Fired FBI Chief Set to Testify About His Conversations With Trump
Trump ousted Comey last month, saying he was thinking of "this Russia thing" when he decided to dismiss the chief of the country's top criminal investigative agency while he was leading its Russia probe. Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee will mark his first public comments about the nine conversations he said he had with the president in the months before he was fired — three face-to-face meetings and six phone calls.
In an advance copy of his opening statement, Comey recounted how at a White House dinner in January shortly after Trump assumed power, the president told him, "'I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.' I didn’t move, speak or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence."
In another passage, Comey will testify that Trump asked him on February 14 to "let go" of the investigation into Michael Flynn, who had been fired as Trump's national security adviser the previous day for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russia's ambassador to Washington. “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” Comey quotes Trump as saying, “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
‘Lift the cloud’
Comey will say that in a March 30 phone call, Trump "described the Russia investigation as 'a cloud' that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country... He asked what we could do to 'lift the cloud.' I responded that we were investigating the matter as quickly as we could, and that there would be great benefit, if we didn't find anything, to having done the work well. He agreed, but then re-emphasized the problem this was causing him."
In his statement, Comey described five of his conversations with Trump. Lawmakers are likely to ask him about the other four contacts Comey said he had with the president. “I have not included every detail from my conversations with the president, but, to the best of my recollection, I have tried to include information that may be relevant to the committee,” Comey wrote in his seven-page statement.
After Comey's opening statement was released Wednesday, Trump’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, offered the president’s interpretation of Comey’s testimony: “The president is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the president was not under investigation in any Russian probe. The president feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda.”
Talk of obstruction of justice
Comey said he told Trump three times that he was not personally under investigation, but some opposition Democrats now say that Trump's requests to Comey to drop the Russia probe amounts to obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense similar to that leading to the 1974 resignation of former President Richard Nixon.
Kasowitz did not address any of Comey's claims that Trump attempted to curb the FBI's Russia investigation.
Within days of Comey's firing, Trump's Justice Department, over his objections, named a special counsel, Robert Mueller, another former Federal Bureau of Investigation director, to lead the criminal investigation into all aspects of Russia's meddling in the election aimed at helping Trump defeat former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump said at the time that thinks Mueller's appointment "hurts our country terribly, because it shows we're a divided, mixed-up, not-unified country."
Trump, a New York real estate mogul turned Republican politician, has been dismissive of the Russia probes, calling them "a witch hunt" and saying they are an excuse by Democrats to explain Clinton's stunning upset loss in the November election. He has denied any collusion with Russian officials.
Comey's Capitol Hill testimony is one of the biggest congressional hearings in years in Washington. Broadcast television networks, in an unusual occurrence, are dropping their daytime programming schedule to air his testimony. Some bars in Washington are opening early to show it, offering Russian-themed drinks to patrons.
WATCH: What does obstruction of justice mean?