Arab Times

Probe looked at 4 Americans:

North America

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Comey

Mueller

The FBI’s counterint­elligence investigat­ion into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia initially focused on four Americans and whether they were connected to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidenti­al election, former FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers during hours of closed-door questionin­g.

Comey did not identify the Americans but said President Donald Trump, then the Republican candidate, was not among them.

He also told the House Judiciary Committee that, contrary to Trump’s claims, he was “not friends in any social sense” with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is now leading the Russia investigat­ion. Trump has repeatedly portrayed the men as exceptiona­lly close as part of a long-running effort to undermine the investigat­ion and paint the lead figures in the probe as united against him.

“I admire the heck out of the man, but I don’t know his phone number, I’ve never been to his house, I don’t know his children’s names,” said Comey, who added that he had “never hugged or kissed the man” despite the president’s insistence otherwise. “A relief to my wife,” he deadpanned.

The committee released a transcript of the interview on Saturday, just 24 hours after privately grilling the fired FBI chief about investigat­ive decisions related to Hillary Clinton’s email server and Trump’s campaign and potential ties to Russia.

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