Hearing highlights

Key moments in former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony Thursday

■ Comey asserted Thursday that President Donald Trump fired him to interfere with his investigation of Russia’s role in the 2016 election and its ties to the Trump campaign.

“It’s my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation,” Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I was fired in some way to change, or the endeavor was to change, the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal, and not just because it involves me.”

■ Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia asked Comey, “Do you believe this arises to obstruction of justice?”

“I don’t know. That’s Bob Mueller’s job to sort that out,” Comey responded, referring to the newly appointed special counsel who has taken over the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.

■ In a startling disclosure, Comey revealed that after his firing he had actually tried to spur the special counsel’s appointment by giving one of his memos about Trump to a friend of his to leak to the press.

“My judgment was I need to get that out into the public square,” Comey said. Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz fired back: “Mr. Comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers.”

■ Trump has not yet publicly denied the specifics of Comey’s accounts but has broadly challenged his credibility, tweeting last month that Comey “better hope there are no ‘tapes’” of the conversations. “Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Comey remarked at one point Thursday, suggesting such evidence would back up his account over any claims from the president.

■ Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked Comey why he did not protest the president’s request, as reported by Comey, that he drop any investigation of national security adviser Michael Flynn. “Why didn’t you stop and say, ‘Mr. President, this is wrong,’?” she said. “That’s a great question,” Comey replied. “Maybe if I were stronger I would have. I was so stunned by the conversation I just took it in.”