Trey Gowdy asked Comey about his memo regarding a meeting with Reince Preibus on 2/8/17. His answer was fascinating. First, let's recall memo says Priebus wondered what was up with the bizarre briefing of the pee tape and dossier and how everything was leaking to the press.
I'll personally note the clumsy briefing of false/silly dossier items had to feel like blackmail to the incoming administration even before it was immediately leaked to compliant media. Anywho, Priebus asks if FBI is leaking and seems to have real concern about it.
So that's the context for the next line. Which is: "He then asked me if this was a 'private conversation.' I replied that it was." Trey Gowdy asked him about this and Comey's answer is so slippery and on-its-face ridiculous that it's really something.
Here's the beginning of that exchange (it goes on in this manner for a while, but here's the gist):
Mr. Gowdy. What did you mean by "it was"?
Mr. Comey. That the two of us were speaking together alone,
that there was nobody else participating in the conversation.
Mr. Gowdy. What did you mean by "it was"?
Mr. Comey. That the two of us were speaking together alone,
that there was nobody else participating in the conversation.
Comey, who was yesterday pontificating on rule of law, says when he assured Preibus that a conversation he was planning to memorialize for various reasons (including to enable leaking to compliant media) was private, he just meant that the two guys were talking alone in a room.
