During his Congressional briefing organised by the powerful Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Thursday, Comey confessed that he leaked the information about his interaction with the U.S. president.
What do you do if you've just been fired as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the administration has chosen to "defame" you with "lies plain and simple", and you believe the president of the United States may be trying to obstruct justice?
In stunning public testimony Thursday, James Comey acknowledged arranging for a friend to leak details of a conversation Comey had with President Trump - the February 14 Oval Office encounter in which Trump said he hoped the FBI director could "drop" the bureau's investigation of fired national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to Comey's contemporaneous notes. If Trump enjoyed any moment of the hearing, it was surely when Comey said a memorable New York Times story was untrue.
"Richard M. Nixon was required to resign not for the crime but for the cover-up, obstruction of justice", he said.
President Donald Trump speaks to a Faith and Freedom conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Thursday in Washington.
WilmerHale, where Mueller also worked for the past three years, represents several people who could be caught up in the probe, including Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Comey's memos about his meetings with Trump are now in Mueller's hands.
Check out the rest of the video above to discover who else might be looking into possible obstruction of justice by the president. Topics he scrupulously avoided may give a hint of where the investigation is headed.
As a political matter, both Nixon and Clinton faced a House under control of the opposition party, while Trump has the benefit of a Republican House that would be far less eager to open an impeachment inquiry.
Trump has repeatedly raised the profile - and the stakes - of the congressional and criminal investigations through his actions.
Trump Calls on Qatar to Cease Funding Terror
The spat has led to one of the worst Gulf crises in decades, with suspended flights and regional ports closed to Qatari ships. Still, the Pentagon has been developing contingency plans in case there's any interruption, defense officials said.
Here's what we do know will happen next with the multiple investigations digging into what Russian Federation did to influence the 2016 presidential election, and into whether any Trump campaign associates collaborated with those efforts.
He also assailed Comey for leaking details of his conversations with the president to prompt the appointment of a special counsel, although they were not classified.
Trump's private attorney, Marc Kasowitz, seized on Comey's admission that he had orchestrated the public release of the information.
He also offered a blunt assessment Friday of Comey's testimony before the Senate intelligence panel.
"WOW, Mr Comey is a leaker!"
Under attack by Trump, Comey wanted to get his side of the story out.
Standing with the president of Romania, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partner, Mr Trump at last confirmed his commitment to the alliance's mutual defence pact, Article 5, uttering words he deliberately did not say when he spoke at Nato's gathering in Belgium last month.
"In a credibility battle between Trump and Comey, everybody knows Comey is going to win that war", said Adam W. Goldberg, who was an associate special White House counsel under Clinton during Kenneth W. Starr's investigation. Major legislation is stalled.
"The president feels completely vindicated and is eager to continue moving forward with his agenda, with the business of this country, and with this public cloud removed", Kasowitz said.
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