Republican talking points: James Comey testimony proved ‘there was no obstruction’

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee is instructing President Trump’s surrogates to argue that FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before a Senate panel makes clear “there was no obstruction of justice” by the president, according to talking points obtained by Paste BN.

But those were not Comey's words.

Comey said Trump and other White House officials did not directly ask him to stop the overall probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. election and that the president was not under investigation earlier this year.  Yet Comey also testified that he felt Trump was instructing him to squash the FBI's investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, under scrutiny of federal investigators for his ties to Russia.

The ultimate determination of whether Trump's overtures amounted to obstruction of justice, Comey said, would fall to special counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who was appointed to be special counsel of the Russia investigation in the wake of Comey's firing.

"I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning, but that’s a conclusion I’m sure the special counsel will work towards trying to understand what the intention was there, and whether that’s an offense," said Comey.

Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz also previewed some of these arguments, mainly going after Comey as leaker of "privileged" information.

The RNC memo, in addition to denying any obstruction by Trump and going after Comey as a leaker, directs the president's surrogates to highlight that “it was a tough day for the Obama administration.” Comey shared an exchange he had with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in which she asked him to refer to the Hillary Clinton campaign investigation as a “matter” rather than an investigation – borrowing from campaign language.

“Attorney General Lynch has a lot of explaining to do,” says the RNC memo.