ABC: Comey will stop short of saying Trump obstructed justice

[Torie]

This article seems to miss the point:

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Why does it matter if Comey himself thinks that rises to the level of obstructing justice?  Comey's not in a position of authority anymore.  If Comey testifies that Trump did in fact say that to him, then it's up to the legal system (or Congress, if they want to impeach Trump) to decide if they believe him or not, and if they do, if they consider that to be "obstructing justice" or not.  It's not up to Comey.

The quote is not obstruction of justice. It's inappropriate, but not obstruction. A hope is not an order.

[Torie]

This article seems to miss the point:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Why does it matter if Comey himself thinks that rises to the level of obstructing justice?  Comey's not in a position of authority anymore.  If Comey testifies that Trump did in fact say that to him, then it's up to the legal system (or Congress, if they want to impeach Trump) to decide if they believe him or not, and if they do, if they consider that to be "obstructing justice" or not.  It's not up to Comey.

The quote is not obstruction of justice. It's inappropriate, but not obstruction. A hope is not an order.

Actually, arguably, coupled with the DNI/CIA requests, that "hope" rises to become much more than just a hope. It sounds more concerted as an effort to obstruct justice with that context, no?

I'd have to see the actual text.  But saying hope more than once is still not obstruction. Comey by the way when Trump said that, should have said "I have to go where the facts lead me," to give the message that what Trump said would not deflect him. It will be interesting to find out what Comey said in reply, if anything.

[Torie]

This article seems to miss the point:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Why does it matter if Comey himself thinks that rises to the level of obstructing justice?  Comey's not in a position of authority anymore.  If Comey testifies that Trump did in fact say that to him, then it's up to the legal system (or Congress, if they want to impeach Trump) to decide if they believe him or not, and if they do, if they consider that to be "obstructing justice" or not.  It's not up to Comey.

The quote is not obstruction of justice. It's inappropriate, but not obstruction. A hope is not an order.

Coming from one's boss in this context, it's hard to construe it as anything but. It's not like he followed up with saying "Consider X, Y, and Z indicating Flynn did nothing wrong". This is very difficult to interpret as anything other than a heavy-handed lean on Comey by Trump to stop the investigation into his administration's/campaigns behind the scenes dealing with the Russian government.

After Trump thereafter fired Comey for refusing to back down, it's damn near impossible for anyone other than cultists to interpret this otherwise.

I understand what you are saying, in connecting the dots, and the more dots there are, the more serious it gets. Asking the intelligence officer to "intervene" to me is a very big dot. In the end though, it will come down to whether Trump did something terribly wrong which is revealed by the investigation. Then we have obstruction of justice. If there isn't that much there but inappropriate conduct that really isn't illegal, then while we have a horrible POTUS, I don't see it ending in his removal. This story is moving rather rapidly. I may change my mind tomorrow.