Comey stirs political controversy

Comey stirs political controversy

President Donald Trump’s White House has been aswirl with leaks, rumors, and general confusion since inauguration. From controversial cabinet picks and a severely understaffed White House, to chaotic press briefings and Twitter arguments, this administration has been highly unusual, to say the least.President Donald Trump’s White House has been aswirl with leaks, rumors, and general confusion since inauguration. From controversial cabinet picks and a severely understaffed White House, to chaotic press briefings and Twitter arguments, this administration has been highly unusual, to say the least. Despite Trump’s seemingly unnatural ability to throw off controversy, one major issue has stuck to this White House, and returned to it time and time again: Allegations of Russian collusion in the election. First, the scandal forced National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to resign, and later, the scandal pushed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from any Russian investigations.  All of this controversy culminated in Trump firing FBI Director James Comey, which spurred questions of whether or not the President was obstructing justice(an impeachable offense). On June 8, the question came before the senate, in the form of an open testimony by Comey himself. The former FBI Director came before a deeply divided Senate, and addressed a number of the issues that have plagued the White House since inauguration.  Comey reviewed, in-depth, a number of meetings he had shared with President Trump, which had made him deeply concerned about the current presidency. In one instance, Comey recalled the President inviting him to dinner — and being surprised to find that he was all alone with Trump. Comey was overwhelmed with the sense that Trump wanted him to formally “Ask for his job”, something highly inappropriate, as the FBI is supposed to be an independent organization. Comey then recalled Trump asking him for his loyalty, to which he responded that we would promise him honesty. Comey also discussed an instance in which Trump seemed to ask him to drop the Michael Flynn investigation. This is currently the shining hope of those looking to impeach President Trump, as it seems to directly suggest obstruction of justice on his part. Comey boldly came out and said that the Trump Administration, “Lies, plain and simple.” A Trump lawyer quickly shot back that any allegations of lies were false, but for the most part, Comey’s testimony has been viewed as trustworthy. While nothing is likely to come of the hearing soon, its contents do offer more evidence that there may be some severe wrongdoing by the White House.