Trump stokes interference fire

TO GRILLING COMEY ON THREE OCCASIONS US president wanted to know if he was the subject of ongoing investigations.

Donald Trump asked his now-fired FBI director on three occasions whether he was the target of ongoing investigations, he said on Thursday, stoking allegations of presidential interference.

The US president also acknowledged that Russia was on his mind when he made the decision to sack James Comey, who had been heading a probe into suspected Russian influence in the 2016 election.

“When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,” he said in an interview with NBC, appearing to link Comey’s firing with the investigation.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that Trump pressed Comey for a pledge of loyalty over dinner only a week after his inauguration, according to an account by two associates of the lawman.

Comey, they said, declined to make such a pledge but told Trump he would always give him “honesty”.

The Times said White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed the account, saying Trump would “never even suggest the expectation of personal loyalty, only loyalty to our country and its great people”.

The Times said it was not clear whether the dinner was the same one that Trump described in the NBC interview in which the president acknowledged asking Comey whether he was the subject of a counter-intelligence probe.

“I actually asked him, yes. I said, ‘If it’s possible would you let me know, am I under investigation?’

“He said, ‘You are not under investigation,’” Trump recounted, repeating an assertion made when the White House announced Comey’s firing on Tuesday.

“All I can tell you is I know that I’m not under investigation. Me. Personally. I’m not talking about campaigns. I’m not talking about anything else. I’m not under investigation.”

The other two times Trump said he asked Comey whether he was under investigation were in telephone conversations.

Trump’s comments raised questions about whether he had acted inappropriately and whether Comey had broken government guidelines in assuring him he was not under investigation. – AFP