"That thing"
by digby
I think Comey was right about this:
McCain: You talked about the April 11 phone call, and he said, "Because I've been very loyal to you, very loyal, we had that thing, you know." Did that arouse your curiosity as to what, quote, that thing was?
Comey: Yes.
McCain: Why didn't you ask him?
Comey: It didn't seem to me to be important for the conversation we were having to understand it. I took it to be some -- an effort to communicate to me that there is a relationship between us where I've been good to you, you should be good to me.
McCain: But I would think it would intensely arouse my curiosity if the president of the United States said we had that thing, you know. I'd like to know what the hell that thing is, particularly if I'm the director of the FBI.
Comey: Yeah. I get that, senator. Honestly, I'll tell you what. This is speculation, but what I concluded at the time is in his memory he was searching back to our encounter at the dinner and was preparing himself to say I offered loyalty to you, you promised loyalty to me and all of a sudden his memory showed him that did not happen and I think he pulled up short. That's just a guess. A lot of conversations over the years.
Trump is a pathological liar and bully. He reflexively reminded him of some sort of nefarious "deal" and then half way through realizing that he didn't really have the goods and just bluffed his way out of it. It's even possible that Trump thought he did have the goods although the fact that he fired Comey shortly thereafter suggests that he knew he didn't.
Trump is a cheap thug without brains and he is way outmatched by Comey. And every other world leader.
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