mr. comey, thank you for agreeing to testify as part of this committee's investigation into russia. beenlize this hearings has the focus of a lot of washington in the last few days. the truth is many americans may be tuning in today probably have not focused on every twist and turn of the investigation. i would like to briefly describe, from this senator's standpoint but we already know and what we are investigating. to be clear, this investigation is not aboutrelitigating the election. is not about democrats versus republicans. we are here because a foreign adversary attacked us right here at home, plain and simple. not by guns or missiles, but by foreign operatives seeking to hijack our most important democratic process, on presidential election. russian spies engaged in a series of online cyber raids and a broad campaign of disinformation. all ultimately named at sowing chaos to undermine public faith in our process, in our leadership, and ultimately in ourselves. that is not just this senat

mr. comey's account. well, the president threatened mr. comey with the release of tapes of their conversation. presumably, that includes the conversation when president trump asked director comey to, quote, let go, unquote, of the flynn investigation. it's awfully curious that no one from the president's team will either confirm or deny the existence of the tapes. when the tapes are the only way to prove that mr. comey's testimony which came under oath are false or misleading. president trump, if you disagree with anything the director said today, play the tapes for all of america to hear or admit that there were no tapes. second, director comey's contrasting view of the clinton e-mail case and the russia case is telling. mr. comey did not wish to see a special counsel in the clinton case because he looked at the facts and determined there wasn't a case for one. with respect to the russia probe, the director examined the facts and felt there was enough potential evidence that a special counsel was warranted. again, the contrast is telling.

mr. comey also admitted that there is no evidence that a single vote changed as a result of any russian interference. mr. comey's testimony also makes clear that the president never sought to impede the investigation into attempted russian interference in the 2016 election, and in fact, according to mr. comey, the president told mr. comey, quote, it would be good to find out, closed quote, in that investigation if there was, quote, some satellite associates of his who did something wrong, closed quote. and he, president trump, did not exclude anyone from that statement. consistent with that statement, the president never in form or substance directed or suggested that mr. comey stop investigating anyone, including the president never suggested that mr. comey, quote, let flynn go, closed quote. as the president publicly stated the next day, he did say to mr. comey, quote, general flynn is a good guy. he has been through a lot, closed quote, and also, quote, asked how general flynn is doing, clos

mr. comey: thank you mr. chairman. bestrs of the community committee, thank you for bringing me here to testify today. i've submitted my statement for the record and i want repeating offerng to i would brief introductory remarks and welcome your questions. director inppointed 2013, i understood that i served at the pleasure of the president. even though i was appointed to a 10 year term, which congress created in order to underscore the importance of the fbi being outside of politics in independent, i understood that i could be fired by a president for any reason or no reason at all. on may 9, when i learned that i had been fired, for that reason i immediately came home as a private citizen. then, the explanations, the shifting explanations. they confuse me an increase on concernedreasingly me. they confuse me because the president that i have had multiple conversations about my job before and after he took office, and he had repeatedly told me i was doing a great job and hoping i would stay to

mr comey has now admitted that he is one of these lea kers. rreptitiously made disclosures to the press of privileged medication is with the president. the leaks of this privileged information began no later than march, 2017, when friends of mr comey have stated that he disclosed to them the conversations that he had with the president during theirjanuary 27, 2017 dinner, and february 1a, 2017 white house meeting. today, mr comey admitted that helix to friends of his purported mermoz of those privileged communications —— he lea ked privileged communications —— he leaked to friends of his purported memos. they were leaked to the press in order to "prompt the appointment ofa in order to "prompt the appointment of a special counsel." although mr comey testified that he only leaked these memos in response to a tweet, these memos in response to a tweet, the new york times was quoting from them the day before the referenced tweet, which belies mr comey‘s excuse for this unauthorised disclosure of privileged information, and appears to be entirely ret

it also goes on to say that mr. comey was saying that he had not investigated anyone close to the president. and he also talked about the fact that general flynn is a good guy, meaning comey himself responded in that way. in addition, expect that the counsel will talk about what some of the other top intelligence officials have said, including, for example, the head of the nsa, that there was no direct interference from the president, no one directed him to do anything. here is something that will be of note. the presidt's counsel is expe t say that president trump never told mr. comey, i need loyalty. i expect loyalty in the form or substance. that is a significant point because we saw how james comey memorialized his conversations, spelled that out with quotes as he recalls them. that will be a point that the counsel to the president will take on directly. in addition to that, the office of the president is entitled to expect loyalty from those who are serving in the administration, a broader loyalty, of course, the oat

mr comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers. today, comey admitted that he unilaterally and surreptitiously made disclosures to the press of privileged communications with the president. the leaks of this privileged information began no later than march 2017, when friends of mr comey have stated that he disclosed to them the conversations that he had with the president during their january 27th 2017 dinner, and february 14th 2017 white house meeting. today, mr comey admitted that he leaked to friends of his purported memos of those privilege communications, one of which, he testified, were classified. he also testified that immediately after he was terminated, he authorised his friends to leak the contents authorised his friends to leak the co nte nts of authorised his friends to leak the contents of those memos to the press in order to, quote, contents of those memos to the press in orderto, quote, in contents of those memos to the press in order to, quote, in his words, quote, prompt the appointment of a special counsel. althou

senator burr: mr. comey testified at length before the committee about his interaction with the president, highlighting your presence at the meetings, and you addressed the meeting where all were asked to leave except director comey and he had a private meeting with the president. you said he did inform you of how uncomfortable that was and your recommendation was that the f.b.i. and d.o.j. needed to follow the rules limiting further correspondence. did director comey ever express additional discomfort with conversations that the president might have had with him? because he had two additional meetings and i think a total of six phone calls. attorney general sessions: that is correct. there's nothing wrong with the president having a communication with the f.b.i. director. what is problematic for any department of justice employee is to talk to any cabinet person or white house officials, high officials, about ongoing investigations that are not properly cleared through the top levels of the department of ju

again, this these lines had been leaked before mr comey confirmed the today. sponded to a question about them at the time. did you at any time ask james comey to back down on the fbi investigation? no. next question. allegations about key members of president trump's administration and links to russia had been surfacing since the early days of the trump presidency. in march, his attorney—general, jeff sessions, recused himself from any federal inquiries into the alleged russian interference in the election. that had followed an article that claiming he'd not disclosed meetings he'd had with that same russian ambassador who met with michael flynn. in announcing his recusal, he admitted he'd made a mistake but said it was an honest one. next, we move on in march. this statement from james comey at a congressional hearing. the fbi, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with th

in between sit right the witness, mr. comey, and members of the senate intelligence committee to snap photos. you see them quickly gathering to get ther. comey picture that will end up in tomorrow's papers, along with all of the media cameras as well inside and outside of the office building. hill,ehind us on capitol staff is getting ready. have is preparing an you the public's interest as well with the line starting early for those that want to see in person the former fbi director testifying on capitol hill about what he wrote about in his opening statement released yesterday, is meeting with mr. trump. he writes in his opening statement that he had several of them, more than what was reported actually, that he sat down with the president many times and had phone calls with him as well, and in the opening statement, he details some of those conversations. call and post your comments on twitter and facebook, and let washington know what you think of these investigations, mr. comey's's testimony, tell us on twitter and facebook

but on july 7th when mr. comey made his first announcement about the case, you were on fox news and you said first of all, director comey is a skilled former prosecutor. and then you concluded by saying essentially that it's not his problem, it's hillary clinton's problem. then in november on november 6th after mr. comey again made news in late october by reopening, if you will, the investigation, you said again on fox news, you know, fbi director comey did the right thing when he found new evidence. he had no choice but to report it to the american congress where he had under oath testified. the investigation was over. he had to correct that and say this investigation ongoing now, i'm sure it's significant or else he wouldn't have announced that. so in july and november, director comey was doing exactly the right thing. you had no criticism of him. you felt that, in fact, he was a skilled professional prosecutor. you felt that his last statement in october was fully justified. so how can you go from those statemen

mr. comey did admit as he was testifying that it did occur to him that he woke up after the president had made the tweet about there might be tapes of their conversation. and he actually said during the hearing, lord, i hope there are tapes. but then he revealed it was his idea to share the memo with his friend, professor daniel richmond at columbia university to then get them leaked to the new york times. here's what he said about that. >> the president tweeted on friday after i got fired that i better hope there's not tapes. i woke up in the middle of the night on monday night because it didn't dawn on me originally that there might be corroboration for our conversation. there might be a tape. and my judgment was i needed to get that out into the public square, so i asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. i didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons, but i asked him to because that might prompt a question of the counsel. so i asked a friend to do that. >> wh

today, mr. comeyted he unilaterally and surreptitiously made unauthorized disclosures to the press of privileged communications with the president. the leaks of this privileged information began no later than march 2017 when friends of mr. that heve stated disclose to them the conversations he had with the president during their january and february 14 2017 white house meeting. mr. comey admitted he leaked to friends of his recorded memos of those can indication's, one of which he testified with classified. thatomey also testified immediately after he was terminated, the authorized his friends to leak the contents of those memos to the press in order to, in mr. comey's words, "prompt the appointment of a special counsel." although mr. comey testified he only leaked the memos in response to a tweet, the public record reveals that the new york times was quoting from those the most the day before the referenced tweet, which belies his excuse for this unauthorized disclosure of privileged information, and

mr. comey. he's what you call a law enforcement. he is an investigator. and when -- what got me about the whole deal is that trump asked him three different occasions, am i being investigated? am i being investigated? am i -- why? if he hasn't done anything, why is he so worried about being investigated? i think he has a lot that he's hiding not yet come to light. i think that's why he got rid of comey. comey getting too close to him and i think that we need people like comey that can investigate our government and make our government legit. as far as trump's ability to run the country, i find him to be an idiot. because you don't take an auto mechanic and take him in the operating room and tell him to do open heart surgery. somebody's going to lose their life. and this is what's happening with mr. trump. >> let's hear from our republican line next and mel in orlando, florida, you are on the air. >> caller: hi. how are you today? thank you for taking my call. >> you bet. >> caller: i appreciate

mr. comey's revealing testimony last week. i do, though, want the take a moment at the out set and first, press some concern about the process by which we're seeing the attorney general today. it's my understanding you were originally scheduled the testify in front of the house and senate appropriations committees today. i know those appearances have been canceled to come here instead. while we appreciate his testimony before our committee, i believe, and i speak -- and i believe i speak for many of my colleague, i believe he should also answer questions from members of those committees and the judiciary committee, as well. mr. attorney general, it's my hope that you will reschedule those appearances as soon as possible. in addition, i want the say at 2 outset that while we consider your appearance today as just the beginning of our interaction with you and your department, mr. attorney general, we had always expected to talk to you as part of our investigation. we believed it would be later in

according to mr. comey, the president told mr. come kwrrbg it would be good to find out in that investigation if there were some satellite associates of those who did something wrong. he did not exclude anyone from that statement. why say that? why is that important? >> mark kasowitz has an almost impossible task to accomplish in two minutes, which is to refute the essence of what jim comey stated in three hours. i don't know that a statement like that is gonna do it, but i'm gonna wait and see. >> harris: there's much more here. it may change even. >> to that point, should the senators both on the democrats and the republicans done more to push jim comey? it seemed as if watching that hearing, that it was very short. they did not go into a lot of detail with him. they could have drilled down a great deal more. because if he accuses the president of the united states of being a liar, but then continued to have private phone conversations with him. then he said he never would have stepped down as the fbi director. if he was so comp

on july 7th when mr. comeyfirst of all, director comey is a former prosecutor and then you concluded by saying essentially that it's not his problem his hillary clinton's problem. then in november, on november 6th after mr. comey again made news in late october by reopening, if you will, the investigation, you said, again, on fox news, you know, fbi director comey did the right thing when he found new evidence. he had no choice but to report it to the american congress when he had under oath testified. the investigation was open he had to correct that and say just as the case is ongoing now i'm sure it's significant or else he wouldn't have announced that. so in july and november, director comey was doing exactly the right thing, you had no criticism of him, you felt that, in fact, he was a skilled professional prosecutor, you felt that his last statement in october was fully justified. so how you can go from those statements to agreeing with mr. rosenstein and then asking the president or recommending he be fi

mr. comey said a lot of thing, and i didn't want to go there the investigation. but look, sessions to me, knowing him very well is a very hoer honorable man. look, he basically bent over backwards, he basically said, okay, okay, i'll recuse himself from this russian investigation, i'll do that even though it's silly. and trump didn't want him to recuse himself i just think honestly there's no there there. >> and as john pointed out he'll get very little deference from his colleagues that know him well >> i think so. look, regarding trump, comey said, everyone said russian inclusion investigation is not about trump. and as far as obstructing justice, comey said he didn't make a case for that, that was not part of his deal i'm not sure i understand what this is all about. it's the senate prerogative to go into that, i don't deny that, whether we need a special council, i have no idea. i think jeff sessions as an attorney general he's playing ball this colleague is straight up and honest here >> i

i want to ask mr. comey that is an accurate representation of what occurred and find out more about those three separate occasions. >> what do you think chairman burns leadership of this investigation has been like? senator collins: i think they have done in excellent job. they have been aggressive, picked up the pace in recent community --r committee has sought the right to issue subpoenas for documents and testimony without having to come back to us for permission. i think that is all progress. thank you. senator susan collins, republican of maine. one of the 15 members of the senate intelligence committee who will be able to ask former director comey about his interactions with the president when he sits before them in that this morning. 10:00 a.m. is when the hearing gets underway. we will bring you to the room half an hour early at 9:30 on today here on the washington journal, here on c-span. if you will not be able to watch, you can still listen. we have a download on your phone, the free c-span radio

mr. comey has now finally confirmed publicly what he repeatedly told the president privately. the president was not under investigation as part of any probe into russian interference. he also admitted there was no evidence that a single vote changed as a result of russian interference. so they're not really saying that russian interference did not happen. just that the president is not under investigation as a result of that. interesting, anderson, that this goes through a few other points that we're going to hear marc kasowitz make but at the end of the statement he goes after james comey so we were wondering throughout the day today how strongly would the president or his team go after jim comey directly. at the end of the statement, marc kasowitz goes after comey for providing some of this information to that friend, that law professor up at columbia with the expectation that some of it would be leaked to the news media. i'll read a portion of that as well, anderson. it says in this statemen

mr. comey: although the law required no reason at all to fire and fbi director, the administration then chose to defame me, and more importantly, the fbi. by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that's the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. those were lies, plain and simple. >> during the nearly three-hour long hearing, comey painted a picture of an overbearing president. he stated that trump demand at his loyalty and described his intense discomfort about his one-on-one conversations with trump, which he needed to document in memos. mr. comey: i think the circumstances, the subject matter, and the person i was interacting with -- circumstances, first, i was alone with the president of the united states, president-elect come assumed to be president -- president-elect, soon to be president, touching on matters of responsibility that touched on the president personally. and the nature of the person. i was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature

>> mr. comeyalks about that when michael flynn came up in the conversation to continue the russian investigation. the president was talking about the flynn situation. not the broader russia investigation. there are bad things said about the president in the dossier. the president wanted that clear as well. >> congress member, hang on. he never says the president urged me to continue the investigation. he doesn't say that. he just doesn't. >> but the president wanted that investigation and that part to continue to clear his name and clear things up. >> he wanted the fact to come out he is not under investigation. is that the same thing asking for the investigation to go on? >> the president wanted the truth to come out. what mr. comey testified to confirms what the president has been saying. three times he wasn't under investigation. no obstruction of justice. mr. comey testified under oath no obstruction. the other interesting things in here, too, chris. it is interesting. the only conversations t

as he said, mr. comey testified at length, in some cases highlighting your presence at those meetings. wheredressed the meeting i'll have to leave except for director comey and the president p or you said he did inform how uncomfortable that was in your the ei andion was doj me to follow a -- follow the rules limiting correspondence. did director comey ever express discomfort with conversations the president might have had? two additional meetings and i think a total of six phone calls. atty gen. sessions: that is correct. there is nothing wrong with the president having communication with the fbi director. what is problematic for any department of justice employee to talk to any cabinet persons or white house officials about ongoing investigations that are not properly cleared through levels in the department of justice. was a regulation that i think is healthy. i strongly believe we needed to restore discipline within the department to it here to just those kinds of roles, plus leaking rules and some of

mr. comey: none. >> do you have any doubt that the russian government was behind the intrusions and the dnc, and the subsequently about information? mr. comey: no doubt. >> you have any doubt that the russian government was behind the cyber intrusion and the stapler files? mr. comey: no. >> do you have any doubt that officials of the russian government or fully aware of these activities? mr. comey: no doubt. >> are you confident that no votes passed -- cast in the 2016 presidential election altered? mr. comey: i'm confident. comey, did the president, at any time, ask you to stop the fbi investigation into russian involvement in the 2016 u.s. elections? mr. comey: not to my understanding, no. >> could any individual working for the administration, including the justice department asked you to stop the russian investigation? mr. comey: no. david: that was the chair, senator richard burke. equally important, he started out the entire testimony with a set of questions and answers. we have to rememb

then on november 6, after mr. comeygain made news in late october by reopening the investigation, he said again on didnews, fbi director comey the right thing when he found no evidence. he had no choice but to report it to the american congress because he had under oath testified. he had to correct, this is the investigation going on. otherwise he wouldn't have announced that. in july and november, director comey was doing exactly the right thing. so in july and november director comey was doing exactly the right thing, you had no criticism of him, you felt that, in fact, he was a skilled professional prosecutor. you have felt that his last statement in october was fully justified, so how far can you go from those statements to agreeing with mr. rosenstein and then asking the president or recommending he be fired? >> i think in retrospect as all of us begin to look at that clearly and talk about it as representatives of the department of justice, once the director had first got involved and embroiled in a public discuss

the point i'm making is based on the testimony mr. comey gave last week, the evidence is not there, that it happened. as for mr. sessions, i think it is wrong to say that he is part of the old segregation of the south. you may not realize this, but he was the key person when he was a u.s. attorney down in alabama, in helping to lead to the investigation and breakup of the ku klux klan in the state. many different people have sided tocited his work to crucial the fact that they got the death penalty for members of the ku klux klan in a particularly -- statements like that show that you do not know about his background when he was a u.s. attorney in alabama. host: you are from alabama, alabama,o mark -- correct? guest: i am. jeff sessions did a lot to bring about the new south that exists. host: roger, good morning, kentucky, independent line. caller: i just have to comment. i am calling from the independent line, but i would like to point out that director is a personality that has split a country on both sides i think i will have some confi

mr. comey that he believes he was fired over his handling of the russian investigation. on both sides of the aisle preserving the independence of the fbi. by the president plus leaders in the intelligence committee to undermine this same investigation. united states can and must be a leader but it would require our administration. finally, in the past several weeks, we've seen a concerning pattern of the administration -- >> please be seated. >> thank you, very much, chairman burr, and ranking member warner for allowing me to appear before the committee today. i appreciate the committee's important effort to investigate russian interference with our democratic process. such interference can never be tolerated and i encourage any effort to get to the bottom of any such allegations. as you know, the deputy attorney where then has appointed a special counsel to investigate the matters related to the russians' interference in the 2016 election. i am here today to address several issues that have be

on may the 9th you wrote to the president recommending that mr comey be dismissed. t inconsistent with your march the 2nd recusal? the recusal involved one case in the department ofjustice. and in the fbi. they conduct thousands of investigations. i'm the attorney general of the united states, it's my responsibility to ourjudiciary committee and other committees, to ensure that that department is run properly. i have to make difficult decisions, and i don't believe that it isa decisions, and i don't believe that it is a sound position to say that if you recuse for a single case involving any one of the great agencies like the ea, the us marshals, you can't make a decision about the leadership in that agency. now, if you had knowing that the president subsequently was going to go on tv and in an interview with leicester halt of nbc would say this russian thing was the reason for his decision to dismiss the fbi director, would you have felt uncomfortable about the timing of the decision? —— lester holt.” uncomfortable about the timing of the decision? -- lester holt. i

mr. comey's last week.estimony i want to take a moment to express some concern with the process by which we are seeing you today. it is my understanding you are scheduled to testify in the senate appropriations committee. i know those appearance have been canceled. while we appreciate the and i speak believe thatany of my colleagues, we should also answer questions from members of those committees and the judiciary committee as well. i hope you will reschedule those appearances as soon as possible. in addition, while we consider your appearance today as just the beginning of our interaction with you and george department we had always expected to talk to as part of our investigation. we believed it would be later in the process. to accommodate your respect -- your request to speak with us today. but we also expect you to make your self available as necessary. now, let's move to the subject of today's discussion. let's talk about the campaign. you were an early and ardent supporter of mr. trump.

mr. comey. under oath he outlined his very troubling interactions with the president as well as the circumstances of his firing. a few disturbing points stood out. first, mr. comey who has decades of experience at the department of justice and at the fbi serving under presidents of both parties was so unnerved by the actions of the president that he felt quote compelled to fully document every interaction that happens. mr. comey sat where you are sitting today and testified that it was concerned that the president of the united states might lie about the nature of their meetings. that's a shocking statement from one of our nation's top law enforcement officials. we also heard that director comey took it in the direction from the president that he was to drop the fbi's investigation and foreign national security director michael flynn. we heard from mr. comey he believes he was fired over his handling of the russian investigation.e the president himself confirmed in statements to the media. this

mr. comeyi don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation i had with the president was an attempt to obstruct. i took it as a disturbing thing. we are joined by the executive editor of bloomberg's legal and regulation coverage. is there anything here based on what we've heard so far that would indicate obstruction of justice? that's weird comey took us through what happened after the conversation. he really focused on the fact that the subsequent actions and words of the president where the things that have made him uncomfortable. concerned and confused, he said. that is worthy intention piece initially comes into focus for us. said in words, trump his own words that he fired him in part because of the rest of the investigation. that's really the uncomfortable place we are at right now. will be an attempt to find other information. oth factso glean, and that will inform from here. that is where the focus will be. in mr. commies mind, clearly after those couple of actions, after he was

mr. comeyath he outlined his very troubling interactions with the president as well as the circumstances of his firing. a few disturbing points stood out. first, mr. comey, who has decades of experience at the department of justice and at the fbi, serving under presidents of both parties, was so unnerved by the actions of the president that he felt, quote, compelled to fully document every interaction they had. mr. comey sat where you are sitting today and testified that he was concerned that the president of the united states might lie about the nature of their meetings. that's a shocking statement. we also heard that director comey took it as a direction from the president that he was to drop the fbi's investigation into former national security adviser general mike flynn. finally, we heard from mr. comey that he believed he was fired over his handling of the russia investigation. the president himself confirmed this in statements to the media. this is deeply troubling for all of us who belie

it was definitely mr. comey and they are the ones who decided that there was no criminal violation of the law. i do not think that was correct, but that was no another decision made by mr. comey. line ofd another questioning from senator langford of the senate intelligence committee. >> is there any sign that the president is not fond of this investigation? i can think of a hundred 140 word expressions to describe that he is not fond of this testimony. you are trained to keep these away for many, the president might have made. quite frankly, the president has informed about 6 billion people he is not fond of this investigation. you think there is a difference there? >> yes. >> what is the big difference in kicking superior officers out of the oval office, looking at the fbi director and saying i hope you let this go. i think if agents are as good as they are heard of the president of the united states did that, there is a real whisk dutch risk of a chilling effect on their work. that is why we kept it tight. ask

mr. comeyd the memos in response to a tweet, the public record reveals the "new york times" is reporting from these memos, the day before the reference tweet occurred. which belies mr. comey's excuse for this unauthorized disclosure of privileged information and appearance to be retaliatory. we'll leave it to the appropriate authorities to determine whether he's leaks should be investigated along with all others being investigated as well. melissa, marc kasowitz and the president coming out hard against comey implying that comey's leaks themselves become a massive investigation at some point. >> director comey say he didn't personally leak them to the press he asked a close adviser of his to go to the press. remember the "new york times" reported -- who he told to say -- >> it is james comey through dan rich mono. >> exactly. the other thing that's interesting is the president is directly disputed something mr. comey said during testimony. this reads, the president also never told mr. comey i n

mr. comey, for the first time publicly confirmed the investigation into possible coordination between russian influence on the campaign and the trump campaign. he said, i explained the demands from the leadership of both parties in congress for more information and that senator grassley, the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, was even holding up the confirmation for deputy attorney general until we debriefed him in detail on it. he said, i reminded him i had previously told him that we were not personally investigating president trump. and he repeatedly told me we need to get that fact out. >> where are you, pete? >> this is t end of pe 6. and mr. comey says, i didot tell the president that the fbi and the deparent of justice had been reluctant to make public statements, that we would not have an open case on president trump for a number of reasons, most importantly because it would create a duty to correct should that change. nothing in this statement exactly corresponds to what the p

mr. comey admitted that there is no evidence of a single vote changed. mr. comey's testimony makes clear that the president never sought to impede the investigation into attempted russian interference in the 2016 election. mr. comey admitted that he leaked to friends of his proported members of those privileged communication, one of which he testified was classified. mr. comey also testified that immediately after he was terminated, he authorized his friends to leak the contents of those memos to the press in order to and mr. comey's words "prompt the appointment of a special counsel," close quote. >> on the one hand, they're looking at comey as a credible witness because he said the president was not under an investigation at point certain point. they took issues of a number of thi thing that is comey said. now, also denying president trump ever ask comey backing off on this investigation into formal national security adviser, michael flynn. >> one of the biggest news of dren comey that he thi

to mr. comey after he had his meeting with the president, you think that was probably the next day you didn't stay afterwards and see him after he left the oval office that night? >> no, it happened right afterwards. but it was either the next morning which i think it was, or maybe the morning after that. we had three-times a week on national security briefing with the fbi that i undertake and so it was after that we had that conversation. >> now, what i'm not quite clear on is, did you respond when he expressed his concern or not? >> yes, i did respond. i think he's incorrect. he indicated, i believe, that he was not totally sure of the exact wording of the meeting. but i do recall my chief of staff was with me and we recall i did affirm the longstanding written policies of the department of justice concerning communications with the white house. we have to follow those rules and in the long run you're much better off if you do. they don't prohibit communications, one-on-one, by the fbi director

mr. comey briefed ranking member feinstein and me, as chairman and ranking member of the judiciary committee, on the russian investigation. this included telling us who was and who was not under investigation. after that meeting, i publicly called for mr. comey to tell the public what he had told us about whether president trump was under investigation. let me ask the leader, mr. leader, i didn't realize you were going to be here to speak, so i'll yield the floor and start over again. mr. mcconnell: i would thank my friend from iowa. i'll just be a minute. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that not withstanding roulette 22, all -- rule 22 all postcloture time on the billingslea nomination expire at 2 p.m. today and pore on the kristine l. svinicki nomination expire on monday, june 26. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i thank my friend from iowa. mr. grassley: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: in march,

on july 7th when mr. comeye his first announcement about the case, you were on fox news and you said first of all, director comey is still former prosecutor and the new concluded by saying essentially that it's not his problem, it's hillary clinton's problem. then in november, on november 6th after mr. comey again made news and laid october by reopening the investigation, you said again on fox news, fbi director comey did the right thing when he found new evidence. he had no choice but to report it to the american congress. the investigation was over, he had to correct it and say this is done. in july and november, director comey was doing exactly the right thing. you had no criticism of him. you felt that he was a skilled professional prosecutor. you felt that his last statement in october was fully justified. how can you go from those statements to agreeing with mr. rosenstein and then ask the president that he be barred? >> att gen sessions: in retrospect, as we begin to look at that clearly and talk about i

mr. comey will say this morning before the senate intelligence committee. we will hear his side of the story for the first time since he was fired on may 9. conversations that took place between he and president trump about the investigation into russian meddling and possible collusion with the trump campaign. he will testify how he killed them how to document meetings with esther trump -- how he felt compelled to document meetings with mr. trump. askedmey wrote how he was a third time whether or not he wanted to keep his job at the fbi. he said the setup made him uneasy. he said he told the president he was not reliable in the way politicians use that word. the statement goes on to say -- was that on anybody's side politically and could not be covere political sense." a few moments later, the president said "i need loyalty. ."expect loyalty we will get inside the discussions between the president and now former fbi director. mr. comey is expected to stop short of segment president interfered w

mr. comey also admitted that there is no evidence that a single vote changed as a result of any russian interference. mr. comey's testimony also makes clear that the president never sought to impede the investigation into attempted russian interference in the 2016 election. mr. comey admitted that he leaked to friends of his purported memos of those privileged communications, one of which he testified was classified. mr. comey also testified that immediately after he was terminated, he authorized his friends to leak the contents of those memos to the press in order to in mr. comey's words, quote prompt the appointment of a special counsel, close quote. >> reporter: so anderson on the one hand they're looking at comey as a credible witness because he said the president was not under investigation at certain points on the other hand questioning his credibility. they took issue with a number of things comey said in his testimony. they're denying trump ever demanded loyalty from james comey and den

mr. comey's account. well, the president threatened mr. y with the release of tapes of their conversation presumably that includes the conversation when president trump asked director comey to "let go" of the investigation. it is curious that no one from the president's team will confirm or deny the existence of the tapes. the tapes of the only way to prove that mr. comey's testimony, which came under oath, are false or misleading. , if you disagree with anything the director said for all of the tapes admit thathear or there were no tapes. the senatefrom democratic leader from the floor yesterday. pat buchanan has this piece, "the impeached trump conspiracy." if trump is brought down on the basis of what putin correctly labels as nonsense, this city will have executed a nonviolent coup against a constitutionally elected president. this would drop us into the company of third world nations where such means are the customary ways of how elites hold their power. where are the criminals? where is the crime? this new york times photograph, just

everyone can see it and talked about how mr. comey tried to usurp the justice department, and he didn't like the fact he held a press conference -- >> the president decided to fire him before he got that memo from rosenstein. >> he said he was thinking about that for awhile and that is true. saw that testimony a few wednesdays ago, was very unimpressed. you know how the president feels about director comey and director comey in his letter clearly said he has long believed a president has the right to fire an fbi director for any reason or for no reason so that is the president's right. in addition and independent of that his deputy attorney general whose job it is to oversee the fbi director had concluded much the same thing. he said that the morale and the integrity of the department had been compromised and one of the only thing that unites people of diverse viewpoints is their dissatisfaction with the way mr. comey handled the end of the clinton e-mail investigation. >> at that time the president also suggested he had tapes of his

mr. comey about that february 14th oval office meeting when director comey said the president asked him to drop the flynn investigation. >> here is the question. you're big, you're strong. i know the oval office. and i know what happens to people when they walk in. there is a certain amount of intimidation. but why didn't you stop and say mr. president, this is wrong? i cannot discuss this with you? >> that is a great question, maybe if i were stronger i would have. i was so stunned by the conversation that i just took it in. and the only thing i could think to say because i was playing in my mind because i could remember every word he said. i was playing in my mind what should my response be and that is why i very carefully chose the words. and look, i have seen the tapes. >> should he have done more in that moment or even in the aftermath, should he have alerted more people about it or come to congress? >> well, i do think he should have said look, mr. president, this is inappropriate, i can'