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Comey: Hero, Villain and Shakespearean Character Who Lived Up to Hype - The New York Times

posted onJune 9, 2017
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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — On the 140th day of the Trump presidency — one for each allotted character on the executive Twitter feed that stayed conspicuously silent all Thursday morning — a very tall man with a very strange place in this very bewildering moment in American history strolled into Hart Senate Office Building 216, shot a quick glance at the masses arrayed behind him and presented a seen-it-all city with something unusual. In a capital accustomed to overcooked spectacle and insufferable congressional testimony, James B. Comey delivered on the hype. For about two and a half hours, the room fell into an anxious hush, punctured sporadically by audible emissions of surprise at the remarks of a deposed F.B.I. director with a collection of Trump-branded knives in his reputational torso. Senators settled into their telegenic gazes, steely but approachable, often whispering to one another as the witness held forth. Photographers clicked with impunity, descending on every twitch: a wave of the hand, a cock of the head, a woman delivering glasses of ice water to Mr. Comey’s table before he arrived. And the headliner summoned a theatrical swagger to match the moment, assuming a role with little precedent: a dispatched federal employee — hero, villain, Shakespearean character in the 2016 election and early Trump administration — staring into the cameras and talking to the president who had fired him. “I’ve seen the tweet about tapes,” he said in one flourish, referring to a Tw... Link to the full article to read more

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