[vienna]

Context is everything; here's context:

[Senator] HIRONO: So if the Attorney General or senior officials at the Department of Justice opposes a specific investigation, can they halt that FBI investigation?

COMEY: In theory yes.

HIRONO: Has it happened?

COMEY: Not in my experience. Because it would be a big deal to tell the FBI to stop doing something that -- without an appropriate purpose. I mean where oftentimes they give us opinions that we don't see a case there and so you ought to stop investing resources in it. But I'm talking about a situation where we were told to stop something for a political reason, that would be a very big deal. It's not happened in my experience.

The question was specific to the ability of the Attorney General or senior officials at the Department of Justice being able to halt an investigation; what you have here is a specific answer to a specific question; had a Senate committee member asked specifically if the President had sought to impede or halt an investigation or legal process, then the answer would have been different; as it stands, the quote cited is not by any stretch an indication of perjury or, even, evasion; if they wanted a specific answer to a specific question, they got it...

Comey was still FBI Director and he had a job to do and part of that job was the continuing investigation of the Russian influence allegations and the possible connection to the Trump election campaign. He had to be very careful about what he said so as not to tip the FBI's hand as to what the agency knew and he still has to be mindful, even after being fired, since the investigation is still ongoing...

The question was raised in an earlier post, citing a Fox News Op-Ed piece, of why Comey did not report or express his concerns to higher officials at the Department of Justice; there is a two word answer: Jeff Sessions. As attorney General, Sessions has shown himself, aside from being highly unqualified for the AG post, as someone who is more a loyalist to Trump than he is to the Constitution and the rule of law. Sessions is so tainted, personally, by the Russia scandal that, after lying to Congress on specific questions, under oath and penalty of perjury, he had to recuse himself from any involvement in the investigations or legal proceedings related to the scandals. This is not the person with whom anyone would feel confident in sharing concerns about the conduct of the President, particularly if you knew he would just go scurrying off to the White House to tip off Trump. Until he was fired, Comey was in the position of having to be wary of Sessions' influence on the investigations his agency was carrying out; for him there was no one higher up who could be fully trusted...

Comey's apparent uneasiness about trusting higher-ups is not with precedent and context. For those of us who can remember the Nixon-Watergate scandal vividly, the code name "Deep Throat" is very familiar. He was the then anonymous source for the Washington Post reporters who broke open the scandal that led to the ouster of Nixon. About three decades after Watergate, the name of the anonymous "Deep Throat" source was revealed: he was Mark Felt, a career FBI agent who at the time he was "Deep Throat" was serving in the capacity of Deputy Director of the FBI, the second highest position in the agency...

The questions about Comey's memos and notes seem to imply they could have been 'created' after the fact or some such situation. It has been common practice for lawyers, and their staffs, to keep detailed notes and archives of memoranda and other documentation regarding interactions both within and outside their practices. Over 40 years ago, I went to work, for the first time, at a large law firm and was introduced to the whole legal profession's 'document everything' mindset; even though I had come from an audit accounting background, the law firm's standards for documentation was stricter than I had encountered at the banks that had employed me, and those are very strict; and law firms are very diligent about archiving everything, often in excess of any legislated or mandated requirements; 'Cover Your Ass' (CYA) is the mantra of legal practice. I have little doubt Comey, and the vast majority of FBI investigators, ever really deviate or ignore CYA in their dealings. Given how dodgy the tenor and conduct of the Trump administration has been, it would be a reasonable guess Comey, and perhaps others, had/have been extra diligent in their documentation. Consider this: if Comey either discussed with or had shown other FBI associates evidence or indications of concerns about Trump & Co., how likely is it at least one, if not more of them, had made their own notes about the discussion(s)? Corroboration of Comey's memos is not a farfetched idea...

As far as the possibility of the memos being made up after the fact, when a Director, senior official, or any other person charged with investigations is either dismissed or resigns, the standard protocol is to immediately secure and preserve their work product, sort of the government's own version of CYA. Unless someone can pull off a caper that would strain the credulity of even the most far-fetched spy novelist's imagination, the possibility is virtually nil...