Keller @ Large: James Comey's Testimony – Why You Should Watch
BOSTON (CBS) - Finding the time to sit down and watch a lengthy congressional hearing during a workday is problematic for most of you, I get that.
But if you can find a way to watch Thursday's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee by former FBI Director James Comey, I urge you to do so.
Watch Live: James Comey Testimony at 10 a.m.
We already know from an advance copy of his opening statement that Comey will tell the senators about multiple meetings with President Trump in which the president asked for Comey's "loyalty, " sought publicly exoneration from Comey of complicity in the Russia hacking scandal, and asked the FBI Director to drop the ongoing criminal probe of former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn.
Although he acknowledged that the Russia probe was on his mind when he fired Comey, President Trump and his allies have and will continue to wave off all this as a partisan witch hunt. The president's critics will claim that Comey is describing obstruction of justice, plain and simple.
But in the end, you will have to make up your own mind.
Unless tapes emerge of these meetings between Comey and the president, it will be one man's word against the others.
The multiple ongoing investigations may or may not turn up anything more than circumstantial evidence.
And as we saw back in the Watergate era, politicians and the press can rant and rave all they want, but the final verdict on a situation like this lies with the American people.
When they made it clear they had lost trust in President Nixon, it was all over for him.
Will that happen here?
No one knows for sure. But one thing is certain - it's never been more important for you to watch, listen, and be well-informed.