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Rabat – In the United States, ousted FBI Director James Comey is set to testify publicly before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday as part of the investigation into ties between President Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin.
Comey will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee to testify about his interactions with President Trump at 10:00 am EST (2:00pm GMT).
Ahead of the scheduled testimony Comey released prepared remarks that documented his interactions with President Trump. He described Trumps demands for loyalty and pressure to end an investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
Information included in Comey’s remarks directly contradicts previous statements issued by the White House including a May 12 statement from press secretary Sean Spicer that rejected the idea that Trump had ever asked for Comey to assure him of his loyalty. The remarks also contradict a May 18 statement from Trump in which he claimed to have never asked Comey to end an investigation into Flynn’s ties to Russia.
Comey was fired from his position as the FBI Director in May. Trump initially said that his decision to fire Comey stemmed from a letter from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Later, the story of why Comey was fired changed several times including spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying that the president had lost confidence in Comey and Trump’s own statements explaining that the former FBI Director was a ‘showboat.’
The potential implications of Comey’s testimony are far reaching. Several news outlets have compared the unfolding drama to that of the Watergate scandal which resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
While it is unclear what Comey will say in the hearing, senate intelligence committee members may press Comey on the possibility of Trump obstructing justice by asking him to end the investigation into Flynn. The charge of obstruction of justice is one of the articles of impeachment that was previously used against both Nixon and Bill Clinton.
Despite calls for impeachment, however, that decision would be made by the US Congress which is currently controlled by Trump’s party, the Republicans.
Regardless of the outcome of the showdown between Comey and Trump, the US continues to be on unstable footing at home and internally. With eroding support at home and abroad as a result of the ongoing scandal over connections to Russia, Trump and the US will likely continue to lose credibility on the world stage forcing nations to look elsewhere for more stable allies.
