The Trump administration had cited differing reasons for James Comey's firing which were later contradicted President Trump himself, after he acknowledged on May 11, that he fired Comey because of the Russian Federation probe.
Pressed on the issue Friday, Mr Trump said: "I'll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future".
Former FBI Director James Comey speaks during a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., June 8, 2017.
"I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter", Comey said.
Kasowitz also denied that Trump told Comey, "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty", as Comey claimed. It's so hard to know what to believe from this White House, but this clip indicates, at the very least, that there are serious communication problems within the upper strata of the Trump administration, and even within the First Family.
Claiming "total and complete vindication", US President Donald Trump has broken his Twitter silence to weigh in on fired Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey's closely watched testimony.
By referring to "total and complete vindication", the president was likely thinking of Comey's confirmation Thursday that, as NPR's Jessica Taylor reports, "there was no counterintelligence nor criminal investigation of Trump individually and that the president was not personally under investigation".
It was not clear exactly what Trump meant by "prevalent" - a point made in a flurry of Twitter postings by critics of the president.
Taylor Swift brings her albums back to Spotify, Pandora, Google Play
In a pop star gut punch heard 'round the world, Taylor Swift did her best to overshadow Katy Perry's release of Witness tonight. Swift hasn't released a new album since 1989 ― an unusually long hiatus, indicating that a new record could be in the works.
"It's a great question", Comey replied.
Trump also retweeted a comment from attorney Alan Dershowitz, who had written: "We should stop talking about obstruction of justice".
Collins also said she thought Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller, who now leads the Russian Federation probe, would be more likely than Congress to compel the release of any audio recordings.
On Friday, Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski criticized Comey as not "man enough" for having leaked the memo via his friend rather than doing it himself.
Even if Trump was being ambiguous by saying "I hope", Collins said "it was wrong of the president to even bring up the subject". Mr Comey's sacking is unlikely to provide the specific grounds for any impeachment of Mr Trump.
"He should give a straight yes or no to the question of whether or not the tapes exist", Collins said on CNN's "State of the Union".
Collins, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, which is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election, said Comey's motivation "may have been a good one". "So it confused me when I saw on television the president told me that he actually fired me because of the Russian Federation investigation".
Comments