House Republicans subpoena Comey, Lynch for closed-door testimony

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House Republicans served up some subpoenas with their Thanksgiving turkey this week, issuing last-minute demands for former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch to appear for closed-door testimony on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4, respectively.

Republicans have been investigating the FBI and Justice Department's decision-making in 2016 and 2017, contending that deep-seated anti-Trump bias among senior officials led the bureau to downplay its probe of Hillary Clinton's private email server and home in on the investigation of Trump campaign connections with Russia.

Comey tweeted Thursday: "Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. I’m still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a “closed door” thing because I’ve seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Let’s have a hearing and invite everyone to see."
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/22/house-republicans-subpoena-comey-lynch-1012551

Can't believe this thread wasn't started 3 days ago by my friends on the right... Haven't you all been dying to get those 2 under oath (again) to continue to beat the dead horse of the FBI role in the Clinton EMAIL investigation??

The Clinton EMAIL investigation was basically over and the Trump investigation was picking up steam... There, I saved everybody 2 days of nonsense.

Does Comey have a (tall) leg to stand on, to demand the hearing be public? I think he does... Should be an interesting week in court to decide that one... Haven't heard what Lynch is planning to do.

Trumpublicans die, not with a bang, but with a whimper....

 

And why would republicans want it to be "closed-door"? Obviously so they can spin it any way they want to without anyone being able to know any different.

Comey has replied and said he would be happy to testify in a public, open-door setting so everyone can see exactly what goes on. Do you folks on the right have a problem with that? Or do you need secrecy so you can manipulate the truth as you do so well?

 

Trey Gowdy had an interesting idea for these interviews.

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"The remedy for leaks is not to have a public hearing where you are supposed to ask about 17 months worth of work in five minutes. I think the remedy is to videotape the deposition, videotape the transcribed interview," he said.

Gowdy suggested the interview could be scrubbed for classified information, then released to the public.

"I am sensitive to leaks," Gowdy added. "I think they undercut the authenticity of the investigation. The remedy is not to have a professional wrestling-type, carnival atmosphere, which is what congressional public hearings have become."
ENDSNIP

https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday...aping-private-interview-with-comey-to-address

I guess I have no problems with this, as it's very likely classified information will be discussed at some point. I remember the Strzok public hearing was slowed down immensely by the issue of classified information.

I think if they went this way, the obvious fight would be over who exactly does the "scrubbing" of classified information from the video.... Obviously both sides wouldn't 100% agree on this.

However, it does sound like a reasonable suggestion on it's face. And you'd still have the raw videotape to refer to in case the scrubbing causes issues.

I know a lot of people take Gowdy back to the Benghazi times and think he's a dick, but since I really don't go back in politics that far, I actually like most of what I've seen from this guy, albeit most of which has come out after he announced he wouldn't run again...

 

Closed door allows questions involving ( or answers) classified information.

Simple surprised two such educated people did not think of that!

 

Comey isn't going to go to prison for Lynch, and Lynch won't go to prison for Clinton and Obama. The corrupt Obama DOJ is about to fall apart.

 

Ah, he wont show up and nothing will come of it. Dems live by different rules ....Above The Law. Laws are for peasants.

 

That's exactly what Trey Gowdy explained a couple days ago. He also mentioned that they wouldn't be restricted to 5 minutes of questioning, which is good because Gowdy said he has 37 questions for Rosenstein and a lot more for Comey.

If that's what it's going to take to get answers out of those people I say go right ahead...

 

Exactly how do you spin a transcription and recording of a closed door investigation? Thats just bluster from Comey. Comey wants a public hearing so each Senate committee member is limited to 5 minutes. That doesn't happen is a closed door session.

We saw what happened with Lynch in her public hearing. She just rambled on about unimportant information to eat up her 5 minutes until a Democrat wasted their 5 minutes praising her. In a closed door session they don't get to avoid the question by eating up time.

 

Of course, Lynch never worked for Clinton - she worked for this guy:



It's possible Lynch might pull a Susan McDougal and take the fall for her old boss. On the other hand, that might not be necessary - investigators might offer her a deal if she comes clean.

Now that Sessions is out of the way I suspect 2019 is going to be verrrry interesting...

 

Don't kid yourself, she was working for the Clintons during the campaign.

 

The Republicans should have yanked these clowns in under subpoenas and threats of charges 2 years ago. Jeff Sessions was without a doubt the worst AG Trump could have ever selected. A real Special Council should have gone after these people. They committed treason from inside the government, trying to protect their positions and consolidate their power.

 

I don't doubt they were all in bed together but as you correctly pointed out it was Obama's DOJ - I don't believe for an instant that Obama just found out about in the media like everything else he pretended to know nothing about.

 

It has been done. Ever hear of "editing"?

I didn't know there was an unbreakable rule on that.

The position of the door shouldn't matter, but how do you know this?

 

Nope, Never heard of or seen an accusation of a court transcriptionist ever editing any Senate committee hearings transcriptions or recordings. Where have you ever seen or heard this before

The Position of the door shouldn't matter? A Closed door session is the legal term referring to non public hearings. Always has been.
The Senate committee sets the rules for public and private hearings. Most private hearings contain classified information not released to the public.

In their closed door session it is under deposition rules which allows a certain group to explore their questions under oath. Once they have exhausted their questions then the other side is able to question the witness under the same circumstances.

Comey doesn't want this because he will have to endure pointed questions under oath without the ability of interruption or dancing around the question. You can't get to the bottom of a question in a public hearing because the witness can just eat up time with stale answers and in private they can't run to their favorite dance of not answering due to an open investigation or classified status.

The committee has offered to video tape the hearing for the closed door session and play if for the public but Comey has refused that as well. I wonder why?

 

Where has Comey refused the videotape option?? And don't say his T-giving tweet, as that was made before Gowdy brought up the tape option.

 

It is in several media headlines. Washington post, Washington examiner, Politico ect

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...85fd44449f5_story.html?utm_term=.fff22b60e2b1

 

The WaPo story indicates that Gowdy's idea is a suggestion, not a formal offer from the committee.... and nothing in there about Comey's response to Gowdy's suggestion, so you jumped ahead a bit.

It's very likely Comey will reject the video idea if it's made formally, but we aren't there yet...

 

I agree but I am referring to Comeys public stance on his no closed door session. Since the Comey camp isn't responding to Gowdy's request for his requirement to make this public to stop any leaks it appears Comeys argument for public exposure request has been offered and refused meaning, he isn't going to respond because it doesn't work in his favor.

Comey wants a 5 minute question circus so he can't get painted into a corner which the private session doesn't provide. I am a bit confused as to why Comey thinks he gets to decide how, when, or where this takes place though.

 

Why do you move the goalpost? I didn't say anything about a transcriptionist. But we have seen Senate committees and talking heads selectively edit the words of testimonies. You know that as well as I do.

Yes, but where are the rules for a non-limit of 5 minutes or other time limits available regarding closed-door sessions?

Why cannot that be set and specified for a particular open-door session? Got documentation?

So far that is just your own made-up opinion. And so I reject it.

Because the Republicans can restrict the video and impose a "you cannot talk about this" rule on all present, and then lie about the results of the inquiry like Nunes did so often. I seem to remember it happening in a specific case recently but maybe someone else can help me remember the specifics.

 

Every Public Senate Committee hearing is time limited per committee member. Need documentation, Have you never seen one of these hearings before? Check out the thousand or so Youtube videos of any hearings you want to Choose from. Lynch, Comey, Hillary, Strzok, Kavanaugh, and the list goes on.

Closed door sessions are depositions and handled under deposition rules. The public committee time limit and closed door depositions have been public knowledge for just about ever. If you are unfamiliar with the known protocols you can review the video below.

Comey doesn't want a closed door session for the simple reason its a deposition setting.

 

Yes I have but that doesn't answer my question.

Ok, you have no proof.

Speculation.

 

Comey, along with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, were subpoenaed late Wednesday by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, who demanded that they testify in a deposition, not in a hearing, in early December. In a Thanksgiving morning tweet, Comey said he will "resist" a closed-door questioning session but is "happy to sit in the light and answer all questions

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trey-g...-james-comey-testimony-should-be-made-public/

All public hearings are limited to the 5 minute rule. If you don't know that its really not my problem. Closed door are deposition and not subjected to limited time restraints for questions. If you are unfamiliar with Depositions I am sure you can google the term.

 

What classified info could they want to keep hidden from us?

 

Comey is runnin scared from this.....

 

Right. There are ways of dealing with all this and keeping it above-board and transparent enough to satisfy everyone. But the Republicans always enjoy an opportunity to lie about what doesn't suit them.