Comey: Risch defends Trump

Betsy Russell/Eye on Boise reports …

When he got his chance in this morning’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing to question former FBI Director James Comey, Idaho Sen. Jim Risch shifted into trial-attorney mode, parsing the words of a key portion of Comey’s written testimony and peppering him with questions aimed at suggesting the testimony actually absolves President Trump of any potential charge of obstruction of justice.

“I want to drill right down, as my time is limited, to the most recent dustup regarding allegations that the president of the United States obstructed justice,” Risch said. He complimented Comey on his clear, concise, written testimony , including quotations.

“And boy, you nailed this down,” Risch said, “on page 5, paragraph 3, you put this in quotes – words matter, you wrote down the words so we can all have the words in front of us now. There’s 28 words there that are in quotes, and it says, quote, ‘I hope,’ this is the president speaking, ‘I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.’ Now those are his exact words, is that correct?”

“Correct,” Comey responded. More here.