Kate Kramer’s was the only audible voice in a crammed Washington, D.C., bar where silent observers stood shoulder-to-shoulder and watched television screens showcasing the hottest show in town.
Kramer, who is short with thick black glasses, could barely glimpse a view of the screens, but she could hear and talk just fine.
“Thank God for that,” Kramer exclaimed aloud when former FBI Director James Comey begins his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee by vowing to not repeat his opening statement that had posted online a day earlier.
Kramer pre-read Comey’s testimony, so she reserved her reaction for unexpected moments, like when Comey, recounting his interactions with President Trump, said the president and others in his administration had told “lies” when they described the FBI as being in disarray.
“Yeah!” Kramer shouts when Comey affirmed her opinion of Trump.
She cackled and hunched her head over her cell phone, where her Facebook account is exposed and she frequently updated her status as a play-by-play of Comey’s testimony.
Kramer, wearing an “equality” t-shirt with the tag hanging outside the back of her neck, told the Washington Examiner she voted for Hillary Clinton and she’s gleefully surprised that Comey, once a villain to her, is proving himself to be “a stand-up guy.”
“It’s a little bit of an emotional whiplash, that’s what I am experiencing,” Kramer explains of her demonstrative behavior. “This scene doesn’t make sense at all. I have been in D.C. my whole life and this is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.”
There were scenes like this all across the nation’s capital, and even in other parts of the country — perhaps without the same intensity — as Comey delivered his much-anticipated account of his conversations with Trump before he was dismissed by that same man.
At Union Pub, a sports bar just steps from the Hart Senate Office Building where Comey was speaking, bartenders had planned to dispense a free round of drinks whenever Trump tweeted. But a flat screen posted to a wall in the bar showed Trump’s Twitter feed never changed.
“I am shocked, but not upset, that Trump hasn’t tweeted,” Kramer says.
“I don’t drink, but I thought this idea was hysterical, so I had to come to this.”
Others at Union Pub also just seemed happy to be there, lucky to be missing work for a spectacle, sure, but also watching a historical political moment of potentially significant consequence.
Two young men in suits — who asked not to be named — played hooky, skipping a Foreign Relations Committee hearing at the Capitol at which they were supposed to be representing lawmakers.
Gerard Wayans, an out-of-towner and University of Miami student, came to D.C. to see friends. He heard about the Union Pub event online, and decided a politically-minded gathering like this would never occur in Florida, where the “weather is too nice” for people to care.
“This is absolutely perfect,” Wayans told The Washington Examiner. “It’s great for the city to come together like this. Whether you are in support of the president or in opposition, this is a good way for people to think about what matters. This is a historic piece of testimony by a patriotic American who has important things to say.”
Another visitor to the district, Brian Garcia, spent the final leg of his road trip from Maine in D.C. before heading back to California. Having never visited the district, he saw the opportunity to get a taste of the city by stopping by Union Pub to watch Comey’s testimony.
“Part of it is for the festivities, but I’ve always thought that there are things the government kind of hides,” Garcia said. “For Comey to come out and go public on things that people want to cover up, I’m interested in that.”
Geoff Snowman said he and a few friends decided Wednesday to come to Union Pub, which was far busier than he expected.
Snowman said Comey’s testimony was a historic event that could lead to many different outcomes depending on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Snowman added he was watching Comey’s testimony intently, though he doubted the former FBI director would produce a “smoking gun.”
“One of the things I’m curious to see is if the GOP is going to stick with the ‘there’s nothing to see here’ line or finally start taking this seriously because I think it is very serious,” Snowman said. “I certainly thought that what we saw last night was not a slam dunk obstruction of justice, but I think it’s just one more piece of evidence. Sometimes there’s smoke without fire, but there’s an awful lot of smoke if there is no fire.”
Further away from Capitol Hill, the scene was different — but no less engaged — at Shaw’s Tavern, where there was a line that stretched out the door for a chance to watch Comey and try menu items made especially for the moment.
Alongside the avocado toast, caesar salad and club sandwiches normally served there, lucky eaters could also choose an “FBI sandwich” — fried chicken with “top secret” sauce — from the “Comey Covfefe” special menu.
“This is not just brunch,” a threesome of middle-aged women said together, as they sit at a table on an outdoor porch watching Comey’s testimony. “This is important.”
The women, all politically attuned D.C. lifers who missed work for the hearing, dub themselves “the sisters of the resistance,” and they seem to speak for each other.
“I have been to inaugurations, and inaugural balls, and I have been to many White House Correspondents Dinners, and this is by far the most D.C. thing I have ever done,” one of the women said. “I feel like ‘take me, Jesus, I am ready now.’ This is peak D.C.”
At both Union Pub and Shaw’s Tavern, all of the attendees interviewed by the Washington Examiner declared themselves to be Democrats, and many of them profess to the weirdness of rooting for Comey, who many had once condemned for his handling of Clinton’s email server investigation.
“In a way, Comey is still kind of a villain in this story,” says Nick Murphy, a 42-year-old liberal on vacation from Indianapolis wearing a blue sleeveless shirt at Union Pub.
“He is a good man who made a bad decision in the election, but you need to give him credit for the strength of his convictions. I am not going to lie. There was a part of me happy Comey was fired, but I also saw him as a bulwark against Trump. He could have provided stability to an unstable situation, and the president made a wild misjudgment by thinking Democrats would take his side just because he fired Comey.”
As Comey’s testimony wound down, viewers were reflective on what it all meant. They agreed the hearing was an important moment, but they were unsure of what it would lead to and how they would remember being here to witness it.
Kramer, the vocal young women at Union Pub, was caught off-guard when a reporter asked if Comey’s testimony mattered. She acknowledged no matter how damning Comey’s recollections of Trump’s behavior relating to the FBI’s Russia investigation, Republicans who control both chambers of Congress have outsized influence in deciding what to do about it.
“That is a question that I hadn’t considered and no one had asked me, and it is something I had been completely naive about,” Kramer says. “It’s terrifying to know none of this may matter. Thanks for bringing it up. So now, my answer is: I think this is a total waste of time, and I am glad I am having fun, and I don’t think anything will happen because of it [Comey’s testimony].”
