WASHINGTON _ They are among the most storied memos-to-self in recent Washington history: 15 pages that James B. Comey, at the time the FBI director, wrote about his increasingly uncomfortable meetings with newly elected President Donald Trump.
Under pressure from Republicans, the Justice Department on Thursday sent Congress the memos that Comey wrote after each interaction with Trump, and they quickly leaked to the media. The memos closely track Comey's statements in congressional testimony, interviews and in his new book. They also offer colorful new details about a president fixated on jailing leakers and in disproving salacious allegations against him.
Q: What are the memos, and why did Comey write them?
A: Comey started writing the memos after his first one-on-one conversation with Trump shortly after the 2016 election. He had not done so with President Barack Obama, but Comey has said he thought it important to quickly memorialize his interactions with Trump because he feared they could be misrepresented. He clearly wrote them with an idea that they might become public, taking pains to leave out most classified information.
Q: Why are the memos important?
A: Soon after Trump fired Comey last May, Comey wanted to get out the story that Trump had pressured him to end an investigation of Michael Flynn, the national security adviser who lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. Comey told a friend to share excerpts from the memos with reporters. That disclosure, which raised questions of possible obstruction of justice by Trump, prompted Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel to investigate the administration.
Q: How does Trump come off in the memos?
A: Just as in his new book, "A Higher Loyalty," the Comey memos paint an unflattering portrait of the new president. According to Comey, Trump delivered a "conversation-as-jigsaw puzzle" monologue about the crowd at his inauguration, harped on the luxury of living in the White House and reiterated his belief that the Justice Department should have filed criminal charges against Hillary Clinton. Comey writes that his meetings with Trump started out well but became increasingly uncomfortable.
Q: Why are we seeing the memos now?
A: House Republicans have sought numerous records as they scrutinize how the Justice Department handled the Russia investigation. Sometimes these records are used to develop political talking points, such as the memo developed by Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican and the House Intelligence Committee chairman, to criticize court-approved eavesdropping of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide who went to Moscow during the campaign. Republicans sought the memos written by Comey in hopes of exposing contradictions between his contemporaneous writings and his subsequent testimony and memoir.
Q: What are Republicans and Democrats saying about the Comey memos?
A: Republicans seized on the fact that Comey never wrote in his memos, before he was fired, that Trump was obstructing the Russia investigation. Trump also tweeted that the memos show there was "NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION," and he accused Comey of leaking classified information, something Comey has denied.
Democrats say Republicans are misreading the memos. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called them "important evidence on the issue of potential obstruction of justice." Schiff also said it was a bad move to release documents that could include evidence in the ongoing criminal investigation from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Q: What's new in the memos about Mike Flynn?
A: Comey already has accused Trump of asking him to back off an investigation into Flynn, who was serving as the national security adviser, and that's detailed in the memos. But the memos also say that Trump expressed concern that Flynn had "serious judgment issues," an eye-opening disclosure about someone the president had placed in a critical job. Comey also writes that Reince Priebus, then Trump's chief of staff, asked him whether they had a warrant to eavesdrop on Flynn's communications. The answer is redacted. Flynn was soon fired for misleading others in the administration about his communications with the Russian ambassador, and he since has pleaded guilty to lying to investigators.
Q: What did Trump say about Russia?
A: According to Comey, Trump did not ask what Russia did to interfere with the election. Instead, he was fixated on rebutting an allegation, contained in the dossier compiled by a former British spy, that he consorted with prostitutes in Moscow in 2013 and that Russian intelligence had evidence Trump asked them urinate on a bed in his suite because Obama had slept there. The president asked Comey to investigate and disprove the charge to reassure his wife, Melania, that it was untrue. Trump said "'the hooker thing' is nonsense but that Putin had told him 'we have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world,'" Comey wrote. Trump did not say when Putin told him this, according to Comey; part of that account is redacted.
Q: What did he ask Comey to do about media leaks?
A: Trump pressured Comey to shut down leaks and called for prosecution of leakers. Comey said he agreed that he "would like to nail one to the door as a message," but cautioned Trump that getting convictions was difficult and often hinged on pursuing reporters. Trump was enthusiastic about jailing reporters, mentioning Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter who spent nearly three months in jail because she declined to testify in a leak case.
Q: How did Trump see the role of the FBI?
A: In Comey's telling, he tried to explain to Trump that the bureau needed to be independent and free of political influence _ but suggests the message really didn't sink in. In a now-familiar account, Comey describes a series of conversations when Trump pressed him for "loyalty," and Comey tried to keep a poker face and say as little as possible. Comey says he repeatedly defended Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director who became a Twitter target for Trump. That message didn't take, either. Under relentless pressure from Trump, Sessions fired McCabe in March, after an internal report says he "lacked candor" in his answers about authorizing leaks.
