- The committees should quiz Comey on these initial investigative steps, including when the first efforts to look into Russia’s purported connections with the Trump campaign began, how it started, and who was involved — both government actors and sources or informants, as well as the FBI’s contacts with foreign governments and intelligence sources.
- Once the committees have established the identity of all of the organizations and individuals potentially involved in the targeting of Trump and the Trump campaign, the committee should methodically walk through the list, requiring Comey to explain what he understood the role of each to be, and when and why they became involved in the probe into purported collusion with Russia.
- Christopher Steele, Stefan Halper, and Joseph Mifsud come to mind, but are there others? Then Comey should be asked whether any other individuals connected to the FBI were possibly involved in, or have knowledge of the probe into Trump, his family, his campaign, or his supporters.
- Finally, Comey should be questioned on the involvement of private organizations or individuals with the government’s investigation into Trump and the Trump campaign, by, for instance serving as government contractors, sharing information with investigators, or receiving and publishing leaks from the government.
- After having Comey identify all the U.S. government actors, the committees should move on to foreign governments’ involvement, following the same format: Comey should be asked whether he knows of, or heard of, the involvement of any foreign governments, including foreign assets, informants, or confidential sources.
- The committees should start broadly and ask Comey to identify “the who” involved in the investigation into Donald Trump and the Trump campaign.
- The former FBI director should be asked to identify all outside organizations and individuals connected to Spygate, starting with the Democratic National Committee, the Hillary Clinton campaign, Hillary Clinton, PerkinsCoie, Fusion GPS (Glenn Simpson, Nellie Ohr), Orbis, David Kramer, then moving on to the other names raised in connection with the Russia probe, and ending with an open-ended narrative to discover whether there are other unknowns in the shadows.
- So, the House committees should question him on his knowledge, and approval, of any other leaks, including the leaks surrounding Michael Flynn’s telephone conversation with a Russian official, the leaks concerning the Page FISA warrants, and the various leaks to the New York Times concerning the history of Crossfire Hurricane.
- Specifically, Comey should be asked whether he knew that the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign funded Steele’s research; when the information Steele had gathered first made its way to the FBI; and who knew that Steele continued to feed information to Bruce Ohr after the FBI ended his role as a source.
- The House committees should begin there and ask Comey to identify the individual responsible for drafting the applications and any individuals who provided information, input, or who reviewed the applications.
- Had the FBI attempted to obtain a warrant on Page prior to October 2016? If so, when? And what information was added to the application filed in October? Were FISA warrants or other warrants sought for other individuals connected to Trump or the Trump campaign? And if so, the same line of questions posed above should be pursued for each additional application.
- While there is ample room to throw shade at Comey — who once proclaimed to Trump that he wasn’t a “weasel” who leaked information — the committees should avoid these gotcha moments and ask genuine questions to lay out the facts.
- Former FBI director James Comey will be deposed Friday in a closed-door session by the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees as part of their joint investigation into decisions the Department of Justice made in 2016.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/12/06/the-house-must-ask-james-comey-these-questions-in-his-deposition/
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