President Donald Trump said Friday he is willing to testify under oath about his interactions with former FBI Director James Comey and accused the latter of being untruthful during his testimony in Capitol Hill on Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday boasted of the GOP's accomplishments under Trump thus far, and promised more to come, making no mention of Comey in a speech. Mike Conaway and Adam Schiff asked the White House to definitively say whether or not there are any tapes and if there are, to hand them over to the intel committee.
Trump branded Comey a "leaker" for indirectly providing to reporters the contents of memos he wrote after their private conversations.
"No collusion, no obstruction", Trump told a White House press conference in reference to the twin controversies dogging his administration - accusations his aides colluded with the Russian effort to tilt the vote, and that he sought to block a probe related to the matter.
The Senate judiciary committee, meanwhile, sent a request to Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman for Comey's memos. The House intel panel is in turn requesting Comey himself to provide any memos still in his possession.
"[The hearing] was an excuse by the Democrats, who lost an election they shouldn't have lost", Trump said in the White House rose garden during the joint news conference.
Richman confirmed to multiple news outlets Thursday that he was the "friend" whom Comey enlisted to leak the memo to the press.
During nearly three hours of statements Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey described himself as "stunned" by Trump's "very disturbing" and "very concerning" behavior towards him.
Tehran attacks mastermind killed - Iranian minister
Two of the attackers eventually detonated explosive vests themselves, while the others were shot dead by security forces. Iran has said five Iranians, who had joined IS and travelled to its Iraq and Syria bastions, carried out the attack.
Trump cryptically refused to say whether those private exchanges were taped - a matter at the heart of the conflicting accounts of what passed between them at a time when Comey was leading an FBI investigation into Russia's interference in the presidential election and its ties to the Trump campaign.
Comey implied that Trump fired him for moving forward with the Russian Federation investigation, despite the president asking for Comey's "loyalty".
And it comes a day after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a letter that he would be appearing before the committee on Tuesday to answer questions raised by Comey's recent testimony. Comey says that Trump tried to convince him to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn; Trump says that he didn't. "And some of the things that he said just weren't true", Trump said. "I mean, I will tell you I didn't say that". Others, however, have argued that would be obstruction of justice. "He should give a straight yes or no to the question of whether or not the tapes exist", Collins told CNN's "State of the Union". He noticed the grandfather clock in the Oval Office, and the Navy stewards, and the time Trump called his cell phone when he was getting into a helicopter with the head of the D.E.A., and how he once had to return a call from the President through the White House switchboard.
"It crossed a boundary that the president should not have crossed".
Comey also spoke about Trump asking him for his loyalty, which the president denied Friday. "We didn't discuss it", Trump said, and then, after saying he'd be open to accommodating Romania, gestured over to Iohannis. "Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath?"
"Well, I didn't say that". Ultimately, Comey indicated he wasn't sure why Trump fired him, but what frosted him was Trump's claim that Comey was unpopular within the bureau.
USA lawmakers will get another chance to hear from a top administration official, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, when he testifies Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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