Former FBI Director James Comey provides a dramatic and detailed account of his meetings with President Trump in an opening statement released the afternoon before his highly anticipated testimony to Congress Thursday.
In a statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee, which runs seven pages, Comey confirms reports that Trump asked him to “let go” of the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Comey also recounts multiple conversations with Trump in the statement, including one talk in which the president asked him to “lift the cloud” of the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the election and alleged ties between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.
In another conversation, which took place during a January dinner at the White House, Comey confirms that the president asked him for his loyalty.
“I need loyalty. I expect loyalty,” Trump said, according to Comey.
Comey said he didn’t respond to Trump’s remark, but the president returned to the subject later in the dinner, again repeating that he needed loyalty.
Ultimately, Comey allowed that Trump would get “honesty loyalty” from him.
“The term — honesty loyalty — had helped end a very awkward conversation and my explanations had made clear what he should expect,” Comey says in his testimony.
Comey reveals one previously unreported incident that took place on the morning of March 30, 10 days after Comey publicly confirmed the investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The president called Comey at the FBI, according to the testimony. Describing the Russia investigation as “a cloud,” he asked the director what could be done to “lift the cloud.”
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Comey will confirm Trump asked him to let Flynn investigation go https://t.co/MQwexKpVcc pic.twitter.com/3Ncr4k5vbI
— The Hill (@thehill) June 7, 2017
Just read Comey transcript. His interactions with POTUS were worse than what GOP feared happened between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch.
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 7, 2017
I read Comey statement and see loyalty demands, improper requests, and improper meetings. Others see Trump vindicated? Parallel universes.
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 7, 2017
From Comey. Pretty amazing–POTUS conceding his aides may have been guilty of collusion with hostile foreign power. pic.twitter.com/GHuRgNJGbV
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) June 7, 2017
I hope our FBI directors will be loyal, first and foremost, to the law and the truth. The U.S. government is not a crime family! You know? 😡
— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) June 7, 2017
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