Bipartisan USA Senate Intelligence committee upholds USA democracy by holding a fair public hearing of ex FBI Director James Comey who was fired by USA President Donald Trump
Some personal background first: I personally have experienced gross abuse of power by multiple top administrators of a deemed university in India in the period June 2011 to May 2012, who behaved in a Hitler-Stalin dictatorial and bullying way and, unfortunately, have managed to evade public accounting of their gross abuse of power against me. I have exposed them publicly on the Internet by my whistle-blowing posts against them in 2015 and 2016 (one of the main posts is: http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2015/11/my-may-2012-service-record-record.html), and have had to deal with the possibility of legal and other (possibly illegal) reactions from them against my whistle-blowing actions. So far I have not been challenged legally but I have been viciously attacked by cowardly conspirators on Facebook using fake IDs, for these whistle-blowing posts of mine as well as other posts of mine, with one of them threatening me with legal cases against me (by people who I have exposed), backed by (large amounts of) foreign money (Dollars)!!! It was very unpleasant to face such cyberbullying but, so far, their legal case threats against me using (large amounts of) foreign money (Dollars) have not got carried out. Perhaps they just wanted to try to scare me into silence by those legal case threats! Talk of "chilling effect"! [Details of some of these Facebook fake ID attacks/trolling on me (in Jan and Feb 2017) can be viewed in these two long posts of mine: Misrepresentation and fabrication by Parthi Resident/Venkatesh Babu against me; Beware of Arun Srinivas, alumnus of Muddenahalli school - Part 1 ... Part 2, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2017/02/my-facebook-posts-related-to.html, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2017/02/misrepresentation-and-fabrication-by.html.]
Given this background, I followed the matter of the firing of former USA FBI Director James Comey by USA president Trump in May this year, and its continuing fallout, with great interest but did not make many posts on it as it is a very sensitive matter dealing with the USA, a foreign country for me, who is an Indian and who resides in India. However, I am also a lover of democracy, a student-observer of USA democracy and a well wisher of the people of the USA. So I did put up a few posts on it where I felt the urge to publicly share articles and my views on some matters related to it. Today I feel a similar urge to put up this post.
I would like to clearly state here that I am not making any statements or expressing any views about whether USA president Trump abused his power in the conversations he had with ex FBI Director Comey. I am praising USA democracy for allowing Mr. Comey to make his side, I repeat his side, of the story (non-classified information part of it) to a top USA Senate committee in a public hearing which could be viewed by the USA public on TV and Internet. In the gross abuse of power case that I faced from multiple administrators in an Indian deemed university referenced earlier in this post, I did not get any platform from this university or the mother trust that runs it, to present my side of the story!! It was like being told by these administrators - just get out you poisonous liar. I don't want to hear from you!!! And nobody else in positions of power in the university and mother trust that finances it, wanting to get involved in the matter!!!
Therefore, what a refreshing thing it is for me to see, in stark contrast, the USA Congress providing a public platform for the fired FBI director to give his views of the matter some of which are not positive about USA president Trump (who fired him)! I mean, president Trump is now the most powerful person in the world as the USA is the sole superpower in the world militarily and also has the biggest economy of the world. The former FBI director was able to criticize USA president Trump (Comey said Trump lied and defamed him) in this public hearing in USA Congress!
I found this bipartisan USA Senate Intelligence committee public hearing of ex FBI Director James Comey on 8th June 2017 to be an extraordinary and inspiring event which showed how vibrant and powerful USA democracy is today. Mr. Comey was provided, in his current capacity as a private USA citizen, to share his view of those parts of what transpired between the USA president and him which were not classified (secret) including what Mr. Comey felt would have been the reason USA president Trump fired him, with the senators of the committee and the public (through TV and Internet). He was also questioned by Republican, Democrat as well as Independent senators, in what I perceived as a rather fair way in general.
Republican senators also made it clear that this was Mr. Comey's side of the story which may differ significantly from USA president Trump's side of the story. So it was not as if the committee viewed Mr. Comey's words as the final truth. They viewed it as testimony from one side which could be contested by the other side (Mr. Trump mainly). However, Democrats did seem to use the hearing as a way to (verbally) attack Mr. Trump.
I think that this USA senate committee has done a fantastic job in upholding the rights of former FBI director, and now private USA citizen, James Comey, to present his side of the story related to the extraordinary event of his being fired by Mr. Trump. They also questioned Mr. Comey about other matters including alleged Russian interference in USA 2016 presidential election as well as his concerns about the behaviour of former USA Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the Hillary Clinton email investigation matter, which led him to take the extraordinary decision of conveying a media/press conference to share the conclusion of the FBI investigation on the matter.
This USA senate committee has clearly demonstrated that the office of the USA president is accountable to USA Congress and USA people through them. I also applaud the decision of USA president Trump not to block Mr. Comey from providing this public testimony (June 8th 2017 testimony) to the USA senate committee.
Here are the key links related to Mr. Comey's testimony:
1) Statement for the Record, (USA) Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, (ex FBI Director) James B. Comey, June 8, 2017, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/os-jcomey-060817.pdf
2) James Comey Congressional Hearing Before Congress (Full Testimony) | The New York Times, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bii0p9AnBEE, 2 hrs. 34 minutes, published (streamed live) on June 8th 2017.
And here are some articles on it:
3) Trump’s Meddlesome Priest, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/opinion/meddlesome-priest-comey-trump.html
4) James Comey and the Predator in Chief, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/opinion/james-comey-and-the-predator-in-chief.html
5) Comey’s Case for Obstruction of Justice, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/opinion/comey-trump-obstruction-of-justice.html
6) Comey Bluntly Raises Possibility of Trump Obstruction and Condemns His ‘Lies’, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/us/politics/comey-hearing-trump-russia.html
7) Trump Sees ‘Total and Complete Vindication’ in Comey’s Testimony, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/us/politics/trump-comey.html
8) USA President Trump's tweet, "Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication...and WOW, Comey is a leaker!", https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/873120139222306817, 9th June 2017
9) Retweet by Mr. Trump of Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor emeritus, https://twitter.com/AlanDersh/status/873167629250375681, 9th Jun 2017, "We should stop talking about obstruction of justice. No plausible case. We must distinguish crimes from pol sins".
10) There’s no indication Comey violated the law. Trump may be about to. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/06/09/theres-no-indication-comey-violated-the-law-trump-may-be-about-to/
11) The most chilling line of Comey’s testimony, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-most-chilling-line-of-comeys-testimony/2017/06/09/fc4b9322-4d12-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html
12) Trump's legal team to file complaint with DOJ about Comey leak, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-legal-team-file-complaint-doj-comey-leak/story?id=47934870
13) Comey testimony: The liberal media ignores big questions about Obama's Justice Department, http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/06/09/comey-testimony-liberal-media-ignores-big-questions-about-obamas-justice-department.html
14) President Trump Tells Evangelical Supporters: 'We're Under Siege', http://time.com/4811889/donald-trump-faith-and-freedom-coalition-speech-comey-testimony/
15) USA President Trump's son Mr. Eric Trump retweeted Bill O'Reilly (former famous Fox News host) tweet, "Comey admits he asked a friend to leak his conversation w/ Trump about Flynn to a reporter. A bombshell the sluggish Senators are ignoring.", https://twitter.com/billoreilly/status/872838101604982789, 8th June 2017
16) Mr. Eric Trump retweeted this tweet of Ari Fleischer, "Seems to me key headline from today is Comey confirming Trump is not under investigation. Isn't that what collusion w Russia was all about?", https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/872591878885134338, adding the comment in his (Eric Trump's) tweet, "Correct. Now let's stop this charade and get back to Jobs, HealthCare, Taxes, Infrastructure, our Military and Making America Great Again!", https://twitter.com/EricTrump/status/872788608394162177, 8th June 2017
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about USA democracy. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in any USA elections.
Given this background, I followed the matter of the firing of former USA FBI Director James Comey by USA president Trump in May this year, and its continuing fallout, with great interest but did not make many posts on it as it is a very sensitive matter dealing with the USA, a foreign country for me, who is an Indian and who resides in India. However, I am also a lover of democracy, a student-observer of USA democracy and a well wisher of the people of the USA. So I did put up a few posts on it where I felt the urge to publicly share articles and my views on some matters related to it. Today I feel a similar urge to put up this post.
I would like to clearly state here that I am not making any statements or expressing any views about whether USA president Trump abused his power in the conversations he had with ex FBI Director Comey. I am praising USA democracy for allowing Mr. Comey to make his side, I repeat his side, of the story (non-classified information part of it) to a top USA Senate committee in a public hearing which could be viewed by the USA public on TV and Internet. In the gross abuse of power case that I faced from multiple administrators in an Indian deemed university referenced earlier in this post, I did not get any platform from this university or the mother trust that runs it, to present my side of the story!! It was like being told by these administrators - just get out you poisonous liar. I don't want to hear from you!!! And nobody else in positions of power in the university and mother trust that finances it, wanting to get involved in the matter!!!
Therefore, what a refreshing thing it is for me to see, in stark contrast, the USA Congress providing a public platform for the fired FBI director to give his views of the matter some of which are not positive about USA president Trump (who fired him)! I mean, president Trump is now the most powerful person in the world as the USA is the sole superpower in the world militarily and also has the biggest economy of the world. The former FBI director was able to criticize USA president Trump (Comey said Trump lied and defamed him) in this public hearing in USA Congress!
I found this bipartisan USA Senate Intelligence committee public hearing of ex FBI Director James Comey on 8th June 2017 to be an extraordinary and inspiring event which showed how vibrant and powerful USA democracy is today. Mr. Comey was provided, in his current capacity as a private USA citizen, to share his view of those parts of what transpired between the USA president and him which were not classified (secret) including what Mr. Comey felt would have been the reason USA president Trump fired him, with the senators of the committee and the public (through TV and Internet). He was also questioned by Republican, Democrat as well as Independent senators, in what I perceived as a rather fair way in general.
Republican senators also made it clear that this was Mr. Comey's side of the story which may differ significantly from USA president Trump's side of the story. So it was not as if the committee viewed Mr. Comey's words as the final truth. They viewed it as testimony from one side which could be contested by the other side (Mr. Trump mainly). However, Democrats did seem to use the hearing as a way to (verbally) attack Mr. Trump.
I think that this USA senate committee has done a fantastic job in upholding the rights of former FBI director, and now private USA citizen, James Comey, to present his side of the story related to the extraordinary event of his being fired by Mr. Trump. They also questioned Mr. Comey about other matters including alleged Russian interference in USA 2016 presidential election as well as his concerns about the behaviour of former USA Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the Hillary Clinton email investigation matter, which led him to take the extraordinary decision of conveying a media/press conference to share the conclusion of the FBI investigation on the matter.
This USA senate committee has clearly demonstrated that the office of the USA president is accountable to USA Congress and USA people through them. I also applaud the decision of USA president Trump not to block Mr. Comey from providing this public testimony (June 8th 2017 testimony) to the USA senate committee.
Here are the key links related to Mr. Comey's testimony:
1) Statement for the Record, (USA) Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, (ex FBI Director) James B. Comey, June 8, 2017, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/os-jcomey-060817.pdf
2) James Comey Congressional Hearing Before Congress (Full Testimony) | The New York Times, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bii0p9AnBEE, 2 hrs. 34 minutes, published (streamed live) on June 8th 2017.
And here are some articles on it:
3) Trump’s Meddlesome Priest, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/opinion/meddlesome-priest-comey-trump.html
4) James Comey and the Predator in Chief, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/opinion/james-comey-and-the-predator-in-chief.html
5) Comey’s Case for Obstruction of Justice, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/opinion/comey-trump-obstruction-of-justice.html
6) Comey Bluntly Raises Possibility of Trump Obstruction and Condemns His ‘Lies’, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/us/politics/comey-hearing-trump-russia.html
7) Trump Sees ‘Total and Complete Vindication’ in Comey’s Testimony, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/us/politics/trump-comey.html
8) USA President Trump's tweet, "Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication...and WOW, Comey is a leaker!", https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/873120139222306817, 9th June 2017
9) Retweet by Mr. Trump of Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor emeritus, https://twitter.com/AlanDersh/status/873167629250375681, 9th Jun 2017, "We should stop talking about obstruction of justice. No plausible case. We must distinguish crimes from pol sins".
10) There’s no indication Comey violated the law. Trump may be about to. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/06/09/theres-no-indication-comey-violated-the-law-trump-may-be-about-to/
11) The most chilling line of Comey’s testimony, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-most-chilling-line-of-comeys-testimony/2017/06/09/fc4b9322-4d12-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html
12) Trump's legal team to file complaint with DOJ about Comey leak, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-legal-team-file-complaint-doj-comey-leak/story?id=47934870
13) Comey testimony: The liberal media ignores big questions about Obama's Justice Department, http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/06/09/comey-testimony-liberal-media-ignores-big-questions-about-obamas-justice-department.html
14) President Trump Tells Evangelical Supporters: 'We're Under Siege', http://time.com/4811889/donald-trump-faith-and-freedom-coalition-speech-comey-testimony/
15) USA President Trump's son Mr. Eric Trump retweeted Bill O'Reilly (former famous Fox News host) tweet, "Comey admits he asked a friend to leak his conversation w/ Trump about Flynn to a reporter. A bombshell the sluggish Senators are ignoring.", https://twitter.com/billoreilly/status/872838101604982789, 8th June 2017
16) Mr. Eric Trump retweeted this tweet of Ari Fleischer, "Seems to me key headline from today is Comey confirming Trump is not under investigation. Isn't that what collusion w Russia was all about?", https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/872591878885134338, adding the comment in his (Eric Trump's) tweet, "Correct. Now let's stop this charade and get back to Jobs, HealthCare, Taxes, Infrastructure, our Military and Making America Great Again!", https://twitter.com/EricTrump/status/872788608394162177, 8th June 2017
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about USA democracy. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in any USA elections.
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