by Dan Froomkin
At your dinner with President Trump on Jan. 27, did he ask you to pledge your loyalty to him? How did he phrase it? How did you interpret that request? Did he clarify? Did he ask you anything about the ongoing investigation into Russian interference with the election? Did he ask you if he or any of his campaign aides were under investigation? Did you feel like this was a job interview, with your job at stake?
Your Feb. 14 meeting with Trump took place just a day after Michael Flynn was forced out his job as national security adviser for having lied about his contacts with Russian officials. According to media reports, you recall Trump telling you: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” Did you interpret that as a request to end your investigation? Why? Did you feel like your job was at stake?
Trump fired you on May 9. One day earlier, Sally Yates, who he had earlier fired as acting attorney general, made the first public indication that the FBI's counterintelligence investigation had in fact uncovered evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence. (Asked to rule it out at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, she said instead: "My answer to that question would require me to reveal classified information.") Did you interpret your firing as an attempt to end the investigation, or punish you for not having stopped it? Why?
These are just some of the essential questions members of the Senate Intelligence Committee need to ask former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday – unless, having already seen the memos he used to memorialize the conversations he had with Trump, they have even better ones.
But these questions go directly to whether Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice.