# Comey Memo: Trump Told Him - Shut Down Flynn Probe **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 16, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792 "2017-05-16T21:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/81 "2017-05-17T21:51:36Z")
> [@Salvor](#): > > I have a report that will make all liberals lose faith in humanity. > > [Democratic Party Image Dips, GOP Ratings Stable](http://www.gallup.com/poll/210725/democratic-party-image-dips-gop-ratings-stable.aspx) Not the most relevant, now as for wanting to have an independent investigation and to see impeachment: > **[Nearly half of U.S. voters support Trump impeachment as President’s approval...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2017/05/17/nearly-half-of-us-voters-support-trump-impeachment-as-presidents-approval-numbers-dip-further-poll-shows/)** > > President Trump’s approval ratings have fallen yet again, while the number of American voters supporting his impeachment is on the rise, a pair of new polls show. Just 42% of U.S. voters said… > [@](#): > > The latest Public Policy Polling survey found that nearly half (48%) of Americans supported impeachment proceedings for Trump, while just 41% said they would not support them. [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-poll-idUSKCN18B2LN](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-poll-idUSKCN18B2LN) > [@](#): > > The May 10-14 poll, which was conducted after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, suggests the public is increasingly uneasy with allegations of meddling by the Russians in the U.S. election. Trump’s dismissal of Comey, who was leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into ties between the White House and Russia, intensified calls by Democrats for an independent probe. > > According to the poll, 59 percent of adults, including 41 percent of Republicans and 79 percent of Democrats, agreed that “Congress should launch an independent investigation into communications between the Russian government and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.” > > That compares with 54 percent of all adults, including 30 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of Democrats, who felt that way when the poll last asked the question in February. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/82 "2017-05-17T22:05:09Z")
**Stranger** , what does _The Art of the Deal_ have to do with Trump’s thoughts? He’s probably never even met the guy who wrote it, and he certainly hasn’t read it. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/83 "2017-05-17T22:07:46Z")
Among the people that I know that dare to discuss such things, none of this mess matters. Trump still really could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and his supporters simply wouldn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/84 "2017-05-17T22:21:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Stranger** , what does _The Art of the Deal_ have to do with Trump’s thoughts? He’s probably never even met the guy who wrote it, and he certainly hasn’t read it. Yeah, all Trump has done is threaten to sue the guy, which for Trump is no connection at all. (If Trump IS removed from office, will he sue each and every member of Congress that votes against him?) ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/85 "2017-05-17T22:32:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Stranger** , what does _The Art of the Deal_ have to do with Trump’s thoughts? He’s probably never even met the guy who wrote it, and he certainly hasn’t read it. Oh he met him, alright. And the dude [wasn’t impressed](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all). Like, at _all_: > [@](#): > > … The discussion was soon hobbled by what Schwartz regards as one of Trump’s most essential characteristics: “He has no attention span.” > > […] > > He asked Trump to describe his childhood in detail. After sitting for only a few minutes in his suit and tie, Trump became impatient and irritable. He looked fidgety, Schwartz recalls, “like a kindergartner who can’t sit still in a classroom.” Even when Schwartz pressed him, Trump seemed to remember almost nothing of his youth, and made it clear that he was bored. Far more quickly than Schwartz had expected, Trump ended the meeting. > > Week after week, the pattern repeated itself. > > […] > > “… It’s impossible to keep him focussed on any topic, other than his own self-aggrandizement, for more than a few minutes, and even then . . . ” Schwartz trailed off, shaking his head in amazement. He regards Trump’s inability to concentrate as alarming in a Presidential candidate. “If he had to be briefed on a crisis in the Situation Room, it’s impossible to imagine him paying attention over a long period of time,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/86 "2017-05-18T03:38:11Z")
Personally, I doubt the whole “threat” aspect of this. I don’t have any difficulty thinking that Il Douche believes in his own gravitas and personal magnetism. He has lived his tragically long life rich, where everyone laughs at your jokes and gasps in amazement at your insightful intelligence. I can easily believe that he decided to talk to Comey one-on-one, man to man. Give him the straight from the shoulder candor, tell him that Flynn is a good man, stand up guy. And that would be enough. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/87 "2017-05-18T11:16:12Z")
And now, we hear the [Trump campaign had undisclosed contact with Russia](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-contacts-idUSKCN18E106). Reporting “no evidence of wrongdoing or collusion between the campaign and Russia in the communications reviewed so far,” though. The lack of disclosure itself is troubling, though. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/88 "2017-05-19T19:54:59Z")
Trump told Russians that firing “nut job” Comey eased pressure from Russia investigation. > **[NYT: Trump brags to Russians about firing 'nut job' Comey | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/trump-russians-nut-job-comey/index.html)** > > President Donald Trump bragged to two top Russian officials last week that firing "nut job" FBI Director James Comey eased "great pressure" on him, The New York Times reported Friday. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/89 "2017-05-19T20:15:49Z")
\*White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not refute the Times story, but said that it was Comey’s “grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia’s actions” that created “unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia.”\*Somewhere the ghost of James Gandolfini is gnashing his teeth in how the Trump administration has now exceeded _The Sopranos_ in depicting unbridled venality. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/90 "2017-05-20T01:41:57Z")
Russian officials bragged they could use Michael Flynn to influence Trump. > **[First on CNN: Russian officials bragged they could use Flynn to influence...](https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/michael-flynn-donald-trump-russia-influence/index.html)** > > Russian officials bragged in conversations during the presidential campaign that they had cultivated a strong relationship with former Trump adviser retired Gen. Michael Flynn and believed they could use him to influence Donald Trump and his team,... ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/91 "2017-05-20T01:55:19Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > Russian officials bragged they could use Michael Flynn to influence Trump. > > [http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/michael-flynn-donald-trump-russia-influence/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/michael-flynn-donald-trump-russia-influence/index.html) Could Trump use the argument that this is evidence he, himself, wasn’t colluding? Because if he was, the Russians wouldn’t have to use Flynn to influence him? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/92 "2017-05-20T02:08:42Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Could Trump use the argument that this is evidence he, himself, wasn’t colluding? Because if he was, the Russians wouldn’t have to use Flynn to influence him? Then he would publicly confess that he’s ridiculously stupid. Not that we don’t know that by now, and maybe he wouldn’t notice…Well, I think he’ll be using this defense. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/93 "2017-05-20T02:10:48Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Could Trump use the argument that this is evidence he, himself, wasn’t colluding? Because if he was, the Russians wouldn’t have to use Flynn to influence him? I was thinking the same thing. However, with the Comey firing, the disclosure of intelligence to the Russians, and every other damn thing, I think Trump is hurting even if he wasn’t directly, personally colluding. At least, I hope he’s fucked either way. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/94 "2017-05-20T02:22:17Z")
At this point, I would not be surprised if Trump blurted out that the Russians did not even pay him that much, so really, it’s not a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/95 "2017-05-20T02:28:48Z")
> [@](#): > > However, with the Comey firing, the disclosure of intelligence to the Russians, and every other damn thing, I think Trump is hurting even if he wasn’t directly, personally colluding. At least, I hope he’s fucked either way. That the question: guilty of collusion or just cover-up/obstruction? I recall reading an article (days ago, which feels like weeks now), on the idea that Trump could convince the voting public he’s guilty when he’s not, just by his actions. The thing is, before Trump said all this Russia stuff with Comey as a reason, I really did think he could be the type to fire Comey just for not getting the results he wanted (Clinton guilty, Trump being wiretapped by Obama, etc.) and for not being a toady, even though Trump wasn’t actually guilty of any crime. But as that article said, if he’s not guilty, he’s sure doing his best to make himself look that way. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/96 "2017-05-20T02:50:21Z")
AKA, “It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup.” ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/97 "2017-05-22T23:48:54Z")
Now it seems there are reports of a memo from where Trump [asked the director of national intelligence and director of the NSA](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-asked-intelligence-chiefs-to-push-back-against-fbi-collusion-probe-after-comey-revealed-its-existence/2017/05/22/394933bc-3f10-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?pushid=592365508a38f24c0000000c&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.c9db15caa402) to “publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election.” We’ll have to wait and see if that’s correct, of course. If they do exist, they could be made available to the special counsel. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/98 "2017-05-31T17:57:27Z")
Per CNN, Comey will testify as soon as next week that Trump pressured him to end the investigation. > **[CNN: Comey To Testify Publicly That Trump Pressured Him To End Flynn Probe](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/comey-testify-pressure-trump-russia-probe)** > > Ousted FBI Director James Comey plans to testify in public that President Donald Trump pressured him to quash the bureau's investigation into Trump's former national security adviser… If this is true, does this change any Trump supporters’ opinions? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/99 "2017-05-31T18:54:01Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Per CNN, Comey will testify as soon as next week that Trump pressured him to end the investigation. > > [CNN: Comey To Testify Publicly That Trump Pressured Him To End Flynn Probe - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/comey-testify-pressure-trump-russia-probe) > > If this is true, does this change any Trump supporters’ opinions? No, it will not change his supporters. It is like about 20% of the population has become Manson girls, incapable of thought or reason and completely incapable of thinking anything bad about their beloved leader. He was absolutely right during the campaign, he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any of his voters. I think Comey will be professional in his testimony, but boy it must give him some satisfaction to publicly take a dump on the reputation of the guy who fired him. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/100 "2017-05-31T20:15:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I think Comey will be professional in his testimony, but boy it must give him some satisfaction to publicly take a dump on the reputation of the guy who fired him. Unless he pulls a Frank Pentangeli and suddenly can’t remember Trump talking to him about anything but baseball. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792.md?page=6)