Trump looking for loyalty: Comey

Former FBI Director James Comey will testify that U.S. President Donald Trump sought his “loyalty” and asked what could be done to “lift the cloud” of investigation shadowing his administration, according to prepared remarks released ahead of his appearance on Capitol Hill today.

Comey, who is scheduled to appear before the Senate intelligence committee, will also tell lawmakers that he informed Trump he was not personally under investigation.

Comey will say that the FBI and Justice Department were reluctant to state that publicly “because it would create a duty to correct, should that change.”

Comey’s testimony will be his first public comments since Trump abruptly fired him on May 9. At the time of his firing, Comey had been overseeing the federal investigation into possible ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia’s election meddling, outraging Democrats who claimed the president was interfering in an active probe.

The former director’s testimony details several meetings and phone calls he had with Trump following the election. Comey describes at length a Feb. 14 meeting in the Oval Office in which he believed Trump asked him to drop any investigation of fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.

“He then said, ‘I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go,’” Comey says, according to the prepared remarks. “I replied only that ‘he is a good guy.’”

The seven-page remarks reveal Comey’s uneasiness with Trump, who appeared to disregard the FBI’s traditional independence from the White House.

Some Republicans are expected to press Comey on why he did not raise his concerns publicly or resign.

Among the encounters Comey describes is a Jan. 27 dinner at the White House. He says that after Trump asked him if he wanted to remain as FBI director, the president declared: “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty.”