There are conflicting opinions today about the memos James Comey wrote documenting his meetings with Donald Trump, notes that were sent from the Justice Department to members of Congress Thursday. The memos include redactions, but they reveal a lot and back up much of what Comey has already said. Republicans pushed for the release of the documents hoping to in some way discredit Comey.
The New York Times reports:
“The three Republican chairmen — Representative Robert W. Goodlatte of the Judiciary Committee, Representative Devin Nunes of the Intelligence Committee and Representative Trey Gowdy of the Oversight Committee — issued a joint statement Thursday night taking direct aim at Mr. Comey’s character and the import of the memos. The documents, they said, show Mr. Comey was “blind with biases” and demonstrated bad judgment.”
Instead of discrediting Comey though most political analysts seem to agree these notes paint Trump in a bad light.
“The documents written by the then-FBI director, detailing his interactions with Trump, present a contemporaneous and deeply unflattering view of a President throwing his weight around in his first days in the White House — that at the very least seems highly inappropriate.”
The Washington Post adds:
“The memos also reveal the extent of Trump’s preoccupation with unproven allegations that he had consorted with prostitutes while in Moscow in 2013. Trump, according to the memos, repeatedly denied the allegations and prodded Comey to help disprove them, while also recalling being told by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia has the most beautiful prostitutes.”
Listen above to what Comey told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow right after the memos were leaked to the press.