Trump and aides turn their fire on former Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey

During nearly three hours of frank statements Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey described himself as "stunned" by Trump's "very disturbing" and "very concerning" behavior in several meetings.

President Donald Trump's private lawyer plans to file a complaint against former FBI Director James Comey with the Senate judiciary committee and Justice Department Inspector General for leaking memos according to reports.

Recounting a February 14 White House meeting where Trump pressed the director to drop the FBI's inquiry into national security adviser Michael Flynn, Comey said a decision was made not to report the incident to Sessions.

The testimony would serve to strengthen Mr Comey's credibility with congress, Mr Gerhardt said, possibly at the expense of the president.

Trump's lawyer showed an equal devotion to dissembling. In early March, a week after Sessions recused himself from the Russian Federation probe, the Huffington Post reported on a "likely" third meeting between Sessions and Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel near the White House.

"No I didn't say that", Trump stated abruptly, taking questions at a joint press conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in the Rose Garden.

"One hundred percent", Trump said when asked about his willingness to deliver sworn testimony. "He is a good guy I hope you can let this go". I'll tell you about it over a very short period of time. Years from now, people will have forgotten much about the scandal surrounding the president right now.

Trump's personal lawyer in relation to the Russian Federation probes, Marc Kasowitz, has indicated he'll file complaints with both the Department of Justice and the Senate Judiciary Committee related to Comey's decision to feed information about his Trump memos to the New York Times via an intermediary. If there are tapes, the committee asked McGahn to turn them over by June 23.

The paper reported Trump had asked Comey to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

President Trump slammed James Comey as a "leaker" and a liar on Friday, "100%" committing to testify under oath to refute Comey's charges while refusing to say if he recorded their conversations. While Comey said he would welcome the release of tapes, Trump and aides refuse to say whether such tapes exist. It was a forceful endorsement of this week's move by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to cut off ties to Qatar, but a very different message from the one delivered just an hour before by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He testified that he made a decision to share the memo after seeing the president tweet about the possible existence of tapes of their conversations.

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

Bob Inglis, a Republican former congressman who voted to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998, suggested Trump might be in particularly hot water.

When asked why he had felt the need to write memos about his meetings with Trump when he didn't do the same after meetings with other officials, Comey suggested three main reasons: circumstances (the president had insisted on meeting Comey alone); the sensitive nature of the investigation; and Trump's own behaviour.