Comey, Trump trade barbs
UNITED STATES: Ousted FBI chief James Comey and US President Donald Trump have accused each other of lying about their private encounters in the wake of dramatic Senate testimony that centred on whether the president sought to quash part of a federal probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
During 21⁄ hours of testimony yesterday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey said Trump’s shifting explanations for dismissing him were ‘‘lies, plain and simple’’.
He said he wrote detailed memos of their conversations because he feared that the president - who ultimately fired him on May 9 -would paint a false picture of their encounters.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, fired back hours later. He disputed Comey’s claim that Trump demanded loyalty from the FBI chief or directed him to back off a probe of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, which was part of the broader inquiry into Moscow’s role in the presidential campaign.
But he also said the former FBI chief’s testimony proved Trump was innocent of wrongdoing. ‘‘The president feels completely vindicated.’’
Senators at the hearing pressed Comey for more details about his encounters with Trump, particularly whether he thought that the president sought to obstruct justice. Comey declined to answer the question directly, saying he would leave that to Robert Mueller, another former FBI chief who is now special counsel leading the Russia probe and is in possession of Comey’s memos on the Trump conversations.
According to Comey, at a White House meeting in February just one day after Flynn was fired, Trump pressed him to ease up on his inquiry into the former national security adviser. Comey said he interpreted the request on Flynn to be ‘‘direction’’ on what he should do., though he made clear that he didn’t feel Trump was referring to the broader investigation into Russia.
Comey said he began the practice of documenting his encounters with Trump immediately after meeting him for the first time on January 6 in New York, two weeks before the inauguration. He said he wrote up their exchanges partly because of ‘‘the nature of the person’’.
‘‘I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I thought it was important to document it.’’
The White House responded as the hearing was still under way, with spokeswoman Sarah Sanders saying: ’’The president is not a liar.’’
It was Comey’s first public appearance since Trump dismissed him, following the release on Thursday of prepared remarks detailing a series of one-on-one conversations the two men had from January to April. Beyond the comments on Flynn, those interactions included Trump’s insistence at their first White House meeting on ‘‘loyalty’’.
Lawmakers will have to determine whether Comey’s testimony shows that Trump crossed any legal boundaries.
While Comey told senators he found the discussion with Trump ‘‘a very disturbing thing’’, he added that: ’’I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct.’’
Comey also told the committee that he felt Trump’s decision to fire him was confusing. ’’He had repeatedly told me I was doing a great job and hoped I would stay.’’
Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina said lawmakers were seeking to understand if Trump’s apparent efforts to weigh in on the investigation in any way affected the Russia probe. ’’We will establish the facts separate from rampant speculation.’’ - Bloomberg