James Comey during previous testimony when he was still FBI director.
In testimony Thursday before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Comey bluntly portrayed Trump as a liar who had “defamed” both Comey and the bureau as federal agents were ratcheting up their investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates were involved.
Responding to Trump’s specific allegation that the FBI was in chaos under Comey’s leadership, the former director said that “those were lies, plain and simple.”
The director’s testimony amplified questions about whether Trump tried to obstruct justice.
Comey said Trump asked him to drop an open criminal investigation into Flynn, a stalwart campaign surrogate who was fired in February after not fully disclosing his contacts with Russian officials. Comey added Thursday that, during a private dinner with the president in January, Trump had demanded Comey’s loyalty.
He said he was confused and concerned with Trump’s demand for loyalty after the president had repeatedly praised Comey’s leadership and had promised to keep him at the helm. Comey described Trump’s efforts to gain loyalty as “looking to get something in exchange for granting my request to stay in the job.”
Sitting at a brown wooden table in front of 15 senators, Comey called the president’s direction to drop the Flynn investigation “a very disturbing development.”
President Donald Trump.
He said he could not comment whether the investigation had expanded since his firing in May.
Despite Trump’s claims, Comey promised the public Thursday that “the FBI is honest, the FBI is strong, and the FBI is, and always will be, independent.”
The former director contended he did nothing wrong at the FBI. He said he was fired because the Russia investigation was “irritating” the president, a justification Trump himself acknowledged in an interview with NBC.
Comey’s Thursday remarks followed the public release of prepared testimony Wednesday from the former FBI director detailing five interactions with Trump.
Comey had logged these interactions in notes he made right after the meetings. In one contemporaneous memo, Comey detailed a Feb. 14 Oval Office meeting where Trump allegedly said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
Asked by lawmakers Thursday why he hadn’t taken a more proactive stance after Trump’s alleged statements, Comey said he had no good answer.
“I was so stunned by the conversation that I just took it in,” he said.
On Thursday, Comey said he had never detailed his past interactions with Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama but that, with Trump, “I was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our meeting.”
“I knew there might come a day when I needed a record of what happened,” Comey continued.
He further expressed hope that the president’s May tweet suggesting there were recordings of the Trump-Comey conversations was true, saying they would further cement his claims.
“Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Comey said.
James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
Comey said Thursday that he had passed along his detailed memos concerning Trump to a colleague, who had then provided them to the press. Comey said he looked to make Trump’s private conversations public in hopes that the Department of Justice would appoint a special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation.
“As a private citizen, I felt free to share that,” he told the committee. “I thought it was very important to get it out.”
Shortly after these memos were detailed in The New York Times, former FBI Director Robert Mueller was appointed to run the Russia inquiry, a pick cheered by members of both parties, including Vermont’s congressional delegation.
On Thursday, Comey praised Mueller, his former boss, and said he gave Mueller his memos to assist with the special investigation.
Some eyes were trained on Trump’s Twitter account Thursday morning, expecting the president to unload on Comey throughout the hearing. Instead, at a conference of faith leaders in Washington, Trump vowed to “never, ever give up.”
“We know the truth will prevail,” Trump added. “Nothing worth doing ever came easy.”
In a statement, Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, reiterated Trump’s innocence and accused Comey of improperly leaking information to the press.
“We will leave it to the appropriate authorities to determine whether this (sic) leaks should be investigated,” Kasowitz said.
Trump spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to Comey’s allegation of lying by saying: “I can definitively say the president is not a liar, and frankly I’m insulted by that question.”
Vermont’s two U.S. senators highlighted Comey’s testimony in statements Thursday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. File photo by Jasper Craven/VTDigger
“Unfortunately, most people would agree with Mr. Comey,” Sanders said in a statement. “On issue after issue after issue, Trump has blatantly lied. Dangerously, this diminishes the office of the president and our standing in the world.”
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., also put faith in Comey’s Thursday statements.
Leahy said that “you’ve not seen anybody come out today and disagree with Comey.” Leahy has been concerned with the independence of the Russia investigation for months, and he has been especially interested in the role being played by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
During Sessions’ confirmation process before the Senate Judiciary Committee, both Leahy and U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., asked Sessions whether he had been in contact with Russian officials during the campaign. Sessions said no, a claim that was later proven false in a March report from The Washington Post.
After the Post story, Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, but he was involved in the decision to fire Comey. During Comey’s testimony Thursday, he said he had expected Sessions to recuse himself, saying the bureau had “facts I can’t discuss in an open setting that would make his continued involvement in a Russia investigation problematic.”
Leahy and Franken have written three letters to the FBI seeking investigation of Sessions’ role in the Russia probe. Leahy said late Thursday that he hasn’t received a response from the FBI, adding, “We want to know if Sessions is still misleading the Congress.”
“My concern is not just how badly the president may have screwed up — or how badly Jeff Sessions screwed up — but how involved is Russia in our government?” Leahy said. “It’s bad enough we’ve got the Koch brothers, and people like that, because of dark money. They manipulate the government. But now, if we have a country that is totally opposed to our ideal manipulate us, we have a real problem.”
“This may be the tip of the iceberg,” Leahy said of Comey’s testimony, adding that he is looking forward to asking Sessions some questions at his upcoming Appropriations hearing Tuesday to discuss the Justice Department budget. Leahy is the vice chairman of Appropriations and will have time to touch on Russia.
“I have many important questions for him to answer,” Leahy said in a statement.
In a later interview, Leahy said Sessions “should also be coming to the Judiciary Committee to answer questions. I think (Chairman Charles) Grassley will probably want Sessions and Comey to come at some point. The Judiciary Committee isn’t doing its job if we don’t talk to them.”
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