President Donald Trump's son took to Twitter while former FBI Director James Comey testified before 15 members of the U.S. Senate on Thursday.

Donald Trump Jr., 39, tweeted out defenses of his father throughout Comey's testimony. Comey discussed the circumstances of his firing after questions circulated about whether Trump obstructed justice by trying to steer Comey away from investigating links between Trump officials and Russia.

Trump Jr. issued a series of retweets and tweets from his verified account (@DonaldJTrumpJr) that supported previous arguments by his father and White House officials proclaiming innocence and condemning attacks as "fake news."</s>WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced his nomination for the country’s next FBI director on Twitter early Wednesday.

Christopher Wray, “a man of impeccable credentials,” has secured the president’s vote.

Wray headed up the Justice Department’s criminal division from 2003 to 2005 under President George W. Bush and is currently a litigation partner at the DC-based law firm King & Spalding, where he chairs the firm’s Special Matters and Government Investigations Practice Group.

The news comes nearly one month after Trump fired James Comey, and one day before the former FBI director is set to testify.

In the much-anticipated congressional testimony, Comey is expected to dispute Trump’s blanket claim that he was told he was not under investigation multiple times, sources tell CNN.

This is a developing story; check back for updates and get the PIX11 News app to stay informed all day.</s>Former FBI director James Comey walks through a corridor on the way to a secure room to continue his testimony.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday broke his silence on Twitter following explosive testimony by fired FBI Director James Comey, declaring "total and complete vindication."

Trump's Twitter account had been quiet throughout Comey's testimony accusing the administration of spreading "lies." But a day after the closely watched hearing, Trump struck back with an early morning tweet: "Wow, Comey is a leaker."

Trump was expected to face journalists later Friday in a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is visiting the White House.

While Trump might feel vindicated, Comey's reputation as a truth-teller didn't seem to take a hit. In his testimony, Comey detailed months of distrust of the president and bluntly asserted that Trump had fired him to interfere with the probe of Russia's ties to the Trump campaign.

House Speaker Paul Ryan tried to brush off the conclusion as Trump being new to the White House, but Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican, said Congress needs to obtain any tapes the president might have of his dealings with the former FBI director. She called Comey an "honorable individual."

"I found him to be credible, candid and thorough," Collins said of Comey on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Also in his testimony, Comey revealed that he'd orchestrated the public release of information about his private conversations with the president in an effort to further the investigation.

Trump's tweet read: "Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication ... and WOW, Comey is a leaker."

Collins, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, which is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election, said Comey's motivation "may have been a good one." But, she said, he was wrong to leak his notes to the public and should have given that document to her panel.

Comey's testimony provided a gripping account of his interactions with Trump and underscored the discord that had soured their relationship.

He portrayed Trump as a chief executive dismissive of the FBI's independence and made clear that he interpreted Trump's request to end an investigation into his former national security adviser as an order coming from the president.

The ex-director's statement deepened questions about the basis for his May 9 dismissal and about whether Trump's actions constituted obstruction of justice. The veteran lawman expressed confidence that could be a matter ripe for investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, though he declined to offer an opinion on whether it met such a threshold.

Trump's private attorney, Marc Kasowitz, seized on Comey's admission that he had told Trump on multiple occasions that he was not personally under investigation and maintained the testimony made clear that Trump "never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone."

Kasowitz also jumped on Comey's revelation that he had released details of his private conversations with the president, casting the former FBI director as one of the "leakers" set on undermining the Trump administration.

Still, there was no doubt the veteran lawman made for a challenging adversary.

"It's my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation," Comey said toward the end of more than two hours of testimony before 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."

At one point he practically dared Trump to release any recordings of their conversations, a prospect the president once alluded to in a tweet.

"Lordy, I hope there are tapes," Comey said, suggesting such evidence would back up his account over the president's.

The disclosures that followed Comey's firing have raised questions about why Comey, known in government for an independent streak and a willingness to buck protocol, did not speak out publicly while on the job, or at least make his objections directly known to the president.

Discussing the meeting in which Comey says Trump asked him to back off Flynn, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California asked, "Why didn't you stop and say, 'Mr. President, this is wrong,'?"

"It'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."

Comey also made clear that political entanglement in law enforcement has cut across party lines.

During a discussion of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, Comey disclosed that then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, an Obama administration appointee, instructed him to refer to the issue as a "matter," not an "investigation."

"That concerned me because that language tracked how the campaign was talking about the FBI's work and that's concerning," he said. "We had an investigation open at the time so that gave me a queasy feeling."

Many Democrats still blame Comey for Clinton's loss, leading Trump to apparently believe they would applaud him for firing Comey. The opposite occurred, as the firing created a political firestorm that has stalled Trump's legislative agenda and taken over Washington.

Under questioning Thursday, Comey reaffirmed the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia meddled in the election.

"There should be no fuzz on this. The Russians interfered," Comey stated firmly. "That happened. It's about as un-fake as you can possibly get."

Trump has begrudgingly accepted that assessment. But he has also suggested he doesn't believe it, saying Russia is a "ruse" and calling the investigation into the matter a "witch hunt."

Associated Press writers Julie Bykowicz and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.</s>is reporting that James Comey told Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he didn’t want to be left alone with the president. Twitter snark followed almost immediately. Meanwhile, further reports say that Sessions recently offered to resign, and the White House, when asked, refused to say whether Donald Trump still has confidence in his attorney general.

Meanwhile, the hot news out of the White House, from the usual not-yet-indicted leakers, is that the furious and frustrated president is gearing up for the Comey testimony, which is expected to be broadcast on all the big four national networks. Yes, Trump is getting his twitter fingers ready, and anxious White House officials are expecting the worst. Via

And another scoop: As Washington prepares for the James Comey testimony Thursday, the Post is reporting that Dan Coats, the nation’s top intelligence official, told associates that Trump had asked him to intervene with Comey on the FBI’s Flynn-Russia investigation.

Trump keeps saying, or tweeting anyway, that his problem is with the media and so-called fake news, but, if you look closely, Trump’s real problem is that he’s fighting a losing war with his own administration. Via

Trump takes credit for Saudi Arabia’s move to cut off Qatar, even as Trump’s foreign policy team had been furiously trying to smooth the rift over. Did Trump not remember that Qatar is host to America’s most important military post in the Middle East? Via

Though Trump’s outrageous tweets have, in fact, outraged much of a nation, the pundits say they probably won’t have much impact on this week’s British election. That isn’t to say they haven’t become a serious headache for Theresa May. Via

The feud between Donald Trump and Sadiq Khan didn’t begin with the latest London terror attack. It has deep roots, and takes us back to the beginning.

If you’ve found yourself distracted of late, you should know that’s exactly what Senate Majority Mitch McConnell is hoping for as Senate Republicans, in yet another closed-door meeting, are trying to craft an Obamacare repeal bill. And it just might work. Via

From : It seems that the Democrats’ biggest problem is hypocrisy and that, according to Victor Davis Hanson anyway, progressive elites have become the Jimmy Swaggart of today. That’s what he said.

Big surprise: The big debate in the special election race in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District is much more about Washington than it is about Georgia. But in a Republican district, neither candidate was too eager to talk about Donald Trump. The

Bob Dylan released a recording of his Nobel acceptance speech, and it has a little bit of everything in it, including what seems to be an entirely made-up quote from Melville. Why would Dylan do that? It may be because he’s Bob Dylan. Via</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Director James 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 in explosive testimony that threatened to undermine Trump’s presidency.

“I was fired in some way to change, or the endeavor was to change, the way the Russia investigation was being conducted,” Comey testified under oath. “That is a very big deal, and not just because it involves me.”

Comey also accused the Trump administration of spreading “lies, plain and simple” about him and the FBI in the aftermath of his abrupt firing last month, declaring that the administration then “chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI” by claiming the bureau was in disorder under his leadership. And in testimony that exposed deep distrust between the president and the veteran lawman, Comey described intense discomfort about their one-on-one conversations, saying he decided he immediately needed to document the discussions in memos.

“I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I thought it really important to document,” Comey said. “I knew there might come a day when I might need a record of what happened not only to defend myself but to protect the FBI.”

The revelations came as Comey delivered his much anticipated first public telling of his relationship with Trump, speaking at a packed Senate intelligence committee hearing that brought Washington and parts of the country to a standstill as all eyes were glued to screens showing the testimony. The former director immediately dove into the heart of the fraught political controversy around his firing and whether Trump interfered in the bureau’s Russia investigation, as he elaborated on written testimony delivered Wednesday. In that testimony he had already disclosed that Trump demanded his “loyalty” and directly pushed him to “lift the cloud” of investigation by declaring publicly the president was not the target of the FBI probe into his campaign’s Russia ties.

Comey said that he declined to do so in large part because of the “duty to correct” that would be created if that situation changed. Comey also said in his written testimony that Trump, in a strange private encounter near the grandfather clock in the Oval Office, pushed him to end his investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia asked Comey the key question: “Do you believe this rises 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 actually tried to spur the special counsel’s appointment by giving one of his memos about Trump to a friend of his to release to the press.

“My judgment was I need to get that out into the public square,” Comey said.

Trump’s private attorney, Marc Kasowitz, seized on Comey’s affirmation that he told Trump he was not personally under investigation. Though Comey said he interpreted Trump’s comments as a directive to shut down the Flynn investigation, Kasowitz also maintained in his written statement that Comey’s testimony showed that the president “never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone, including suggesting that that Mr. Comey ‘let Flynn go.’”

The Republican National Committee and other White House allies worked feverishly to lessen any damage from the hearing, trying to undermine Comey’s credibility by issuing press releases and even ads pointing to a past instance where the FBI had had to clean up the director’s testimony to Congress. Republicans and Trump’s own lawyer seized on Comey’s confirmation, in his written testimony, of Trump’s claim that Comey had told him three times the president was not directly under investigation.

Trump himself was expected to dispute Comey’s claims that the president demanded loyalty and asked the FBI director to drop the investigation into Flynn, according to a person close to the president’s legal team who demanded anonymity because of not being authorized to discuss legal strategy. The president has not yet publicly denied the specifics of Comey’s accounts but has broadly challenged his credibility, tweeting last month 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.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California asked the question that many Republicans have raised in the weeks since Comey’s firing as one media leak followed another revealing Comey’s claims about Trump’s inappropriate interactions with him.

Discussing the Oval Office meeting where Comey says Trump asked him to back off Flynn, Feinstein asked: “Why didn’t you stop and say, ‘Mr. President, this is wrong,’?”

“That’s a great question,” Comey said. “Maybe if I were stronger I would have. I was so stunned by the conversation I just took it in.”

The hearing unfolded amid intense political interest, and within a remarkable political context as Comey delivered detrimental testimony about the president who fired him, a president who won election only after Comey damaged his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the final days of the campaign. Clinton has blamed her defeat on Comey’s Oct. 28 announcement that he was re-opening the investigation of her email practices. “If the election were on Oct. 27, I would be your president,” Clinton said last month.

Thursday’s hearing included discussion of that email investigation, as Comey disclosed that then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch instructed him to refer to the issue as a “matter,” not an “investigation.”

“That concerned me because that language tracked how the campaign was talking about the FBI’s work and that’s concerning,” Comey said. “We had an investigation open at the time so that gave me a queasy feeling.”

Many Democrats still blame Comey for Clinton’s loss, leading Trump to apparently believe they would applaud him for firing Comey last month. The opposite was the case as the firing created an enormous political firestorm that has stalled Trump’s legislative agenda on Capitol Hill and taken over Washington.

Under questioning Thursday, Comey strongly asserted the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia did indeed meddle in the 2016 election.

“There should be no fuzz on this. The Russians interfered,” Comey stated firmly. “That happened. It’s about as unfake as you can possibly get.”

Trump has begrudgingly accepted the U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia interfered with the election. But he has also suggested he doesn’t believe it, saying Russia is a “ruse” and calling the investigation into the matter a “witch hunt.”</s>WASHINGTON - President Trump will nominate former Justice Department official Christopher Wray for FBI director to replace James Comey, who was abruptly fired last month as he conducted an investigation into possible collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russia.

The president made the announcement early Wednesday morning via Twitter.

"I will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI," Trump tweeted. "Details to follow."

A former chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division from 2003 to 2005, Wray served during the administration of President George W. Bush. During his time in the government, Wray was a member of the administration's Corporate Fraud Task Force and oversaw the fraud prosecutions of former executives at Enron Corp.

Now in private practice, Wray is a partner in the law firm of King & Spalding, overseeing the firm’s government investigations practice. The unit represents companies and individuals in white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement matters.

Wray is a personal attorney for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a major supporter of Trump who is often mentioned as a possible future high-ranking administration post.

Wray represented Christie during the so-called "Bridgegate" controversy, in which three Christie aides were convicted of closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge to punish a New Jersey mayor who had opposed the governor. Christie was never charged with any wrongdoing.

If confirmed by the Senate, Wray would take over a job with global responsibilities. But the most prominent ongoing FBI investigation — the investigation into whether Trump associates coordinated with Russians trying to influence the 2016 presidential election by hacking Democrats — will continue to be managed by the Justice Department’s special counsel Robert Mueller.

Mueller, a former FBI director, was appointed to lead the Russia investigation last month following Comey's May 9 dismissal. Various congressional committees are also investigating.

Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director, said Wray’s greatest challenge — beyond the bureau’s far-flung investigative missions — will be an effort to wall off the FBI from political pressures that shadowed Comey's firing.

Comey is set to testify Thursday about his communications with President Trump, who allegedly pressed Comey to shut down the bureau’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. He is also expected to refute Trump’s previous assertions that Comey assured him three times that the president was not a subject of the FBI’s wide-ranging investigation, according to a person familiar with his actions.

“In the Enron case, (Wray) demonstrated that no interest was too big to prosecute,’’ Fuentes said, referring to Wray’s management of the complex corporate fraud prosecution. “I think people will recognize that and give him a chance.’’

By timing the announcement one day before former director Comey is due to testify, "clearly this is an effort by the president to try to distract attention from our hearings," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee on MSNBC. While Warner said he didn't know Wrap personally, he noted the former Justice official has a good reputation.

After a search that focused on political figures – including former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman – Trump went with a law enforcement professional for the post.

Ken Wainstein, former chief of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, described Wray as “an exceptionally strong choice.’’

“Chris Wray has an excellent record of public service,’’ said Wainstein, who also had been a candidate for the top FBI job. “He has seen the job and the Justice Department in all its missions. He was a line prosecutor. And he oversaw the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in the aftermath of 9/11, which is critical to deal with the counterterrorism challenges that exist now.’’

Wray’s selection also highlights an ironic supporting role the then-young Justice Department official played in a 2004 incident that vaulted Comey to national prominence.

After intervening in a late-night White House effort to persuade a seriously ill Attorney General John Ashcroft to reauthorize a secret warrantless surveillance program in his hospital room, Comey, who was then deputy attorney general, encountered Wray, who was criminal chief, in a Justice Department corridor. Rumors swirled that top officials — including Comey and then-FBI Director Robert Mueller – were preparing their resignations over the White House action.

According to the book, “Angler” which examined Dick Cheney’s vice presidency, Wray stopped Comey to relay a message: “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but before your guys all pull the rip cords, please give me a heads-up so I can jump with you."

While Wray doesn't have the "range of experiences" that Comey and Mueller before him brought to the FBI, he is "smart, serious, and professional," with a background in federal criminal law, said Jack Goldsmith, a former assistant attorney general who worked with Wray during the Bush administration.

"I think Trump’s firing of James Comey was a travesty," Goldsmith wrote on the Lawfare blog. "But Wray is a good choice, a much better choice than any name I previously saw floated, and a much better choice than I expected Trump to make."</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — For three hours, former FBI Director James Comey leveled an unrelenting attack on the credibility of the president of the United States.

The White House's statements were "lies, plain and simple." Comey took notes on their conversations because he worried the president "might lie" later. After a while, he said, he so distrusted the man running the country that he did not want to be left alone with him.

It was a riveting, televised portrait of President Donald Trump, one unrivaled in recent memory for its potential to undermine a presidency. Comey's message, delivered in meticulous detail, amounted to a challenge to lawmakers, the public and the special counsel now investigating possible links between Trump's campaign and Russia: Whose account do you believe — the nation's former top law enforcement official testifying under oath or a president with a record of skirting the truth on issues big and small?

The answer to that question ultimately may not impact the outcome of the FBI and congressional Russia probes, and it may not move Republican lawmakers any closer to a dramatic break from their party leader. But it could leave the president in a perilously weak political position not yet five months into his term.

"A president cannot communicate effectively if their trust tank is full of holes and credibility has leaked out all over the political landscape," said Matthew Dowd, who served as chief strategist for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign.

A Gallup poll conducted in April found that just 36 percent of Americans found Trump "honest and trustworthy" — down from 42 percent in February.

The White House and the president's personal lawyer vigorously vouched for Trump's integrity, saying he did not try to get the FBI to end the Michael Flynn investigation and also did not seek a loyalty pledge from Comey. Both were quick to note that Comey validated one Trump claim: that Comey had told him three times that he was not personally the target of the investigation.

"I can definitively say the president is not a liar, and I think it's frankly insulting that question would be asked," spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Comey himself is a controversial figure. He outraged Democrats last year with his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices, including the decision to publicly disclose the potential of new information 10 days before the election. During his final appearance on Capitol Hill as FBI director, he vastly overstated the number of emails that were uncovered late in the campaign, prompting the bureau to correct his testimony.

Still, it was telling that few Republicans who don't work for Trump stepped in to defend the president's version of his contacts with the former FBI director. The toughest questioning of Comey by GOP lawmakers on the Senate intelligence committee focused more on whether the interactions he described amounted to legal trouble for Trump than on whether he was telling the truth about the nine meetings and phone calls he had with the president.

Instead, some supportive GOP lawmakers simply argued that Trump's action were a result of well-meaning inexperience or dedication to his aides.

"I'm frankly proud of him for standing up for someone who was as loyal as Mike Flynn was throughout the campaign," Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., said of Comey's dramatic depiction of an Oval Office meeting in which Trump allegedly said he hoped the FBI would let the Flynn investigation go. Collins spoke after the prepared text of Comey's opening statement was released Wednesday.

House Speaker Paul Ryan also did not dispute Comey's assertions. He vouched for the importance of the FBI's independence, and excused Trump's blurring of that line as missteps by a man who isn't "steeped in the long-running protocols" that govern the relationship between the White House and the law enforcement agency.

"The president's new at this. He's new at government," Ryan told reporters on Capitol Hill as Comey's dramatic testimony unfolded. "He's learning as he goes."

Yet Trump's own track record — as president, a candidate and private citizen — make the questions about the veracity of his own words impossible for the White House to avoid. He memorialized his approach to accuracy in his 1987 book "The Art of the Deal," writing: "People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole."

Trump's shift from real estate mogul and reality TV star to political powerhouse was driven in part by his campaign to spread the lie that President Barack Obama was born outside the United States. He spent his first full day occupying the world's most powerful office inflating the size of the inaugural crowd and demanding that his advisers do the same. Last month, he created a voter fraud commission to investigate "millions of people who voted illegally," despite there being no proof of such fraudulent voting.

The president's abrupt firing of Comey on May 9 — and the White House's bungled handling of the controversial move — has intensified questions about Trump's credibility. At first, the White House cited a harsh memo about Comey's performance from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as the justification, though Trump later said he would have fired Comey regardless of what the Justice Department recommended.

When Comey allies began fighting back with negative stories about Trump in the press, the president issued a startling warning on Twitter: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"

The White House has avoided all questions about whether such tapes exist. But Comey confidently asserted that if there are recordings, they will back up his testimony.

"Lordy, I hope there are tapes," Comey said.

EDITOR'S NOTE — Julie Pace has covered the White House and politics for The Associated Press since 2007. Follow her at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.</s>President Trump has nominated Christopher A Wray as the FBI's new director following the sudden dismissal of James Comey.

Wray served from 2003 to 2005 at the Justice Department under Republican former President George W. Bush as an assistant attorney general in charge of its criminal division and oversaw the department's Enron task force.

Wray and Comey helped bring the case against Kenneth Lay, the former Enron chairman convicted in 2006. Also involved in the Enron matter was Robert Mueller, then FBI director and now special counsel named after Comey was fired to investigate the Russia affair, as well as Andrew Weissman, who is now working for Mueller.

The web of Enron connections underscores the reliance in Washington, even under a president who vowed to "drain the swamp," on an elite corps of corporate lawyers whose varied careers often intersect and who sometimes present conflict-of-interest...</s>Although there have been shifting explanations, Trump fired James Comey over the FBI investigations of Russian hacking in US prez poll.

Washington: Former FBI director James Comey rocked Washington Thursday in testimony before Congress on alleged efforts by President Donald Trump to influence the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.

The key issue before the Senate Intelligence Committee was whether Trump sought to obstruct the investigation in nine conversations with Comey this year, leading up to his dismissal of the FBI chief on May 9.

Here are the key points of what Comey had to say in his first public appearance since his ouster:

- 'Direction,' but no order to end probe –

Asked if Trump ever demanded the Russia investigation be shut down, Comey flatly replied "No".

But he said that Trump's request at a February 14 Oval Office meeting for him to ease the probe of former national security advisor Michael Flynn sounded like an order.

Trump said, Comey recalled, "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy."

"I took it as a direction. He's the president of the United States, with me alone, saying 'I hope this.'... I took it as this is what he wants me to do."

"I was so stunned by the conversation that I just took it in."

Comey said it was not up to him but instead the independent special counsel in the Russian probe, Robert Mueller, to decide whether Trump broke a law.

"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."

At the same time, he strongly suggested obstruction.

"It's my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation," he told senators. "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."

Comey recalled that Trump and the White House gave shifting explanations for why he was dismissed, first saying it was over his handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe last year, then saying it was the Russia investigation, and finally declaring Comey was a poor leader disliked by the FBI staff.

"The administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the work force had lost confidence in its leader. Those were lies, plain and simple."

Comey said his distrust of Trump prompted him to take meticulous notes immediately after each of their nine discussions this year.

"I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, and so I thought it really important to document," he said of one such occasion.

He was later surprised when Trump suggested he had taped the conversations.

"I've seen the tweet about tapes. Lordy, I hope there are tapes."

Under attack by Trump, Comey wanted to get his side of the story out. So he leaked his memorandums on the Trump discussions to the New York Times.

"I didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons," he said, instead asking a friendly law professor to share his written recollection of those conversations with a reporter.

"I asked him to, because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel."

Comey said there was no doubt, in his mind, about the Russian government's covert attempt to interfere in last year's presidential election. But Trump showed no interest.

"I don't remember any conversations with the president about the Russian election interference," he said.

"We're talking about a foreign government that using technical intrusion, lots of other methods, tried to shape the way we think, we vote, we act. That is a big deal."

Comey said Trump himself called him to a dinner on January 27, during which he asked him for a pledge of loyalty.

"He said, how about 6:30? I said whatever works for you, sir," Comey recalled.

"Then I hung up and called my wife and broke a date with her. I was supposed to take her out to dinner."

"That's one of the all-time great excuses for breaking it," quipped one of the senators at the hearing.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Marc Kasowitz plans to make a statement following the congressional testimony of former FBI Director James Comey, according to multiple reports.

Trump tasked Kasowitz late last month with responding to matters arising from various probes of Russian interference in the election.

This would be the first public appearance by Kasowitz.
James Comey, the former FBI Director who was dismissed by President Donald Trump last month, appears before the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Comey says he believes he was fired because of the FBI investigation into the possible collusion between President Trump's campaign team and Russia's interference in the 2016 elections.