I swear Trump is a liar
Now President could face impeachment after shock Comey testimony
SACKED FBI boss James Comey has lashed President Trump and his aides, accusing them of defaming him and lying to America.
In his eagerly awaited televised testimony to a Senate committee yesterday, the former intelligence chief said he thought he had lost his job because of his investigation into alleged Russian manipulation of the US election.
And he believed Mr Trump had directed him to drop the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Although Mr Comey did not directly accuse the President of obstructing justice, his dramatic two-hour testimony is certain to increase pressure for Trump to be impeached. Bookies Ladbrokes is now offering 4/7 on this or resignation before the end of his first term.
Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington, Mr Comey said: “Although the law requires no reason at all to fire an FBI director, the administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying that the organisation was in disarray, poorly led and that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader.
“Those were lies plain and simple. And I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them and I am so sorry that the American people were told them.”
The White House was forced to issued an unprecedented statement saying: “The President is not a liar.”
Mr Trump watched in the White House dining room with legal teams and close advisers as Mr Comey gave his evidence.
The ex-FBI boss confirmed Mr Trump was not being investigated personally while he had been in charge but he was careful to say that may no longer be the case. Asked whether he believed Mr Trump colluded with the Russians he replied: “It is a question I don’t think I should answer in an open setting.” When questioned why he recorded all the meetings in writing immediately after his dealings with the President, Mr Comey said he had a “gut feeling” Mr Trump might lie about what happened. In a written statement before the hearing, Mr Comey said that a week after the inauguration he was summoned to the White House for a one-on-one dinner. Mr Trump asked whether he would promise his allegiance. The FBI director refused, saying instead he would always be honest with the President. Mr Trump
then asked if it would be “honest loyalty”, to which the FBI director said: “You will have that.”
On February 14 he was again summoned to the White House where, after ensuring no one else was in the room, Mr Trump asked him to stop the investigation into Flynn’s secret meetings with Russian officials.
Yesterday Mr Comey told senators he was taken aback when the Presi- dent told Attorney General Jeff Sessions, White House adviser Jared Kushner and others to leave before he brought up the subject of Flynn.
“Why did he kick everyone out of the Oval Office?” Mr Comey asked.
“That to me as an investigator is a very significant fact.”
Mr Comey also said that when Mr Trump told him he “hoped” the Flynn matter could be settled, a phrase out of English history came to mind. “It rings in my ears of ‘Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?’,” he said, misquoting words purportedly said by Henry II about Thomas Becket in the 12th century.
Asked why he didn’t tell Mr Trump this pressure over Flynn was wrong, Mr Comey responded: “Maybe if I was stronger I would have.”
In his written testimony, Mr Comey said: “I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the President was an effort to obstruct.
“I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning. But that’s a conclusion I’m sure the special counsel will work towards, to try and understand what the intention was there and whether that’s an offence.”
Mr Comey said he passed on details of his meetings with Mr Trump to spark a special investigation. After he was sacked, the President had goaded him on Twitter, calling him a “showboat” before adding: “James Comey better hope there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press.”
Questioned about Trump’s public statement, the former director replied: “Lordy, I hope there are tapes”, indicating it would back up his testimony.
Yesterday Mr Comey described how details of his private memos about his one-on-one conversations came to light. He said: “There might be a tape. And my judgment was, I needed to get that out into the public square.
“And so I asked a friend of mine to share the content of that memo with a reporter.”
Last night Mr Trump’s lawyer disputed Mr Comey’s evidence, accused him of making “unauthorised disclosures” and said the hearing established Trump wasn’t not being investigated for collusion or obstruction.
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