But even the steady, crisp rhythm of his answers could not hide what lay beneath the surface: Comey's dismissal by President Donald Trump last month wounded and angered him.
He also pointed to Comey's revelation that he had asked a friend to pass along to the press memos he had written documenting his interactions with Trump.
His account of demands for loyalty from the president, and of requests to end an investigation into an embattled adviser, are likely to sharpen allegations that Trump improperly sought to influence the FBI-led probe.
"Mr. Comey's remarks during his testimony confirmed the facts that I have stated for nearly a month now", Green said in a written statement.
Clinton, in one of her first public appearances since the election, argued that the incident was a "nothing burger".
Comey referred to that context in concluding that he was convinced he was sacked because of the Russian investigation.
"James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
"Comey made clear that he told Jeff Sessions he was uncomfortable about the meeting he had with the president and asked Sessions to protect him from being in such conversations again, and Sessions did nothing about that", said Matthew Miller, a former spokesman for the Justice Department during the Obama administration.
With a special counsel afoot, everything is fair game.
Meanwhile Thursday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump "absolutely" has confidence in Sessions.
James Comey's testimony actually helped Trump
As Comey was testifying , Trump, in a speech across town, told supporters their movement was "under siege" and vowed to fight on. His recollections of his nine meetings with Donald Trump would provide a path to impeachment.
"And my judgment was that I needed to get that out in the public square". "I think the record just moves further away from any credible claim of obstruction of justice".
Now those memos are a part of Mueller's investigation. Comey said he took Trump's words not as just a "hope" but as a "direction" from the highest official in the land - an order he was not about to obey. "Sure", he told Sen. "It's my judgment that I was sacked because of the Russian Federation investigation", Comey testified. "It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should've won". Rubio used his seven-minute stint to blunt allegations that the president's behavior toward Comey constituted an obstruction of the FBI's counterintelligence investigation of Russian Federation. Mr Comey said he didn't.
Comey's firing set the stage for the appointment of a special counsel, Robert Mueller, who has taken over the investigation.
In 2008, the federal appeals court in St. Louis upheld a longer prison term after a judge determined that a defendant had obstructed justice when he told someone "I hope and pray to God you did not say anything about a weapon". Trump fired him last month. The president changed his narrative several times, ultimately settling on "that Russian Federation thing".
Sen. Kamala Harris: Are you aware of any meetings between the Trump administration officials and Russian officials during the campaign that have not been acknowledged by those officials in the White House?But nobody carried the White House talking points Thursday.
Comey used his opening statement Thursday to detail the reasons why he believed the President was a liar and, then, throughout his testimony, countered Trump's accounts regularly. He gloats about Comey's verification that the president was not the target of an FBI counterintelligence investigation. "I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I thought it really important to document, " Comey said.
Kasowitz will give a statement following Comey's testimony.
Laura Donohue, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, said Trump's firing of Comey could also constitute obstruction of justice. Donald Trump Jr, 39, was live-tweeting as the Comey's testimony went along at the Capitol Hill.
Comey's testimony suggested that was the president's intent, said Donohue. "Trump's in the clear".
Likewise, the fact that the directors of national intelligence and the National Security Agency testified Wednesday they were never pressured to do anything inappropriate with respect to ongoing investigations should be enough to confirm that there was no crime.
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