He also denied that Comey's version of the events of a February 14 meeting, in which Trump said that he "hoped" that the FBI director could let go of an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
- President Donald Trump claimed Friday that James Comey cleared him of wrongdoing in his testimony to Congress.
Comey, who testified before a Senate committee on Thursday, asserted that President Donald Trump had fired him to interfere with an investigation of Russia's ties to the Trump campaign and reaffirmed the intelligence community's conclusion that Russian Federation meddled in the election.
The president declined repeatedly to say whether, as he suggested last month in a tweet, he had recordings of his conversations with Mr Comey.
"No I didn't say that", Trump insisted.
Legal experts have questioned Kasowitz's contention that Trump's private encounters with Comey should be considered privileged communications.
"The real issue is whether the president has a reasonable expectation of confidentiality when he fires somebody and then lies about the circumstances in which he did that, and that strikes me as a matter in which to ask that question is also to answer it", Benjamin Wittes, editor in chief of the Lawfare blog and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Yahoo News.
After his dismissal, Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee, he told a friend about his memos and asked him to leak the information about them to reporters.
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President Trump's lawyer Marc Kasowitz said the president "never told Mr Comey "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty" in form or substance", rejecting the key allegation.
Comey said he refused on all points, told senators of the detailed memos he had written after his conversations with Trump and said he hoped those conversations were taped because he is confident of their veracity.
And Trump tweeted early Friday morning mentioning "lies" and "so many false statements" that had "vindicated" him. Comey added, "Something about the way I was conducting it, the president felt created pressure on him that he wanted to relieve".
The "thank you for the opportunity" phrase is associated with the Apprentice, including the British version of the show, to the extent that one fired contestant took a stand by refusing to say it. Comey also bluntly accused the White House of spreading "lies, plain and simple".
"It was just an excuse, but we were very, very happy, and frankly, James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said, and some of the things that he said just weren't true".
In a written statement, Comey described his mounting discomfort in the weeks leading up to his dismissal as President Trump pulled him aside in person and phoned to press him on the probe into his campaign associates and possible collusion with Russian Federation. Comey's firing on May 9 set off a political firestorm, raising suspicions among Democrats and others that the White House was trying to blunt the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe. Instead, Trump let his lawyer do the talking for him.
He was referring to Comey's testimony that he sent an associate a memo he wrote about a one-on-one talk with Trump; the details emerged in The New York Times. "I respect the opinion of those who think he should come".
"I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter", Comey said.
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