1. Comey Testifies Before the Senate Judiciary Committee and Declines to Answer Questions About Whether the President is Under Investigation On May 3, 2017, Comey was scheduled to testify at an FBI oversight 383 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. McGahn recalled that in the week leading up to the hearing, the President said that it would be the last straw if Comey did not take the opportunity to set the record straight by publicly 384 announcing that the President was not under investigation. The President had previously told McGahn that the perception that the President was under investigation was hurting his ability to carry out his presidential duties and deal 385 with foreign leaders. At the hearing, Comey declined to answer questions about the status of the Russia investigation, stating “[t]he Department of Justice ha[d] authorized [him] to confirm that [the Russia investigation] exists,” but that he was “not going to say another word about it” until the investigation was 386 completed. Comey also declined to answer questions about whether investigators had “ruled out anyone in the Trump campaign as potentially a target of th[e] criminal investigation,“ including whether the FBI had “ruled out 387 the president of the United States.“ Comey was also asked at the hearing about his decision to announce 11 days before the presidential election that the FBI was reopening the Clinton email 388 investigation. Comey stated that it made him “mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election,” but added that “even in 389 hindsight” he “would make the same decision.” He later repeated that he had no regrets about how he had handled the email investigation and believed he had 390 “done the right thing at each turn.” In the afternoon following Comey’s testimony, the President met with 391 McGahn, Sessions, and Session’s Chief of Staff Jody Hunt. At that meeting, the President asked McGahn how Comey had done in his testimony and McGahn relayed that Comey had declined to answer questions about whether the 392 President was under investigation. The President became very upset and 393 directed his anger at Sessions. According to notes written by Hunt, the President said, “This is terrible Jeff. It’s all because you recused. AG is supposed to be most important appointment. Kennedy appointed his brother. Obama