Maddow: Justice Department officials’ handwritten notes corroborate Comey’s testimony on Trump – By Kerry Eleveld (dailykos.com) / April 11 2018
The Rachel Maddow Show believes it obtained a copy of the handwritten notes taken by a former Department of Justice official last year during a critical phone call with then-FBI director James Comey, in which he relayed that Donald Trump was pressuring him on the Russia investigation. That official, Dana Boente, was overseeing the Russia investigation at the time and the Washington Post is reporting that special counsel Robert Mueller has interviewed Boente, who turned over those handwritten notes to Mueller’s team. Boente’s notes, which could be crucial to an obstruction of justice case against Trump, appear to directly corroborate Comey’s version of events. They also might be just the beginning of a series of contemporaneous notes taken by Boente and other government officials that would serve as evidence of obstruction.
The call between Comey and Boente, who was acting deputy attorney general at the time, took place on March 30, 2017, just after Comey had gotten off the phone with Trump.
In Comey’s testimony from June 2017 (written and oral), he said that Trump described the Russia probe as “a cloud” hanging over his presidency and he told Sen. Dianne Feinstein: “I think what [Trump] meant by the cloud — and, again, I could be wrong — but the entire investigation is taking up oxygen and making it hard for me to focus on what I want to focus on.” Comey added that Trump asked what he could do to “lift the cloud” and also asked him to help get the word out that the FBI wasn’t investigating him personally. “The ask was to get it out that I, the president, am not personally under investigation,” Comey testified.
Now here’s the screenshots from Maddow of the notes believed to be taken by Boente:
—Cloud as a result of Russia bus. —This makes running the country difficult.
—“What — I do to relieve the cloud the cloud.” —Kept coming back to it … makes it hard to -— do bus. for the country.
—Reminded him we are NOT invest. you. —“That would be great to get out.
It’s worth noting here that Comey’s book tour starts next week and this may be just the first of many revelations that trickle out during his tour.
Here’s the Maddow segment:
