Texas Representative References Red Raiders-Longhorns During Discussion With FBI Director James Comey [Video]
During an exchange over the allegation that Russia interfered to help Donald Trump during his campaign against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Texas Representative Mike Conaway inserted the Texas Tech Red Raiders for...some reason.
Here's a transcript of the exchange between Rep. Conaway, who represents the 11th District (San Angelo, Midland, Odessa), and Director Comey. You can also watch it in the C-SPAN video clip above.
FBI Director James Comey: "Putin hated Secretary Clinton so much, the flip side of that coin was he had a clear preference for the person running against the person he hated."
Rep. Mike Conaway: "That might work on Saturday afternoon, when my wife's Red Raiders are playing the Texas Longhorns. She really likes the Red Raiders. But all the rest of the time ... logic is, that because he really didn't like candidate Clinton that he automatically liked Trump. That assessment's based on what?"
Comey: "It's based on more than that, but part of it is the logic. Whoever the Red Raiders are playing, you want the Red Raiders to win. By definition, you want their opponent to lose."
Conaway: "I know, but this says that he wanted both of them, he wanted her to lose, and him to win."
Comey: "It's inseparable."
SBNation attempted to explain exactly what Conaway was getting at with his football analogy:
Conaway seems to have been on the verge of arguing that supporting Trump/TTU doesn’t necessarily equate to rooting against Clinton/UT and that, when they’re not playing each other, it’s possible to feel the same way about both. But if the two are playing each other, being a TTU fan sort of has to mean wanting UT to lose...
The back-and-forth was a surprising moment in the nearly four-hour hearing, where the FBI director also refuted President Trump's accusation that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had wiretapped his home, Trump Tower.
The full hearing is available to watch at C-SPAN.