Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday shrugged off testimony of fired FBI Director James Comey and defended President Trump as a novice in the political field.
Former New York City U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was also fired by Trump, echoed Comey's statement, writing, "We can all agree with Jim Comey that, Lordy, we hope there are tapes". He told the panel he asked a friend to release a memo on a meeting in which Trump suggested he drop the Flynn investigation after Trump threatened on Twitter to release "tapes" of their conversations after firing him.
"The President also never told Mr. Comey, "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty" in form or substance".
Comey earlier told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he believed Trump had directed him to drop an FBI probe into the Republican president's former national security adviser Michael Flynn as part of the Russian Federation investigation.
Asked whether that February Oval Office discussion amounted to obstruction of justice, Comey said he expected that to be a matter for Mueller, the former FBI director who has taken over the Justice Department's investigation. Such an offence potentially could lead to Trump being impeached by Congress, although the Republicans who control the Senate and House of Representatives have shown little appetite to make such a move against him. That includes former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
"I didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel".
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. He wrote in a May 26 column for The Observer that, according to multiple "firsthand accounts", Rogers recently told NSA staffers "that President Trump asked him to discredit the Federal Bureau of Investigation and James Comey, which the admiral flatly refused to do".
White House Strikes Back at Comey, Says Trump 'Not a Liar'
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.
Discussing the meeting where Comey says Trump asked him to back off Flynn, Sen.
"My judgment was I need to get that out into the public square", Comey said.
"That's a great question", Comey said. "I was so stunned by the conversation I just took it in".
Many Democrats still blame Comey for Clinton's loss, leading Trump to apparently believe they would applaud him for firing Comey last month.
"That concerned me because that language tracked how the campaign was talking about the FBI's work and that's concerning", Comey said.
He added that Russia's aggressive attempts to upend the election were "about as unfake as you can possibly get".
Trump has begrudgingly accepted that assessment. But he has also suggested he doesn't believe it, saying Russian Federation is a "ruse" and calling the investigation into the matter a "witch hunt".
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