Former FBI Director James Comey accused U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday of asking him to drop an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn as part of a probe into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
In dramatic written testimony, Comey said Trump told him at a meeting in the White House in February: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.”
The testimony from Comey, who was fired by Trump last month, puts more pressure on the Republican whose presidency has been overshadowed by allegations that Moscow helped him win last year’s election.
Trump fired Flynn in February in a controversy over contacts between the retired general and the Russian ambassador to the United States. The FBI has been investigating Flynn as it looks into allegations of links between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Comey’s statement, posted on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s website, said Trump also called him on March 30 to say he had nothing to do with Russia and asked what “we could do to lift the cloud” of the FBI’s Russia investigation.
During that phone call, Comey said he told Trump the FBI was not investigating the president personally. “He repeatedly told me: ‘We need to get that fact out,’” Comey said.
Comey said he had told Trump on three occasions he was not being investigated, confirming an earlier account from the president.
Several congressional committees, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a special counsel, are looking into reports that Russia tried to tilt last November’s election in Trump’s favor, using means such as hacking into the emails of senior Democrats. Trump and the Kremlin have separately denied any collusion.
Asked if Trump had reviewed Comey’s statement, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “I’m not aware if he’s had a chance to review any of the specific details of that testimony.
“I do find the timing of the release a little bit interesting – directly after the testimony from the other hearing earlier today,” she added.
Earlier on Wednesday, top intelligence officials refused at a Senate hearing to discuss whether Trump had pressured them to intervene in the FBI probe into alleged Russian interference.
Both Admiral Mike Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency, and Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee they believed their conversations with the president were confidential.
Comey is to deliver his testimony in person at a much-anticipated hearing by the intelligence committee on Thursday.
Some legal experts said Comey’s written statement could be used to show that Trump engaged in obstruction of justice.
“It shows the president was doing everything he could to shut down the Flynn investigation,” said Andrew Wright, a professor of criminal law at Savannah Law School.
Bruce Green, a professor of law at Fordham University School of Law, said, however, it would be difficult to show that Trump intended to obstruct justice. Trump could say he was merely vouching for Flynn’s character and voicing concerns about how the probe was interfering with his ability to function effectively as president, Green said.
While a sitting president is unlikely to face criminal prosecution, obstruction of justice is an offense that could lead to impeachment hearings.
In impeachment proceedings, Congress must determine that a president committed a “high crime or misdemeanor.”
Comey said Trump told him at a one-on-one dinner on Jan. 27, a week after the president took office, that: “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty.”
During the dinner, the president asked him if he wanted to stay on as FBI director, Comey said. The former FBI head said he became concerned that Trump was trying to create “some sort of patronage relationship.”
After a Feb. 14 meeting on counterterrorism in the Oval Office, Trump dismissed all the participants except Comey, according to the testimony.
The president then initiated a conversation about Flynn.
Comey quoted Trump as telling him: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”