This Is the Most Powerful Moment (So Far) From the James Comey Hearing

”Those were lies, plain and simple.”


James Comey’s voice broke just a little as he recounted an effort by the White House to “defame” him and “lie” about the reasons for his firing from the FBI. 

In his opening statement to the Senate intelligence committee on Thursday, the former FBI director told members of the panel that Trump had assured him that he was doing a “good job”—and said he was surprised by the reasons the White House then used to justify his firing, including the claim that his agents had lost confidence in him.

“The administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI by saying the organization was in disarray, it was poorly led, and that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader,” Comey said. “Those were lies, plain and simple.”

Watch the video highlight above.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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