# 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:** 6
**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 31, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/101 "2017-05-31T21:19:36Z")
Somehow I don’t think Comey is going to slit his wrists in a bath for Trump. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/102 "2017-05-31T21:25:27Z")
Go for the cover-up. Easier to prove, and sufficient, without having to get into treasonous complicity in the thing itself. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/103 "2017-05-31T21:39:52Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Go for the cover-up. Easier to prove, and sufficient, without having to get into treasonous complicity in the thing itself. Should be enough to get Trump removed, but it’s not enough. We need to know the entirety. Unless crimes come out I don’t see how the US will be able to recognize this disaster and try to reverse it. If it’s just the cover up we’ll have a huge part of the population that refuses to believe anything is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/104 "2017-05-31T22:03:11Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Should be enough to get Trump removed, but it’s not enough. We need to know the entirety. Unless crimes come out I don’t see how the US will be able to recognize this disaster and try to reverse it. If it’s just the cover up we’ll have a huge part of the population that refuses to believe anything is wrong. I agree. Even beyond whether a GOP-controlled house would act on obstruction alone (I’m not sure), you’d have a lot of people saying. “He was just trying to stop a baseless investigation that was wasting time and money and distracting from real issues.” Heck, we’ve already seen that argument ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/105 "2017-05-31T22:09:30Z")
Allowing Comey to testify publicly on this likely means that Mueller has everything he needs on the obstruction front and has moved on to the bigger picture stuff. In fact they just added a guy who just left DOJ a couple weeks ago to help the investigation - the guy’s specialty is fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/106 "2017-05-31T22:39:14Z")
> [@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. There’ almost nothing Comey can say that would damage Trump’s reputation. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/107 "2017-06-01T00:00:47Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > There’ almost nothing Comey can say that would damage Trump’s reputation. “Your businesses are insolvent and I have wiretaps of all of your family taking about how they are ready to leave you the moment it’s revealed that you’re broke. I also have another wiretap of you taking about your atheism and how you are using religion as a shallow scheme to manipulate your base.” ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/108 "2017-06-01T00:09:40Z")
Can you believe it’s only been a few weeks since Trump fired Comey? It feels like that was years ago. ---
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/109 "2017-06-01T00:18:25Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > “Your businesses are insolvent and I have wiretaps of all of your family taking about how they are ready to leave you the moment it’s revealed that you’re broke. I also have another wiretap of you taking about your atheism and how you are using religion as a shallow scheme to manipulate your base.” All Trump supporters would hear is “wiretaps” and conclude that Trump was right all along that Obama personally ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/110 "2017-06-01T00:23:43Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > “Your businesses are insolvent and I have wiretaps of all of your family taking about how they are ready to leave you the moment it’s revealed that you’re broke. I also have another wiretap of you taking about your atheism and how you are using religion as a shallow scheme to manipulate your base.” “Melania sent me a dick pic she took of you on her phone while you were sleeping.” ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/111 "2017-06-01T02:38:08Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > “Your businesses are insolvent and I have wiretaps of all of your family taking about how they are ready to leave you the moment it’s revealed that you’re broke. I also have another wiretap of you taking about your atheism and how you are using religion as a shallow scheme to manipulate your base.” A large percentage of his base would cry “fake news” and if you played them the tapes they’d say that they were fake. If Trump came into their house and shot their children, theyd say it was Obama (or Hillary) in a Trump mask. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2017, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/112 "2017-06-01T04:31:43Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > There’ almost nothing Comey can say that would damage Trump’s reputation. It’s like shooting an old bale of hay. There is a little movement and maybe a rodent inside screeches in pain, but the hay contiues to just sit there and slowly ferment until it finally rots from within and collapses into its own decay. Meanwhile, Trump supporters continue to tell stories about what magic golden alfalfa Trump is made of, and a little Russian-backed gnome shows up if you say his name three times: “Sessions, Sessions, Sessions.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/113 "2017-06-01T05:18:02Z")
Kinda depends. How many of them are True Believers, and how many just wanted to yell “Fuck you!” in defiance, “I’m mad as hell, and cant think any more!”. It may be near impossible to reach the fanatic base, but those? When a family member calls them to solicit money to help Grandma, or Auntie Em, or whomever lost their insurance coverage, and they think “WTF? This wasn’t a problem about a year or so ago, what has changed? Oh, now I remember…”. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/114 "2017-06-01T11:01:28Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > If Trump came into their house and shot their children, theyd say it was Obama (or Hillary) in a Trump mask. Perfectly put. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/115 "2017-06-01T14:28:13Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > “Your businesses are insolvent and I have wiretaps of all of your family taking about how they are ready to leave you the moment it’s revealed that you’re broke. I also have another wiretap of you taking about your atheism and how you are using religion as a shallow scheme to manipulate your base.” I actually doubt the second sentence would matter at all to his base. The religious right isn’t remotely as powerful as liberals think it is. A recent study in the Atlantic found working class whites age 18-29 were more likely to classify themselves as Republican than any other age group among the white working class and they’re not remotely religious. If the Christian Right/Religious Right was remotely as strong as people thought, Trump never would have even gotten the nomination. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/116 "2017-06-01T14:30:28Z")
The issue isn’t the Trump voters though. It’s pretty clear at this point that roughly 38-40% of Americans have thrown their lot in with him and won’t abandon him no matter what but he needs more than that to actually survive and be successful. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/117 "2017-06-01T15:56:49Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > It’s like shooting an old bale of hay. There is a little movement and maybe a rodent inside screeches in pain, but the hay contiues to just sit there and slowly ferment until it finally rots from within and collapses into its own decay. Meanwhile, Trump supporters continue to tell stories about what magic golden alfalfa Trump is made of, and a little Russian-backed gnome shows up if you say his name three times: “Sessions, Sessions, Sessions.” > > Stranger That’s quite the little parable. nice! mc ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/118 "2017-06-01T16:10:28Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I actually doubt the second sentence would matter at all to his base. The religious right isn’t remotely as powerful as liberals think it is. > > A recent study in the Atlantic found working class whites age 18-29 were more likely to classify themselves as Republican than any other age group among the white working class and they’re not remotely religious. > > If the Christian Right/Religious Right was remotely as strong as people thought, Trump never would have even gotten the nomination. The Religious Right said that character doesn’t matter (for the Republican candidate). They saw a chance at overturning _Roe v. Wade_ and dispensed with morality. ETA:[Evangelical Leaders Sell Their Souls To Support Trump](http://www.redstate.com/jaycaruso/2016/10/02/evangelical-leaders-sell-souls-support-trump/) ---
**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:** [June 1, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/119 "2017-06-01T16:26:59Z")
News just said Comey will testify in open session to the Senate next Thurs, 8 June. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792/120 "2017-06-01T16:46:49Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > News just said Comey will testify in open session to the Senate next Thurs, 8 June. The White House Steward has valium darts at the ready. Of course the last time they used them, covfefe was the result. This will be must-see TV. I hope the Democratic members set up some meatball questions that Comey knocks out of the park. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-shut-down-flynn-probe/786792.md?page=7)