Like a trailer that gives away too much of the movie, ex-FBI Director James Comey’s pre-released opening statement may have taken some of the air out of his live testimony; the most hotly-anticipated television event since the Dallas episode in which viewers learned who shot JR. Comey said he leaked his notes to the media through a friend, in part because, he “thought it might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.” Comey also indicated that he took notes after talking to Trump because “I was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our meeting.” And on the initial reasons the administration’s gave for his firing: “Those were lies, plain and simple.” As to whether Trump really taped the the now infamous and somewhat stunning dinner exchange, Comey said: “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” (Yeah, bigly.) And like every hearing in the recent past (and one imagines, for the foreseeable future), there was talk of Hillary’s email server. From WaPo: 7 takeaways from Comey’s extraordinary testimony.

+ Lawfare on the written testimony issued before the hearings: “Despite this sparseness, or maybe I should say because of it, it is the most shocking single document compiled about the official conduct of the public duties of any President since the release of the Watergate tapes.”

+ Perhaps the biggest surprise of the big day in DC was that Donald Trump didn’t live-Tweet the hearings. Well, actually, one Donald Trump did.