Comey testimony as it happened: Trump's lawyer hits back at fired FBI director and says he could be investigated
The Independent will be covering his testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee live
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Your support makes all the difference.Former FBI Director James Comey is due to give evidence to the Senate Intelligence Committee about conversations he had with President Donald Trump and whether the former businessman pressured him to drop an investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
The committee has already released his prepared opening statement in which he will confirm under oath that Mr Trump tried to get him to drop the probe into whether General Flynn, who was forced to resign two weeks after the inauguration, had met with Russian officials during the campaign to discuss economic sanctions imposed by Barack Obama.
He will also testify about a pair of phone calls with Mr Trump where he had reportedly complained to him about the FBI's investigation into his campaign team's links with Russia, calling it a "cloud" looming over the presidency and reportedly urged mr comey to state publicly that the President himself was not under investigation.
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He goes on to bring up the fact that the Intelligence chiefs who appeared yesterday did not give many answers - that annoyed Democrats
Mr Warner ends by saying that the investigation is not "fake news" - Mr Trump's favourite refrain
Mr Comey is sworn in and says he’s not going to repeat the statement released yesterday by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Mr Comey says shifting explanations for why he was fired "confused me and concerned me". Mr Trump had repeatedly told him that he was doing a good job, he says.
Mr Comey: "I want the American to know this truth...The FBI is honest. The FBI is strong. And the FBI is and always will be independent"
In a pointed moment, Mr Comey tells his former colleagues he is “so sorry” he wasn’t able to say goodbye to them.
Mr Comey says the special counsel’s office did not review or edit his written testimony.
Comey says that "not to his understanding" was the President trying to get him to close the whole Russia investigation
But in terms of Michael Flynn, Mr Comey says Flynn - at that time when Trump asked Mr Comey to ‘let Flynn go’ - was in legal jeopardy.
Comey: "I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the President’s words were an effort to obstruct justice," adding that the special counsel’s office will work to find out if it was an offence.
Mr Comey did call that interaction with the President "disturbing".
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