Ms. Plaskett. Would he be able to answer the question related to those things that have occurred after his firing?
Ms. Bessee. To the extent that he has knowledge of them based on his -- because he's a potential witness -- it depends on the question, so maybe if you ask the question we can assess --
Ms. Plaskett. So the question would be, can you identify any circumstantial or direct evidence that you may have obtained after being fired which would lead you to believe that the President has obstructed justice?
Mr. Comey. I don't think I can answer that for this reason, that I'm not aware of any evidence that might be responsive to that question that's not in the public realm.
Ms. Plaskett. Right.
Mr. Comey. And so the next part of it would require me to characterize tweets and statements and things, which I don't think I can do.
Ms. Plaskett. You can't characterize tweets? I characterize them.
Mr. Comey. That's what I'm saying. You're as qualified to do it as I, and so I don't think I ought to be in a position of trying to characterize things that are publicly available.
Ms. Plaskett. Well, I think because of your years of experience having prosecuted people, you would be able to identify what a jury would find as circumstantial better than most of us in this room. But if not, we can move on.
