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Inside Politics

Comey Speaks Before the Senate Judiciary Committee; Trump and Abbas News Conference. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 03, 2017 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: -- our elections and you expect them to be back in 2018 and in 2020. What more should we be doing both to defend our election infrastructure and our future elections against continuing Russian interference and what more are you doing, is the agency doing, to help our allies in countries like France and Germany that have upcoming elections where there's every reason to believe the Russians are actively interfering there, as well?

COMEY: Thank you, Senator. I think two things we can do and that we are doing, both in the United States and with our allies is telling the people responsible for protecting the election infrastructure in the United States, everything we know about how the Russian's and others try to attack those systems, how they might come at it, what IP addresses they might use, what phishing techniques they might use and then we've shared the same thing with our allies that one.

Two, to equip the American people and our allies to understand that this going on because a big part of what the Russians did was pushing out false information, echoing it with these troll farms that they use and I think one of the most important things we can do is tell the American voter this is going on.

You should be skeptical, you should ask questions, you should understand the nature of the news that you're getting and we've delivered that same message to our European colleagues, and an interesting thing is happening, the marketplace of ideas is responding to this.

Because it's not a role for government, people are out there using the power of social media to push back against this kind of thing in France, in the Netherlands, in Germany and I hope it will happen here in the United States, where ordinary citizens will see this bogus stuff going on and push back -- kind of have good troll armies pushing back the other way. So the market place of information is better educated frankly.

COONS: Well, it's an optimistic vision and I appreciate it. And I also appreciate the work the FBI continues to do to push back and to strengthen our defenses. But I think there's more to do. You certainly, as you've testified before made a great deal of news just before our own election. And I'm struck that you chose to make public statements about one investigation and not another. The investigation we now know that was ongoing into the Trump campaign

and the investigation ongoing into Secretary Clinton. I'm concerned about what the future practice will be. How has the approach taken with regard to the Clinton investigation been memorialized and have you modified in any way, FBI or department procedures regarding disclosure of information concerning investigations particularly close to an election?

COONS: We have not. And the reason for that is, everything that we did -- that I did, was in my view consistent with existing Department of Justice policy. That is we don't confirm the existence of investigations except in unusual circumstances.

We don't talk about closed -- we don't talk about investigations that don't result in criminal charges unless there is a compelling public interest. And so those principles should still govern. We also whenever humanly possible avoid any action that might have an impact on an election. I still believe that to be true and an incredibly important guiding principle. It's one that I labored under here.

Frankly as I said earlier, I didn't think I had a choice, because I could only have two actions. Before me I couldn't find a door labeled no action. So those principles still exist,they're incredibly important. The current investigation with respect to Russia, we've confirmed it.

The Department of Justice has authorized me to confirm that it exists. We're not going to say another word about it until we're done. Then I hope in league with the Department of Justice, we'll figure out if it doesn't result in charges, what if anything will we say about it and we'll be guided by the same principles.

COONS: Well, Director, I do think there was a third door available to you in late year just before the election and that was to confirm the existence of an ongoing investigation about the Trump campaign, which I think was of compelling interest and was an unusual circumstance, an activity by a known adversary to interfere in our election.

Had there been public notice that there was renewed investigation into both campaigns, I think the impact would have been different, would you agree?

COONS: No. I thought a lot about this and my judgment was a counter -- we have to separate two things. I thought it was very important to call out what the Russians were trying to do with our election. And I offered in August myself to be a voice for that in a public piece calling it out. The Obama administration didn't take advantage of that August. They did it in October, but I thought that was very important to call out.

That's a separate question from -- do you confirm the existence of a classified investigation that has just started to try and figure out are there any connections between that Russian activity and U.S. persons that started in late July and remember, the Hillary Clinton investigation, we didn't confirm it existed until three months after it started and started publicly. So I thought the consistent principle would be, we don't confirm the

existence of certainly any investigation that involves a U.S. person but a classified investigation in its early stages, we don't know what we have, what is there. And so I -- my judgment was consistent with the principles I've always operated under, that was the right thing to do. Separately, I thought it was very important to callout and tell the American people the Russians are trying to mess with your elections.

COONS: Well, I hope that in the future that attempt to draw attention to Russian interference or an election, which you've testified you expect to continue, will be effective. Let me ask one last question, if I might. There's a lot of ways that the FBI helps state and local law enforcement. One I've been grateful for was the Violence Reduction Network through which the FBI provided much needed assistance to Wilmington Police Department, this is my hometown, where we've had a dramatic spike in violence.

I'd be interested in hearing how you imagine or how you intend that the FBI will continue to assist local law enforcement in combating unprecedented spikes in violent crime in a few of our communities, such as Wilmington, where they've happened?

COMEY: Yes, we're trying to thank you for that, Senator. The VRN, the Violence Reduction Networker, was piloted in Wilmington and -- and a small number of other places and we believe it works, where the FBI brings to a fight that's primarily a state local fight our technology, our intelligence expertise at figuring out how to connect dots and which of the bad guys we should focus on. And then our enforcement, our agents and their ability to make cases.

And so we're trying to do what we've done in Wilmington, in cities around the country, those cities that are seeing spikes in violence. And -- and the depressing fact is, about half of America's biggest cities saw another rise in violence the first quarter of this year. And so we're trying to lean forward and do what we've done in Wilmington in those places, as well.

COONS: Well, we appreciate your efforts to support local law enforcement. Thank you, Director.

GRASSLEY: Senator Kennedy?

KENNEDY: Morning, Mr. Director, I guess afternoon, now. I'll assume for second that I'm not a United States senator and that I don't have a security clearance to look at classified information. If someone sends me classified information, and I know or should know which classified information, and I read it, have I committed a crime?

COMEY: Potentially.

KENNEDY: Has the person who sent me the information committed a crime?

COMEY: Potentially, if they knew you didn't have appropriate clearance and a need to know. KENNEDY: OK. Was there classified information on -- on former Congressman Weiner's computer?

COMEY: Yes.

KENNEDY: Who sent it to him?

COMEY: His then spouse, Huma Abedin, appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding e-mails to him, for him I think to print out for her so she could then deliver them to the Secretary of State.

KENNEDY: Did Congress -- former Congressman Weiner read the classified materials?

COMEY: I don't -- I don't think so. I think it is descriptive -- I don't think we've been able to interview him because he has pending criminal problems of other sorts. But my understanding is that his role would be to print them out as a matter of convenience.

KENNEDY: If he did read them, would he have committed a crime?

COMEY: Potentially.

KENNEDY: Would his spouse have committed a crime?

COMEY: Again, potentially, it would depend upon a number of things.

KENNEDY: Is there an investigation with respect to the two of them?

COMEY: There was, it is -- we completed it.

KENNEDY: Why did you conclude neither of them committed a crime?

COMEY: Because with respect to Ms. Abedin in particular, we -- we didn't have any indication that she had a sense that what she was doing was in violation of the law. Couldn't prove any sort of criminal intent. Really, the central problem we have with the whole e-mail investigation was proving that people knew -- the secretary and others knew that they were doing -- that they were communicating about classified information in a way that they shouldn't be and proving that they had some sense of their doing something unlawful. That was our burden and we weren't able to meet it.

KENNEDY: So she thought it was OK to send her husband the information?

COMEY: Well, I think -- well, I don't want to get too much into what she thought. We could not prove that the people sending the information, either in that case or in the other case with the secretary, were acting with any kind of the mens rea, with any kind of criminal intent.

KENNEDY: Assume for second -- again, I'm not a United States Senator -- I'm working for a -- for a presidential campaign, and I'm contacted by a Russian agent. And he just wants to talk about the campaign in general and strategy. Am I committing a crime? COMEY: Harder to answer. One, I want to be -- I probably don't want answer in the -- in the -- even in the hypothetical given the work that they we're doing.

KENNEDY: Alll right, well, let me try it this way. Let's assume that I'm not a United States Senator, I'm working for a presidential campaign, and I'm contacted by an Russian agent who says I've got some hacked e-mails here and I want to visit with you about them. Am I committing a crime?

COMEY: Also, senator, I think I should resist answering that hypothetical.

KENNEDY: OK, can you explain to me, not the law but just in your personal opinion, when interrogation techniques become torture?

COMEY: You mean not the law?

KENNEDY: That's right.

COMEY: There is a statute that defines ...

KENNEDY: I know.

COMEY: ... torture in the United States. And so, that, as a lawyer and as a member of law enforcement organization, that is where I would start. That the definition of torture is laid out in American statutes. I'm not sure I understand what you mean beyond that.

KENNEDY: I'm -- I'm just asking your personal opinion about what you think constitutes torture. Where you would -- where you personally would draw the line drawing on your substantial experience?

COMEY: I'd say in general, any conduct that involves the intentional infliction of physical pain or discomfort in order to obtain information is, in a colloquial sense, torture. It may not be torture under the statute, which Congress chose to define at -- at a fairly high level, but as a human being and a -- and a FBI director, I consider the infliction of physical pain and discomfort to be by large colloquially torture.

KENNEDY: Any kind of physical pain or discomfort? Suppose you just served someone bad food.

COMEY: Well, again, tricky for us because the FBI is very careful never to inflict -- intentionally inflict physical pain or discomfort of -- of any sort to try and question somebody so ...

KENNEDY: I understand.

COMEY: ... I'd say, yes, that's conduct you should stay way clear of.

KENNEDY: Mr. Director, do you ...

COMEY: It's also ineffective, frankly, but that's a whole other deal. KENNEDY: Sure. Do you think it is possible, from a -- from a law enforcement perspective, to -- to properly vet a non-American -- non- citizen, I should say, coming to the United States from a conflict area such as Syria?

COMEY: It is difficult to do it perfectly and I have concerns about the ability to vet people coming from areas where we have no relationship on the ground with the government there. And so I suppose it's possible to do it reasonably. There's a number of tools you could bring to bear but there are always risks associated with that.

KENNEDY: I mean how do you do it. You can't call -- you can't call the chamber of commerce in Syria. How do you do it?

COMEY: Well you -- and we do it now. We query the holdings of the entire American intelligence community to see if any -- what we call selectors, phone numbers, emails, addresses associate with that person have ever shown up anywhere in the world in our holdings. That's a pretty good way to do it. Getting into the person's social media to see what they have there.

KENNEDY: Yes sir.

COMEY: ... Is another pretty good way to do it. The way we rely on in most cases is, the host government will have information about them and (inaudible) the host government ...

KENNEDY: Just looking up my article here go ahead.

COMEY: Yes, and in Iraq, we had a United States military presence for many years and collected a whole lot of biometrics. So we can query that to see if the person's fingerprints ever showed up of any ...

KENNEDY: I'm going to stop you for moment, I've got 10 seconds.

COMEY: Sure. I'm sorry.

KENNEDY: How about Yemen?

COMEY: Similarly difficult.

KENNEDY: I yield back my three seconds Mr. Chairman.

GRASSLEY: Thank you. Senator Hirono.

HIRONO: Thank you. You've been getting a lot of questions surrounding your decision to make certain statements about the investigation into Secretary Clinton's emails. And to many of us, you treated the investigation of a Clinton email investigation or matter whatever you want to call it differently than how you treated the ongoing investigation of the Trump campaign and the Russian attempts to interfere with their elections.

And while you've and if I can understand correctly that there is a -- you felt free to speak about the Clinton investigation because it had been completed when you're press conference in July ...

COMEY: Correct.

HIRONO: ... of 2016 and you do confirm that -- that there is still an ongoing investigation of the Trump campaign and their conduct with regard to -- to Russian efforts to undermine her elections.

COMEY: We're conducting an investigation to understand whether there was any coordination between the Russian efforts and anybody associated with the Trump campaign.

HIRONO: So since you've already confirmed that such an investigation is ongoing, can you tell us more about what constitutes that investigation?

COMEY: No.

HIRONO: In July of 2016, when you announced that you were not going to be bringing criminal charges against Secretary Clinton because you did need to show intent, and there was no intent discovered, you -- spoke for 15 minutes. And not only did you say that you were going to bring criminal charges against her by the, which you said at the end of your 15 minutes, but you went on to chastise her, saying that she had been extremely careless.

[12:15:35] JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John King. This Is INSIDE POLITICS.

We're going over to the White House quickly. We'll take you back to Capitol Hill. But President Trump meeting with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Let's Listen.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.

Today, I'm pleased to welcome President Abbas to the White House for his first visit to Washington in quite a while. Almost 24 years ago, it was on these grounds that President Abbas stood with a courageous peacemaker, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Here at the White House, President Abbas signed a declaration of principles -- very important -- which laid the foundation for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. The president -- and Mr. President, you signed your name to the first Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

You remember that well, right?

And I want to support you in being the Palestinian leader who signs his name to the final and most important peace agreement that brings safety, stability, prosperity to both peoples and to the region.

I'm committed to working with Israel and the Palestinians to reach an agreement. But any agreement cannot be imposed by the United States or by any other nation. The Palestinians and Israelis must work together to reach an agreement that allows both peoples to live, worship, and thrive and prosper in peace. And I will do whatever is necessary to facilitate the agreement, to mediate, to arbitrate, anything they'd like to do. But I would love to be a mediator, or an arbitrator, or a facilitator, and we will get this done.

Peace also means defeating ISIS and other terrorist groups. These groups are a threat to all people who cherish human life.

I know President Abbas has spoken out against ISIS and other terrorist groups. And we must continue to build our partnership with the Palestinian Security Forces to counter and defeat terrorism.

I also applaud the Palestinian Authority's continues security coordination with Israel.

They get alone unbelievably well. I had meetings, and at these meetings I was actually very impressed and somewhat surprised at how well they get along. They work together beautifully.

But there can be no lasting peace unless the Palestinian leaders speak in a unified voice against incitement to violate, and violence, and hate. There's such hatred, but hopefully there won't be such hatred for very long.

All children of God must be taught to value and respect human life and condemn all of those who target the innocent. As part of our efforts to move forward toward peace today, we will also discuss my administration's effort to help unlock the potential of the Palestinian people through new economic opportunities.

Lastly, I want to note the positive ongoing partnership between the United States and the Palestinians on a range of issues -- private sector, development and job creation, regional security, counter- terrorism and the rule of law, all of which are essential to moving forward toward peace. I welcome President Abbas here today as a demonstration of that partnership, that very special partnership that we all need to make it all work. And I look forward to welcoming him back as a great mark of progress and ultimately toward the signing of a document with the Israelis and with Israel toward peace.

We want to create peace between Israel and the Palestinians. We will get it done.

We will be working so hard to get it done. It's been a long time, but we will be working diligently. And I think there's a very, very good chance, and I think you feel the same way.

TRUMP: Mr. President, thank you very much.

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (through translator): Mr. President, your excellency, I would like to thank you for this honorable invitation to come and meet with you and I look much forward to working with you in order to come to that deal, to that historical agreement, historic deal to bring about peace.

Mr. President, our strategic option, our strategic choice is to bring about peace based on the vision of the two state, a Palestinian state, with its capital of East Jerusalem that lives in peace and stability with the state of Israel based on the borders of 1967.

Mr. President, for us to bring about a comprehensive and just peace based on the two-state solution, such matter would give a great impetus to the Arab Peace Initiative and the other initiatives -- international initiatives, as well as it enables to fight and deter terrorism and fight the criminal ISIS group. ISIS that is totally innocent and has nothing to do with our noble religion.

And that also, if we create peace that is just and comprehensive that will also lead the Arab and Islamic countries to have normal relations with Israel based as stipulated in the previous Arab summits, the latest of which was the Arab summit in Jordan.

Mr. President, we believe that we are capable and able to bring about success to our efforts, because, Mr. President, you have the determination and you have the desire to see it become to fruition and to become successful. And we, Mr. President, inshallah, God willing, we are coming into a new opportunity, a new horizon, that would enable us to bring about peace in that regard

ABBAS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. President, as far as a permanent solution, we believe that this is possible and able to be resolved. I am firmly believing that this is possibly -- we are able to resolve it, and in that I also believe that we will be able to resolve the issue of the refugees and the issue of the prisoners. According to the international law, according to the terms of international law, the international legitimacy and the various references and terms of reference in that regard, and based on what is stipulated in the previous treaties and agreements, that no unilateral steps must be taken to get ahead of the agreement and discussing those issues.

Mr. President, it's about time for Israel to end its occupation of our people and of our land after 50 years. We are the only remaining people in the world that still live under occupation.

We are aspiring and want to achieve our freedom, our dignity, and our right to self-determination. And we also want for Israel to recognize the Palestinian state, just as the Palestinian people recognize the state of Israel.

Mr. President, I affirm to you that you are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace. And we are endeavoring to bring about security, freedom and peace for our children to live like the other children in the world, along with the Israeli children in peace, freedom and security.

Mr. President, I bring with me today a -- the message of the suffering of my people, as well as our aspirations and hope -- the hopes and aspiration of the Palestinian people from the Holy Land. From that land where the three monotheistic thrive, and the Jewish faith, the Christian faith, and the Muslin faith, where they all coexist together to foster it in a environment of security, peace, and stability, and love for all. Mr. President, I believe that we are capable under your leadership and your stewardship to -- your -- your courageous stewardship and your wisdom, we are -- and as well as your great negotiating ability, I believe with the grace of God and will all of your effort, we believe that we can become -- we -- we can be partners -- true partners to you to bring about a historic peace treaty under your stewardship to bring about peace.

ABBAS: Now, Mr. President, with you we have hope. Thank you very much.

TRUMP: Thank you. Good (ph). Thank you very much. So, we're going to start a process. We've spoken to Bibi Netanyahu. We've spoken to many of the great Israeli leaders.

We've spoken with many of your great representatives. Many of them are here today for lunch with us.

We'll start a process which hopefully will lead to peace.

[12:29:58] Over the course of my lifetime, I've always heard that perhaps the toughest deal to make is the deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Let's see if we can prove them wrong, OK?

ABBAS: OK.

TRUMP: Good. Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.