far as russian interference goes. Is it possible that a local election could be persuaded by the russians . Well leave that question to the other listeners and viewers but thank you for that. More of your comments later on. Heres what we plan to do here. We are aiming to take you live to comments from the president s lawyer in just a bit. Thats the National Press club. Reporters are there. We dont expect it to be a fullon News Conference but they are anticipating comments between 1 30 and 2 00 and going there live regardless and then later tonight, 8 00 we are going to show you the entire hearing over on cspan2. All of that coming up tonight at 8 00 eastern. Here on cspan3, we are going to show you next the hearing as much as we can. Again, until we go live to the National Press club. Well start with the Opening Statement of james comey. Thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member warn ir, members of the economy tee, thank you for inviting me to testify. I thought i would just offer some very brief introductory remarks and then i would welcome your questions. When i was appointed fbi director in 2013, i understood that i served at the pleasure of the president. Even though i was appointed to a tenyear term, which congress created in order to underscore the importance of the fbi being outside of politics and independent, i understood that i could be fired by a president for any reason or for no reason at all. And on may the 9th when i learned i had been fired for that reason i immediately came home as a private citizen. But then the explanations, the shifting explanations, confused me and increasingly concerned me. They confused me because the president and i had had multiple conversations about my job, both before and after he took office. And he had repeatedly told me i was doing a great job and he hoped i would stay. And i had repeatedly assured him that i did intend to stay and serve out the remaining six years of my term. He told me repeatedly that he had talked to lots of people about me, including our current attorney general and had learned i was doing a great job and that i was extremely wellliked by the fbi workforce. So it confused me when i saw on television the president saying that he actually fired me because of the russia investigation. And learned, again from the media, that he was telling privately other parties that my firing had relieved great pressure on the russia investigation. I was also confused by the initial explanation that was offered publicly, that i was fired because of the decisions i had made during the election year. That didnt make sense to me for a whole bunch of reasons, including the time and all the water that had gone under the bridge since those hard decisions had had to be made. That didnt make any sense to me. And although the law required no reason at all to fire an fbi director, the administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the fbi by saying that the organization was in disarray. That it was poorly led. That the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. Those were lies, plain and simple. And i am so sorry that the fbi workforce had to hear them, and im so sorry the American People were told them. I worked every day at the fbi to help make that Great Organization better. And i say help because i did nothing alone at the fbi. There are no indispensable people at the fbi. The organizations great strength is that its value and abilities run deep and wide. The fbi will be fine without me. The fbis mission will be relentlessly pursued by its people and that mission is to protect the American People and uphold the constitution of the United States. I will deeply miss being part of that mission, but this organization and its mission will go on long beyond me and long beyond any particular administration. I have a message before i close for the my former colleagues of the fbi. First i want the American People to know this truth. The fbi is honest. The fbi is strong. And the fbi is and always will be independent. And now to my former colleagues, if i may, i am so sorry i didnt get the chance to say good bye to you properly. It was the honor of my life to serve beside you, to be part of the fbi family, and i will miss it for the rest of my life. Thank you for standing watch. Thank you for doing so much good for this country. Do that good as long as ever you can. And senators, i look forward to your questions. Former fbi director james comeys Opening Statement this morning about 10 00 eastern here on cspan3 and cspan radio. Getting your reaction to todays hearing. 2027488921 for republicans. 2027488920 for democrats. And for independents and all others, 2027488922. Well check your tweets, as well. Here on cspan3, waiting to you take you live sometime in the next 40 minutes or so, we expect to hear from the president s attorney Marc Kasowitz set to make a statement reacting to todays hearing. Well have it live when it starts. Cindy in dayton, ohio, on the democrats line. Caller yes. I know everybodys touched on this but ill make a comment and then move on. Yeah. Caller i think senator kaine is attacking its done and over with with hillary. And i think it was wrong that President Trump had let go fbi comey. And, you know, he was doing his job. And i believe that he should have let fbi director comey do continue doing his job for the next six years. You know . We all dont know what happened behind doors. You know . And im watching the whole thing on tv and then ill listen to people make comments. I dont see where trumps making america great. You know . Its just everythings going down. Really down. And basically, well, im just frustrated. Just like a lot of people i know here in dayton. Whats whats the source of your frustration, about this particular situation . Caller well, messing with the health care. Theres a lot of people that it will affect. Hello . Im still here. Were still here, cindy. Go ahead. Caller okay. Itll affect a lot of the people on the health care. And but with the fbi director i think he should have left that alone. You know . A lot of people agree with me. I guess thats basically what i have, my concern. And it has frustrated me. Cindy watching in dayton. Lots watching going on across the country in the Nations Capital here in washington, believe it or not, many of the bars, particularly on capitol hill, opened earlier as a tweet of peter about one place saying duffys in d. C. Where i just heard shushing in an irish pub for the first time ever. Sues in dubuc, iowa. Caller hi. Mute your television and go ahead with your comment. Caller the thing that im really worried about is people are not behind our president. And this comey thing, i am 100 behind them doing this investigation. What i dont understand is all of the negative comments about senator kaine. Senator kaine was a very good senator and i just feel bad that theyre throwing things out. I am worried that people are going to some people are going to pick our president to death. Instead of getting behind him and helping him. I dont have a feeling right now one way or another about james comey. But i watched this and i dont watch political things. They upset me. But i did watch this and what i learned was that there may be some very, very serious issues with russia. Now, we have had serious issues with russia many, many times. And i think if the people would just give President Trump a chance, remember, he is not a politician. And he has been a successful businessman all his life. Yes, hes gone down and bankrupt. Hes come right back up. Nobody has held his hand. Hes done it himself. And i feel that if the people would just give him a chance he will learn how to do the government if he has good people working with him. And i think that the correct response to the James Comey Firing will come out. Now, i hope and pray that our president had nothing to do with it. When senator burr scheduled the hearing, one of the key issues he wrote about was that his he wanted the find out from james comey about his role in the development of Intelligence Committee assessments on russian interference in the 2016 elections. The president himself not tweeting today but his son donald jr. , donald trump jr. Live tweeting the event today throughout the day and here retweeting one of President Trumps tweets of april saying once again hes right before anyone else sees it an they found another leaker today. Lets hear from johnny in little rock, arkansas. Good afternoon. Caller hello. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. Caller the reason i was calling is President Trump keeps stating that he was not under investigation. And my understanding is though he was not under investigation specifically for dossier that may or may not have involved hookers or content. That is specific. We have to look at things in context and that was the context that he was not under investigation. That does not mean an ongoing investigation, hes not going to make comments on an ongoing investigation. Those are two separate things and i think they keep putting them together in my opinion. One of the issues that came out in questioning of james comey was about intentional leaks by the former fbi director. A headline from the New York Times this afternoon, ny times. Com. Comey cites white house lies, says he leaked notes in hopes of a special counsel. Heres how that came about in questions first from senator collins. Finally, did you show copies of your memos to anyone outside of the department of justice . Yes. And to whom did you show copies . I asked president tweeted on friday after i got fired i better hope theres not tapes. I woke up in the middle of the night monday there might be corroboration for our conversation, might be a tape and my judgment was, i needed to get that out into the Public Square and so i asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. Didnt do it myself or a variety of reasons and asked him to because i thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel and asked a close friend of mine to do that. Is that mr. W i ttus. No. Who was that . A good friend of mine, a professor of columbia law school. You said after you were dismissed you gave information to a friend so that friend could get that information in to the public media. Correct. What kind of information was that . What kind of information did you give to a friend . That the flynn conversation that the president had asked me to let the flynn im forgetting my own words, but the conversation in the oval office. You didnt consider your memo or your sense of that conversation to be a government document . You considered it to be somehow your own personal document that you could share with the media as you wanted to . Correct. Through a friend. I understood this to be my recollection recorded of my conversation with the president as a private citizen. I felt free to share that. I thought it very important to get it out. Were all of your memos that you have recorded on classified or other documents memos that might be yours as a private citizen . Im sorry. Im not following the question. I think you said you used classified yes. Not the classified documents. Unclassified. I dont have any of them anymore. I gave them to the special counsel. My view was that the consent of those unclassified memorialization of those conversations was my recollection recorded. So why didnt you give those to somebody yourself rather than give them through a third party . Because i was worried the media was camping at the end of the driveway at that point an i was actually going out of town with my wife to hide and i was worried it would be like feeding sea gulls at the beach. It seems to me what you does is create a source close to the former director of the fbi as opposed to just taking responsibility yourself for saying, here are these records. Questioning earlier today of former fbi director james comey. Reaction on twitter this one from robert who tweets that three takeaways from the comey hearings. No russian collusion. No obstruction. Comey is was a leaker. No wonder hillary got off. Surprise . Not. Kathy said the treatment of trump and clinton is criminal. And mary says i took the day off to watch the comey hearings because this is the biggest substantive hearing in a generation and we all need to know. Well continue to get your reaction. We also are aiming to take you to the National Press club in just a moment to hear from the president s attorney Marc Kasowitz set to make a statement about the hearing today. Well go there live with it happens. Back to your calls and jackie in tulsa, oklahoma, jackie in s tulsa, oklahoma. Go ahead. Caller hello, thank you for taking my call. I was just going to say that, you know, i think that its very clear coming away from this hearing this is a very critical time in our nations history. And i think that its very dangerous for the American People to conflate partisan rhetoric with what is going on here. This was a serious breach of security by a foreign country that did not have our interests at heart. By any means. You know . In fact, wanted to harm us. I think that needs to be extremely clear to everyone. Who will listen to this hearing today. I think that its frankly very cowardly to hear from these republican senators that are trying to conflate hillarys email leaks and what happened there with what is happening here. And that was very disappointing. It kind of chills me to my core, frankly, to hear these republican senators trying to come to the defense of certain cabinet members of the Trump Administration, trump himself. When we really dont know whats going on. And thats, you know, there were a lot more questions that were left i think. Well caller and the American People do you think the republican senators you heard today in particular, do you think that they have a serious concern, as well, about the potential of russian interference in the election . Caller you know, i would hope that they would. I would hope that this does not escape anyone exactly how serious this is and how contentious this action is toward america by russia. I would hope that no one is confused about that. But you know, listening to republican senators question mr. Comey which, again, i would like to echo what a previous caller said, you know, comey swayed my opinion of him today quite a bit. I was really relieved that he provided the leak. I was saying back in january and february of this year that the Intelligence Community is our only hope here of nonpart son investigation that will hold this Administration Accountable and its quite obvious to me that, you know, there was some degree of collusion coming out of that hearing. I dont know how anyone could have come out of that hearing thinking that, you know, russia did not influence the election and at least on some level communicate with members inside the Trump Administration. Clearly, the senators on the committee will hear a lot more in a closed session that all of us wont be able to obviously to hear on cspan3, waiting to hear from Marc Kasowitz, the president s attorney, taking calls and reaction, we expect him momentarily. Sacramento, california, phil, good afternoon. Caller hi. First and foremost, i would like to thank our host for allowing us to call in and air our public opinion. Also, id like to thank director comey for his testimony. And i would say some of the senators for some of their direct questioning. First and foremost, i would like to explain what its like to see america and its present situation. Talking about division and as an american i see my fellow citizen as a compatriot. As a patriot. I say theres a lot of a lot of things going on under the guise of politics that really dont mesh with american values. I just heard ryan talk about the president is new to these things. I say that hes a politician from, you know, way back in the sense that, you know, he won the president ial election. And in other words, is he incompetent . Is our government incompetent . Where are we going to go from here . What are i dont mean soft suggestions that the American People put forward to make this a true democracy . I think we are losing it because of the stink on this administration. All right, phil. The next call we go to, charlotte, North Carolina, on our others line and good afternoon. Princess is on the line. Go ahead. Caller hi. This is actually a very sad day in america. I dont even really know where to begin. I think that a lot of people need to be mindful that comey did express some information about leakages. However, i think we need to look at the integrity and the characters of both of these men that were talking about. I have no faith and no belief in the Trump Administration at this period. Trump is a man that has the previous caller said that he has very successful businessman. Another one talked about hes refreshing. Yes, theres bigotry. Those are conundrums. You cant be two things at the same time and think that someone will make this country great again. Hes run this country the same way hes run his businesses which is in complete chaos. Complete corruption. And hes taking that to pennsylvania avenue thinking that he can run this country the same way. He cant. The senate has done an amazing job with trying not to be biassed and asking these questions but i dont think trump gets a pass on this. Trump made the actual comment that this job was harder than he thought. This is not an internship. This is a position to run the United States of america. If he can acknowledge that theres a weak spot in his ability to do so, then he needs to lean on those people that are there and delegate it to help him in these this situation and he wont. But if you notice today that hes not tweeting up a storm. Hes allowing his attorney to make these comments for him because hes realized hes only making things worse for himself. Thats what were waiting here on cspan3 and cspan radio, the president s attorney. This is the National Press club. Waiting for the comments here. Marc kasowitz. We hear from russell burrman at the atlantic reporting the president did not mention this in the speech today before evangelical leaders, the speech before the faith and Freedom Coalition. Well cover that today and show it later on the schedule. We are getting your reaction, calls as we wait to hear from the president s attorney. Michaels next, germantown, maryland, democrats line. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. I like to Say Something about mr. Comey. Hes what you call a law enforcement. He is an investigator. And when what got me about the whole deal is that trump asked him three different occasions, am i being investigated . Am i being investigated . Am i why . If he hasnt done anything, why is he so worried about being investigated . I think he has a lot that hes hiding not yet come to light. I think thats why he got rid of comey. Comey getting too close to him and i think that we need people like comey that can investigate our government and make our government legit. As far as trumps ability to run the country, i find him to be an idiot. Because you dont take an auto mechanic and take him in the operating room and tell him to do open heart surgery. Somebodys going to lose their life. And this is whats happening with mr. Trump. Lets hear from our republican line next and mel in orlando, florida, you are on the air. Caller hi. How are you today . Thank you for taking my call. You bet. Caller i appreciate it. I find it highly disturbing that comey would release something to a friend to release to the public. Thats just that just shows me that hes swaying the opinion to try to get his way in the political realm and thats not his job in any way, shape or form. I found a lot of the questions today on the democratic side to be political just by the way they ask their questions and that disturbed me, also. Why cant we just ask the questions and get the answers for the public without trying to sway it . Democrat or republican. I just it disturbs me that its going in that way. It really does disturb me. Just ask the questions. Most of the voting public is smart enough to make up their mind as to whats going on. I dont need to listen to testimony like today and then have 17 other commenters or commentators from different channels telling me what i should think. Glad you called in to tell us what you think, mel. Appreciate that. Well hear from the president s attorney has to say shortly. Marc kasowitz will make a statement sometime before 2 00. Well have it live when it gets started. The first senator to ask questions at this mornings hearing was the chairman of the committee, richard burr of North Carolina and he asked mr. Comey about whether he was asked to drop the russia investigation. The investigation in particular into Michael Flynns involvement. Heres what he had to say. Are you confident that no votes cast in the 2016 president ial election were altered . Im confident. When i left as director i had seen no indication of that whatever. Director comey, did the president at any time ask you to stop the fbi investigation into russian involvement in the 2016 u. S. Elections . Not to my understanding, no. Did any individual working for this administration, including the justice department, ask you to stop the Russian Investigation . No. Director, when the president requested that you and i quote let flynn go, general flynn had an unreported contact with the russians, which is an offense. And if press accounts are right, there might have been discrepancies between facts and his fbi testimony. In your estimation, was general flynn at that time in serious legal jeopardy . In addition to that, do you sense that the president was trying to obstruct justice or just seek for a way for mike flynn to save face, given he had already been fired . General flynn at that point in time was in legal jeopardy. There was an open fbi criminal investigation of his statements in connection with the russian contacts. And the contacts themselves. And so, that was my assessment at the time. I dont think its for me to say whether the conversation i had with the president was an effort to obstruct. I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning. But thats a conclusion im sure the special counsel will work towards to try and understand what the intention was there and whether thats an offense. Getting your reaction to todays hearing. Here on cspan3 and cspan radio. By phone, 2027488921 for republicans. Democrats 2027488920. Independents and others, 2027488922. Also looking for your reaction on twitter, a couple of tweets here. This one saying not obstruction. Telling the fbi director, i hope you drop the flynn investigation. Obstruction, firing him after he wont. Amanda tweets, comey lays out the case that trump obstructed justice. Well hear the president s view, at least through his lawyer Mark Kasowitz set to speak to reporters in a statement from the attorney coming up shortly. In the meantime, well continue with your reaction. To vicki in ruksin, florida, on the independent line. Caller yes, hi. Hi name is vicki, and i believe we all understand why theyre having this hearing. We have understand the senate, the Intelligence Committee, having the hearing based on whether or not our there was interference with our voting process by the russians. Now, they said, yes on yesterday, and also today, during this hearing that the people, we the people deserve answers. And, yes, we do. But how can we get answers if everyone says i cant answer here in public setting . When will we get the answers and how can we get answers . And also, dealing with mr. Mccain, it appears to me that he has a personal vendetta or some hostility. Where it is coming from, i just dont know. And also, you know, im going to stay prayerful for our president an im going to stay prayerful for this nation. We definitely deserve answers and our president needs to know, yes, this is not a business. This is the business of we the people. And not the business of resorts and hotels. But the business of we the people. And so, therefore, ill stay prayerful and hoping that the intelligence and the committee can all get some answers for us and get to the true facts of what actually happened. And it sounds thank you, vicki. Sounds like she was watching yesterdays hearing with nsa director Michael Rogers and director of National Intelligence dan coats, the same committee gathered yesterday ostensibly to hear about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and reauthorization and some questions they wouldnt answer in an open session. Lots of questions about the russia investigation. We covered all of that yesterday and you can find that at cspan. Org. Search senate Intelligence Committee. Brandys next up. To brand view, missouri, democrats line. Caller hi, thank you for taking my call. Sure. Caller i just wanted to make a comment on what paul ryan said about trump being new and i think the bottom line is that hes just not qualified for the position. And i dont think its fair to coddle him because this is what he signed up for. And if and if youre going to run for president , you have to know how to act like one and i frankly dont think he is. I also wanted to say that i think its a little concerning that a couple of the senators during the hearing did not seem to be taking the russia matter seriously by bringing the clinton email investigation back up. Brandy, appreciate your call. Well hear from jo sy, next. She is on our republican line. Welcome. Caller hi. Thank you so much for this forum. I just wanted to say that in mr. Comeys Opening Statement it was clear to me that he understood the position of the director of the fbi, that he approached his job with an extremely high level of professionalism and ethical abilities. And one of the first questions that was posed to him was actually kind of what prompted him to begin to memorialize his one on one meetings with the president. And in short, what he said was there was something about that initial one on one meeting with the president that just made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. And i think that that should be very telling to the american public. And thats my statement. Thats all i have to say. All right, josie. Chris is next, trenton, new jersey, others line as we wait to hear from the president s attorney. The hearing about 2 hours and 45 moneys, hearing from james comey. What did you think, christopher . Did you see much of the hearing today . Caller i tuned in later. I got back from school and turned it on just as i believe senator harris from california was starting so i didnt see the whole thing. But i was i was not very impressed with mr. Comeys appearance. You know . His statement, that is. I think that he you know, i dont think hes being evasive but i think he was you know and i obviously understand that some of the questions hes been asked of, you know, he cant, you know, answer as hes saying because the matters under investigation. Yeah. Caller but it seemed to me that he you know, he didnt really it seemed to me like he was doing more to sort of make it look like he was he had done the right thing than to answer the questions in a manner which would allow for the truth to be uncovered. You think he was he did the right thing by writing these notes and by memorializing as he called these meetings and phone calls with the president . Caller yes, i do think that that was the right thing to do. Im you know, im still a little unsure as to how i feel about how he handled the release of those materials. Sure. Caller but yeah. I do believe that. I think that and as far as, you know, trumps role in the matter, i think that he i dont think he was intentionally being nefarious. But again, you know, i think he he was also acting in a way that, you know, would make things to try to make things go right for him rather than doing, you know, rather than, you know, making the truth making the tru plain and clear and doing the best thing for your country. I think thats really what i am taken away from the testimony today is that um you know, that you know what has to be done is for people, you know, politicians, everywhere no matter who they are or which part they are from think about who they are and represent what they work for. Christopher, you mentioned at the top of the call that you tuned in as you were coming back from school. Where do you go to school . Caller i go to the college of electric engineering. Thank you for dialing in. Well go to lansing. Caller hi, i thought mr. Comey did an excellent job. Hes been fired for no reasons. I think the president was completely out of line to ask him to drop the investigation in to flynn. I think that President Trump is leading this country in a hand basket to hell. Trump has cheated everyone who he has done business with. He does not play suppliers and driven many Small Business people into bankruptcy because he does not pay them. He does not even pay his attorneys which is why he cannot get an attorney now. I think thats very telling. Well, well be hearing from the president s attorney Marc Kasowitz shortly. You are on cspan 3. We are waiting to hear from Marc Kasowitz. It should be momentarily. Well continue with your calls and comments and news reaction to the hearing today. This is front page and the wall street journal online. Comey i felt directed to end the probe. To the republican line next, we hear from california, steve. Caller this is ridiculous. Comey was fired because hes the reason for all the leaks. He does not know why hes fired . Hes the leaker, hes dishonest. The president never said that directly. Do you think he wanted to not say that and pose other reasons for firing mr. Comey . Caller trump is not an idiot. He fired him because he was unfaithful. Trump asked for his loyalty. He didnt give him loyalty. All right, thats steve in california. We are bringing you some of the news reactions this afternoon. A couple of headlines. Some of the links this afternoon. Diana in new york on our other line, go ahead. Caller hi, how are you today . Thank you for taking my call. My take on all this and if i close my eyes and not Pay Attention to the senator who are republicans or democrats, i can tell based on the questions, who the senator is or whether he would be republican or democrat. What i mean by that, this should be a bipartisan investigation. It should have nothing to do with your political party. When you got a guy like mccain like most republicans do, the Russian Investigation is more of a threat to this country. Lets keep the eye on the ball. If someone who has no political, you know, interest either way except for the welfare of this country, it is an abomination to people bipartisan on serious issues. The reason this outstanding gentleman got fired because he would not take mr. Trumps bullying and in timtimidationin thats why he got fired. He stood up for this country. Thats my take. Diana, appreciate that. She mentioned a couple of all thats mentioning of the questions from senator john mccain, hes not a member of the committee, the chairman of the Armed Services committee. He also asking questions this afternoon. Here is what we are going to doch do. As we wait to hear from the attorney, Marc Kasowitz, well show you all the hearing here so on cspan 3 tonight at 8 00 over on cspan 2 all of it in its beyerty. We entirety. Well take you live once Marc Kasowitz comes out. Let us show you some of the Opening Statements this morning from the senate Intelligence Committee. Director, thank you for that testimony both oral and the written testimony that you provided to the committee yesterday, made public to the American People. Chair recognize yourself first for 12 minutes based on the agreement we have. Director, did the special Counsel Office review or edit your testimony . Do you have any doubt of russians interfered in the election . No. Do you have any doubt that the russia government was behind the cyber intrusion in the state voter files . No. Do you have any doubt that the official of the official government was totally aware of these activitieactivities . No doubt. Are you confident that no votes cast in the 2016 president ial election were altered . I am confident. When i left, i have seen no indications of that what so ever. Director comey, did the president at any time ask you to stop the investigation of russia involvement of 2016 . No t t to my understanding,. Did anybody in the department asking you to stop the Russian Investigation . No. Director when the president requested that you and i quote, let flynn go. General flynn had an unreported contact with russianrussian russians, which is an offense, if press accounts are right, there might have been discrepancies between facts and his fbi testimony. In your estimation, was general flynn at that time in serious legal jeopardy and in addition to that, do you sense the president was troo ying to obstt justice or just seek for a way for mike flynn of the same faith given that hes already been fired. At that point in time he was in legal jeopardy and the criminal investigation of his statements in connection of the russian contacts and the contact himself so that was my e assessment at the time. I dont think whether for me to say of the conversations of the president is obstruction, i took it as very disturbing. Thats the conclusion the counc council will work towards to find the intention and whether if it is up front. Is it possible of this fbi investigation, the fbi can find evidence of criminality that it is not tied to the 2016 elections, possible collusions or coordination with russians. Sure. So there could be something that just fits a criminal aspect to this that does not have anything to do with the 2016 election cycle. Correct. Any complex investigation when you start to turn over rocks, sometimes you find things that are unrelated to the primary investigation that are criminal in nature. Director comey, you have been criticized of presenting your email investigation directly to the email people. Have you learned anything since that time that would have changed what you said or how you chose to inform the American People . Honestly, no, it caused a lot of whole pain for me but when i look back, given what i know, it is the best way to protect the justice institutions including the fbi. In the Public Domain of the question of a steal dossier, a document thats been around for now over a year, i am not sure when the fbi took possession of it but the media had it before you had it and we had it. At the time of your departure from the fbi, was the fbi able to confirm any criminal allegations contained in the steal document . Mr. Chairman, i dont think thats a question that i can answer in open setting. It goes into the details of the investigation. Director, the term we hear most often is collusion, when people are describing possible links between americans and russian government and entities relate todd the interference of our election, would you say it is normal for Foreign Government to reach out members of an in coming administration. Yes. At what point does the normal contact cause the line in to recruit agents or influence or spies. Difficult to say in the abstract. It depends on the nature and it is a judgment call based on a whole a lot of facts. At what point would that recruitment become a Counter Intelligence threat to our country. Again, difficult to answer in the abstract but when a foreign power is using especially coersion, thats as serious concern of the fbi and thats the heart of the fbi. If you got a 36 page of documents of specific claims that are out there. The fbi would have to for Counter Intelligence reasons try to verify anything that maybe claimed in their and one and first and for most is the Counter Intelligence concerns that we have about blackmail, would that be an accurate statement. Yes. The fbi receiving a credible allegation, thats the basis on a Counter Intelligence investigation is over. When you read the dossier, what was your reaction given 100 directed to the president . Not an answer that i can give, mr. Chairman. The first russia connected cyber intrusion, i became aware of the late summer of 2015. In that time frame, there were more than the dnc and the triple c that were targets. Yes, correct. What would be the estimate of how many entities out there of the russians specifically targeted in that time frame . It is hundreds, as supposed it could be more than a thousand but it is at least thousands. I am not sure exactly. I think late 15 or early 16. Did you or the director of the fbi have conversations with the last administration about the risks that this posed . Yes. If you will show what actions they took . The fbi under taken effort to notify all the victims and thats what we consider the entities attacked apart of this massive spear fishing campaign so we notify them in an effort to disrupt of what may be ongoing. There is a serious of interactions with the rest of 15 through the 16 and and through 16 the decision of trying to respond to this. The fbi in this case and other investigations, did you have access of the hardware that was hacked or did you have to rely on a third party to provide you the data that they had collected. In the case of the dnc and i believe the d triple c, i am sure the dnc, we did not have the access to the devices themselves. We got forensic information from a high class entity that had done the work. No contact . Correct. It briefed to me, the people who were my folks at the time, they gotten information from the private party that they needed to understand the intrusion by the spring of 2016. Let me go back if i can briefly to the decision to publicly go out with your results in the email. Was your decision influenced by the attorney generals tarmac meeting the former president bill clinton . Yes, inultimately, conclusiv way, that was something that i tho do something separately. Were there other things that you can describe in an opened session . There were other things that could contribute to that. One item that i cannot and i know the committee had been briefed on. I understand that the committee have been briefed on the classified facts. At one point, the attorney general directed me not to call an investigation but instead to call it a matter which confused me and concerned me. That was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude that i have to step away from the department if we were to close this case credibly. Director, my last question, you are not only a season prosecutor, you led the fbi for years and you understand the investigative process. You worked with this committee closely and we are grateful to you because we have mutually built trust in what your organization does and what we do. Is there any doubt in your mind that this committee can carry out its over sight role in the 2016 russia involvement in the election in parallel with the now special counsel thats been set up . No doubt. It requires a lot of conversations but bob mueller is one of this countrys great, great pros, and i am sure you will be able to work it out with him to run in parallel. I want to thank you once again, i want top turn over to vice chairman. Thank you director comey, thank you for your service. Your comment to your fbi family were heartfelt. Know that even though there are some in the department tried to smear your reputation, you had director mccabe and public testimony yesterday reaffirm the vast majority of the fbi community had great trust in your leadership and obviously trust in your integrity. I want to start of january 6th. I understanding that you remain afterwards to brief him on, quote, some sensitive aspects of the information. Now you said after that briefing, you felt compelled to document that conversation that you actually started documenting as soon as you got into the car. Now, you had extensive experience at the department of justice and you worked on the president s of both parties. What was about that meeting that led you to determine that you need to put down a written record . A combination of things. I think the circumstances, the subject matter and the person i was interacting with. Circumstances, first, i was the alone with the president of the United States or president elect trump, soon to be president. I was talking matters touched on the fbi core responsiblilities and that relates to the president elect trump personally and the nature of the person, i was concerned that he may lie of the nature of our meeting so i thought it is important to document. That combination of things i never experienced before but it led me to believe that i got to write it down in a detailed way i think thats an porimporta statement that you just made. My understanding that, then again unlike you are dealing of president s of either parties in your past experience and every subsequent meeting or conversation, of those president s, you created a written record . Did you feel like you needed to create these written records because it maybe needed to relied on in future dates. I created records, i think i did it for all nine of our conversations and if i did, i did it or for all of them. I knew i there would be a day that i would need it to defend myself and the fbi. Thats what made this so difficult is that there is a combination of circumstances subject matter and the particular person. So in all your experience, this was the only president that you felt like in every meeting that you needed to document because at some point using your words you may put out a non truthful reputation of that meeting. As i said in my written testimony and as fbi director, i interacted with president obama and spoke only twice in three years did not documented it. When i was Department Attorney general, i had one meeting with president bush of National Security matter, i did not send a documentation. I did not feel with the need to document it in that way. Again, because of those combination of those factors were not present with president bush and president obama. I think thats very significant. Others will question that. The chairman and i have requested those memos. It is our hope that the fbi will get access to those memos. We can read that rendition so we got your side of the story. I know members have said and press have said that a great deal you have been made that you are asked to whether the president was under the subject of the investigation, my understanding prior to your meeting on january 6th, you discussed with your Leadership Team whether or not you should be prepare to assure then president elect trump that the fbi was not investigating personally. Now, i understand your Leadership Team agreed with that, was that a unanimous decision or any debate about that . It was not unanimous. One of the members had a view that although it was true, we did not have a Counter Intelligence filed case opened on President Trump. Coordination between the campaign and russia because it was president elect trumps campaign, this persons view was inevitably of his behavior and conduct falls on the scope of that. I disagree and i thought it was fair to say what was literally true and i decided at the moment the say given of the nature of our conversation. Did you ever revisit that in subsequent sessions . With the fbi . Sure. The leader of that view did not change. His view, although literally true, his concerns was it could be misleading because of the nature of the investigation was such that it may well touch obviously, would touch the campaign and the person ahead of the campaign would be the candidate. That was his view throughout. I am going to move to january 27th, the president asked me if i want to stay on as fbi director and you indicated that a lot of people again in your words wanted the job. You went to say the dinner itself was seemingly an effort to quote, have you asked him for your job and create some sort of patronage relationship. What was your impression and what did you mean by this notion of patronage relationship . Well, it is my impression, i can always be wrong. My common sense told me of what was going on is either he concluded or someone told him that you did, you already asked comey to stay and you did not get anything for it and if dinner was an effort to build a relationship specifically of loyalty in the context of asking me to stay. We already talked about it twice by that point and he said i very much you will stay. In fact, i just remember sitting, you have seen the picture of me walking across the blue room and what the president whispered in my ear was i look forward to working with you. That was a few days. That was the sunday after the inauguration, the next friday i had dinner and the president begins by wanting to talk about my job and so i m siting there thinking, wait a minute, three times you asked me to stay. My common sense again, i could be wrong, whats going on . Hes looking to get something in exchange for granting my request to stay in the job. Again. We all understand that. I was a governor and i had people working for me. This constant request quoting you and him saying that, explaining your independence, he kept on coming back, i need litt loyalty and i expect loyalty. Have you had any requests before . What made me uneasy. The reason the congress created a ten year term so that the director is not feeling as if theyre serving with political loyal loyalty oath to any particular person. The statue of justice has a blindfold on because you are not supposed to peak out to see of the patronage to see what you are doing. Thats why i became an fbi director to be in that position so thats why it is so uneasy. Let me move on. February 14th. Your direct superior attorney general was in the meeting as well. The president asked everyone to leave including the attorney general to leave before he brought up the matter of general flynn, what was your impression of that type of action . Have you seen anything like that before . No, my impression was Something Big was about to happen. I need to remember every single word thats spoken. Again, i could be wrong, i am 56yearold, i have seen a few things. My sense was the attorney general knew he should not be leaving which is why he is leaving. I knew something is supposed to happen so i paid close attention to. In the memo you wrote after this february 14th polarcised, you made clear that you wrote that memo in a place that it is unclassified. If you made the decision to write a memo that was unclassified, was that because you felt at some point that the facts the meeting will have to come clean and clear and clear in a way that it could be shared with the American People . Well, i remember thinking this is a very disturbing development, really important to our work, i need to document it and preserve it in a way the committee gets this. Sometimes things are classified, i tang it tangles it up and it is hard. Amen. My thinking was if i write it in such a way that i dont include anything that triggers the classification, thatll make it easier for us to discuss within the fbi and the government and to hold onto it in a way that makes it accessible to us. Again, it is our hope particularly you are a knowledgeable guy and you wrote it in a way that it is unclassified that this committee will get access to that document. It is really important to our investigation. Let me ask this in closing, how many ongoing investigations the fbi have . Tens of thousands. Tens of thousands. Did the president ever asked of any ongoing investigations . No. Did he ever asked about you trying to interfere on any investigations . No. This speaks volume and does not get to the questions around the phone call of lifting the clouds, i know other members will get to that. I appreciate your testimony and appreciate your service to your testimony. Im siting here going through my context where i had one conversation where it was classified, he asked about our ongoing security. It was briefed and professional. Unlike what he had done visiting mr. Flynn. Correct. Thank you, sir. Some of the testimonies from early today james comey before the senate committee. We are live now at the hard Center Office building, the close briefing with james comey had just ended or is ending. A few minutes ago, mr. Comey left the meeting. Here on cspan 3 and radio, well continue to take your reactions in just a moment. Well take you live shortly to the National Press club where the president s Marc Kasowitz is expected to make a statement and perhaps more. That statement has been released to the media that says in part, contrary to numerous false press accounts mr. Comey told publicly that the president was not under investigation. Thats part of the statement. There will be more from mr. Marc kasowitz in just a bit. Well have it live here on cspan 3 when that gets under way. We are keeping an eye on the cnn side of the closed committee room, the senate Intelligence Committee. He will come to the microphone to speak and well continue to take your comments on 2027488921 for republicans and 2027488920 for democrats and others 2027488922. Just to let you know about our schedule this afternoon and into tonight, well continue to take your reaction here on cspan 3 and cspan radio. Coming up, you are on cspan 3 and our program in washington today. Thatll between 5 00 and 6 00 p. M. Eastern, well show the entire hearing and thatll be over on cspan 3. A lot more ahead. Well take you to the press club with the president s attorney starts speaking. Lets hear from ouraround on our democrats line. Caller good afternoon. My comment is brief and listening to folks that have been calling in. If you are republicans, your comment is going to go one way as well as democrats. We are still going to stick to those believes that we have of our core belief and well support the president if we are republicans, perhaps, more so than if you are democrats no matter what the president does. After the hearing today and the implications that mr. Comey leaked information, peer, i have been in a situation personally where something that was said about me professionally that was not right. I found myself in the situation similar to mr. Comey of having to release something that was said and contradicted of what others were saying. I see the reason why this is a bigger scale obviously than anything i would have under gone. I dont think that focusing on him being one of the leaks that we should worry about is one of the concerns is one of the concerns we should be talking about. The russian interference in our election is the beggar problem regardless of who would have won the election, clinton or President Trump. On the other hand, there are some concerns and some of our viewers, e heard we heard it on phone and twitter as well. Comey leads a confidential record, he was not an employee of the fbi at the time. Also, from carolyns tweet, he was a Government Employee and saying it is against the law to leak official government documents. Looking for more from your comments. We go to greenville, North Carolina of a republican line. Hi, i just wanted to say that i thought my country was great but now i gijust think it is go and i dont want it to turn bad pauley, did you watch the testimony today . Caller yes, i did. Do you mind asking how old you are . Caller 11yearold. How did you get interested in this. Hong on the line, well go live here momentarily we are expecting the president s attorney. Maybe we got a really false cue there. How did you get interested in todays hear . Caller my mother she really believes in me and my younger sister and she believes that we should be introduced to the world and know how things are happening. What do you think you learn from what you saw today . Caller i learned that u um um um studying these things are very important because if you dont know how you vote, things can end for you and your country. Paula, i really appreciate you calling in and for watching the hearing as well. Well show it again tonight at 8 00 in its entirety to new york city, robert is on the other line, new york city. Caller hi, thank you for taking my call. I have been following this and watching the hearings over the past six months. There is a couple of things came up to me especially today and the intelligence hearing yesterday. There was one questioning like how did this happen . Why are we looking at it right now and why is it happening riel right now . Nobody address of the fact that we know whats happening because of efficacy of what had happened. There is no discussion on how influence affects all of us now in a different way in politics and our government due to the internet and introduction of all these new technologies. Government takes advantage of these technologies and advertisers and influence us. It should not be surprising. What method is used to influence us and where should we draw a line. We sit in a society now where we can advertise stuff and they have things that they require to tell us and they tell us in writing that even if you froze your tv screen, you could never read it. Thats whats disturbing to me. I am wondering why this would always left out of the equation. It needs to be on the form and technique. Thats robert in new york city. Well go live to our press club for Marc Kasowitz. This is president Donald Trumps attorney. He will make a short statement and he will not be taking questions. This ladies and gentlemen, i am Marc Kasowitz. President trumps personal lawyer. Contrary to numerous false press accounts leading up to todays hearing, mr. Comey has now confirmed publicly what he repeatedly told the President Trump privately that is, that the president was not under investigation as part of any probe into russian interference. The president mr. Comey admitted that there is no evidence that a single vote change as a result of any russian interference. Mr. Comeys systtestimony also s clear that the president never sought to impede the investigation into attempted russian interference in the 2016 election. In fact, according to mr. Comey, the president told mr. Comey, quote, it would be good to find out in that investigation if there were some satellite associates of him who did something wrong. And he, President Trump, did not exclude anyone from that statement. Consistent with that statement, the president never informed or substance directed or suggested that mr. Comey stop investigating anyone including the president never suggested that mr. Comey let flynn go. As the president publicly stated the next day, he did say to mr. Comey, quote, general flynn is a good guy and hes been through a lot and also ask how general flynn is doing. The president never directed him to do anything illegal, immoral and unethical or inappropriate closed quote and never, never, quote, pressured him to do so. Director coats said the same thing. The president like wise never pressured mr. Comey. The president also never told mr. Comey, quote, i need loyalty, i expect loyalty. He never said it in form or substance. Of course, the office of the president is entitled to expect loyalty from those who are serving the administration. Before this, president took office to this day, it is overwhelmingly clear that there have been and continued to be those in government who are actively attempting urn mind this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified information and privilege communication is. Mr. Comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers. Today, mr. Comey admitted that he unilaterally made unauthorized disclosures to the press of privilege communicat N Communications with the president. The leak of this privilege began no later than march of 2017 when friends of mr. Comey stated that he disclosed to them the conversations that he had with the president during their january 27th, 2017 dinner and february 14th, 2017 white house meeting. Today, mr. Comey admitted that he leaked to friends of his proported memos of those privileged immucommunications. One of which he testified was classified. Mr. Comey also testified that after he was terminated, he authorized his friends to leak the contents of those memos to the press in order to mr. Comeys words prompt the appointment of special counsel. Although mr. Comey testified that he only leaked the memo in response to a tweet. The New York Times was quoting from those memos, the day before the reference tweets which it appears to be entirely retaliatory. Well leave it to the appropriate authorities to determine whether these leaks should be investigated along with all the others that are being investigated. In some, it is now a establiest that the president was not being investigated for colluding with or attempting to obstruct any investigation. As the committee pointed out today of these important facts for r tthe country to know are virtually the only facts thats not been leaked during the course of these events. Yesterday, the president feels indica vitam vindicated and eager to move forward with the business of this country and his public cloud removed. Mr. Marc kasowitz. That was Marc Kasowitz, the president s attorney with a statement on todays hearing before the senate. Well have that link on our website and the video you just saw. Well show that shortly at cspan. Org. The Intelligence Committee finished their work for the day, they went into closed session just about 1 00 this afternoon and the video here and the last 20 minutes or so of fbi director james comey leaving that closed briefing. They were in the close briefing for about an hour or an hour and 15 minutes or so. Here on cspan 3, well take your calls and reactions and show you the rest of the hearing this afternoon. 20 2027488921, the number to call for republicans. 2027488920 for democrats. All others, 2027488922. Tonight at 8 00, well reair all of todays hearing with the former fbi director. Here is how some of the reports are going this amp. Media belly flops still no trump russia collusion evidence. Shocked. Frcomey, i leaked to get a special prosecutor and focusing on of the testimony of james comey in response of senator roy blunt. Her is what he had to say. You said after he was dismissed, you gave information to a friend so that friend could get that information in to the public media. Correct . What kind of information did you give to a friend . The phone conversation, that the president asked me to l let the conversation in the oval office. You did not consider your memo or that sense of documentation to be a government document. You considered to be your own personal document that you can share with the media as you wanted to through a friend. Correct, i understand this to be my recollection reported of my conversation with the president. I felt free to share that. I thought it was important to get it out. All of your memos you reported on documents and memos it maybe yours as a private citizen. You used unclassified i dont have it anymore. My view was the content of those memoir alization, those conversations was my recollection recorded. Why did you give it to somebody yourselves or giving it in a third party. And i was going out of town with my wife. If it was i who gave it to the media, make sure it gets out. What you are doing there creating a source close of the former director of the fbi as opposed to take responsibility for yourself for saying here these are these records. Again, well get back to a much more hearing of that. Lets get to our calls in todays testimony. Janine, democrats line. Are you there . Yes, sir. Hi there, you bet. Caller i came away from the hearing with a couple of things, mostly positive, mr. Comey for a number of times that the issue of the russia government interfering of our election, it was a national issue. And, he said that a number of times and it did not matter who was asking h i am the question about it. I think for me, thats so important to hear because he spent so much time pointing fingers at each other. We sometimes missed the force for the trees and so he kept on bringing that back to point. When i finish my work date today, i will be contacting my senators, senator warner and senator king and my members of congress to let them know that i would like this to be an issue of priorities for them. Not just from this election but from any government. Thank you, jewudy, lets hear fr rochelle next from new york. Caller thank you for taking my call. I appreciate james comey has told the truth. He and bill have never been held accountable for. She was never and when she was secretary of state. The reason trump was elected because hes not a polpoliticia. This is what we want, not a liar or the thieves like the clinton. I have to give kudos to senator mccain for his line of questionings. Yesterdays hearing were fading boo i t by the democrats. Just disgusting. I respect all the panelists who were there. I have no respect for james comey. Is leaking against the laws even by james comey even when hes a citizen . Thats rochelle in new york. The director National Intelligence was there and in sa director where several times they did not want to answer questions in an open setting. Here is a head hiof washingt times. The headline comey and Loretta Lynch, it matters and confused and concerned me. A few more calls, lets go to connecticut. I personally care about honesty from a u. S. President and to me, the fact that trump had the one on one meeting with james comey which kind of allowed for mr. Marc kasowitz of having different accounts of what happened during the meeting alluding to non transparency of the government. When it comes to matter that are of not national of Security Threat that we should have honesty and transparency within the government. I think the fact that james comey was trying to be an honest person and giving his honest opinion of what happened and the fact that hes fired for it speaks not complete honesty within the trumps administration. We showed you a few minutes ago. Marc kasowitz watched the testimony given by comey and sounds like he did not address what was said or reviewed. Democrats are trying to dig for something. Looking ahead for perhaps, this one is saying i lapped up all the recent oj stuff, watch the telly now and the muse on who theyll get to play all the crazy characters. Our democratic line. My, i want to repiend people that quote on quote is and a handful of congress are still in office. I told my little friend during the obama administration. They are not doing their jobs. You know this is how direct examination works. It works through the dead when the party in charge only has a swim majority. The founding foundation does not watch, anyone just because they won the election. This was why it was so important. I dont believe citizens in this country are deadlock. I would like to remind everybody that only one conservative president is going to be elected of the possible votes. So i urge everybody, liberals and conservatives, just go vote. It is one hour of your life every year. America cannot progress quickly. So get out there and go vote, spend a air on the side of democracy. The more people who vote, the better this works. We would not be discussing pulling out of the airport this week. We were discussing the 15 anniversary of staying in it. We would be a lot sbeter bet on environme environments today. People need to vote. The government is doing a good job. Trump gets elected, vm democrats can cry about it but in not how it works. I got a come of your call here, the president s attorney Marc Kasowitz just came out to the National Press club and reporters there read a statement on behalf of the president. Miss Marc Kasowitz. He will make a short statement and wholl not be taekiking questions. Ladies and gentlemen, i am Marc Kasowitz, President Trumps personal lawyer. Contrary to news rous to false is the leaving to todays hearing, mr. Comey finally confirmed what he told trump pooiflly, that the president was no under investigation as part of any probe into russians interference. The president , mr. Comey admitted there is no evidence that a single vote change as a result of russian interference. Many comey system makes clear that the president never sought to impede the investigation in to attempted russian interference in the 2016 election. And in fact according to mr. Com comey, the president told mr. Comey it would be good to find out, in that investigation. If there were some closed satellite associates of his who did wrong wrong. He, President Trump, did not ex collide anyone from that statement. Can i not the president defer directed or suggested that mr. Comey stop investigating anyone including the the president never suggested that mr. Quote, kwo quote, let flynn go. The president did say to mr. Comey, general flynn is a good guy point hes been through a lot. Quote, ask how generask how ge flynn is doing the the president never directed him to do anything illegal, immoral and unethical and r or inappropriate, close quote and never pressure him to do so. David schechter coats said the same thing. The president like wise sprefr pressured mr. Mapresident never told that i need loyalty president is entitled to expect loyalty from those who are serving the administration. And from before this president took office to this day, it is overwhelmingly clear that there have been and continue to be those in government who are actively attempting to undermine this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified information and privileged communications. Mr. Comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers. Today, mr. Comey admitted that he unilaterally and surreptitiously made unauthorized disclosures to the press of communications with the president. The leaks of this privileged information began no later than march 2017 when friends of mr. Comey have stated that he disclosed to them the conversations that he had with the president during their january 27th, 2017 dinner and february 14th, 2017 white house meeting. Today, mr. Comey admitted that he leaked to friends of his purported memos of those privileged communications, one of which he testified was classified. Mr. Comey also testified that immediately after he was terminated, he authorized his friends to leak the contents of those memos to the press in order to, in mr. Comeys words, quote, prompt the appointment of a special counsel, close quote. Although mr. Comey testified that he only leaked the memos in response to a tweet, the Public Record reveals that the New York Times was quoting from those memos the day before the referenced tweet, which belies mr. Comeys use of this unauthorized disclosure of privileged information and appears to be entirely retaliatory. We will leave it to the appropriate authorities to determine whether these leaks should be investigated along with all the others that are being investigated. In sum, it is now established that the president was not being investigated for colluding with or attempting to obstruct any investigation. As the committee pointed out today, these important facts for the country to know are virtually the only facts that have not been leaked during the course of these events. As he said yesterday, the president feels completely vindicated and is eager to continue moving forward with his agen agenda, with the business of this country, and with this public cloud removed. Thank you. Reporter mr. Kasowitz reporter will you answer questions . Reporter did the president Marc Kasowitz, President Trumps attorney, making a statement a short while ago at the National Press club in washington. Here on cspan3 well continue to take a couple of your calls in reaction no todto todays tey from james comey. This is Jennifer Jacobs from bloomberg, awkward scene as kasowitz tried to escape with no press questions. He and his aides stood in the elevator staring at us. Forgot to push the down button. Lets go to a caller. Caller hello, thank you for taking my call. This man that has been elected, plum President Trump, is the hardest working person i have ever seen. I can only say more power to him. And hopefully this russian problem goes away. It seems like no one is interested in the russians, what they did or did not do. President putin did not personally call each one of the voters that voted for trump and said, vote for trump. I mean, this is so ridiculous. And i do not know what they can do about these interferences in our elections. They come everywhere. They went to the uk also. So i want to say im an immigrant, a legal immigrant. When i came to this country, before i came to this country, i had to go to a consulate. And i had to go and be xrayed and looked at without my clothes on so i did not bring terrible infliction on the citizens of america. And this is really ridiculous, that all these things that trump is trying to accomplish and what country did you immigrate from, what year . Germany. I had to go to a consulate in hamburg, germany. And i was very, very well, i was not happy about that. And i had to answer a whole bunch of questions. Well, thanks for answering our questions, thanks for being with us this afternoon. The chairman of the committee is richard burr of North Carolina. A long hearing today, and a closed door hearing as well. A guy trying to get to the atm without being bothered by reporters. Also the front page at the raleigh news and observer, a look at the chairman there on the right and the vice chairman, mark warner of virginia. Lets go to martin calling us from canada on our others line. Go ahead. Caller yes, hello, im calling from british columbia, canad canada. We actually have a lot of americans who come and play here. Our houses are more like mansion built. Anyway, mr. Comey was quite spoke really well. And one thing that we speak about here, whether i speak with, you know, canadian or american, is theyre all baffled on how mr. Trump got elected, you know . And what people seem to all agree on is basically the lack of knowledge of politics from the people. You know, most people just dont understand politics. You know, mr. Trump shows hes one of them by the way he actually behaves, whether its the way he tweets, and also like mr. Comey says, i was actually surprised, that was one thing i didnt agree. Its not for mr. Comey to say, mr. President , you shouldnt actually ask me, you know, these questions. Its not his job to educate the president , you know. So, you know, its like electing its just baffling to me, you know, how somebody with no previous knowledge or more experience to be elected as the president of the United States. Thats martin, joining us from british columbia. Lets get one more call here, dee is in towson, maryland, the democrats line. Go ahead, dee. Caller hi. Thank you for taking my call. And i would like to thank you for doing a wonderful job supporting the people that are calling in. The reason im calling is, i am a democrat, and i would like the committee to get to the bottom of what is happening with the russians and the impact that they had on our election. The one point i would like to make is that it seems to me that they are continuing to have an awful lot of power over the American People, the russians. Look at the time that were using here that the government should probably or should be working on running the country, and theyre not. Were all trying to get to the bottom of what has gone on. So the russians seem to have done whatever it is they wanted to do, because the government isnt doing what theyre supposed to be doing right now, taking care of the business of the russians. Thats dee in maryland. We appreciate all your calls this afternoon. More a bit later on. Of course tomorrow morning on washington journal at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Just to lay out some of our schedule this afternoon here at cspan3, at 5 00 eastern well simulcast our washington today radio program. Tonight on cspan2, well reair all of todays hearing. Thats coming up tonight on cspan2. And a little different take over on cspan, where well show portions of the hearing, reactions from capitol hill, and more of your phone calls, comments, and tweets, all of that coming up. But here on cspan3, well continue next with more of todays hearing before the senate Intelligence Committee