BREAKING: Comey Releases Statement To Senate, Says Trump Asked Him To “Let Go” Of Michael Flynn Probe

June 7, 2017 Trump Corruption, Trump Lies

The Hill reports:

Fired FBI Director James Comey on Thursday will confirm reports that President Trump pressed him to let go of the bureau’s investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn. Comey on Wednesday released the opening statement of his highly anticipated testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee. In an encounter shortly after Flynn’s, Comey’s statement says, Trump said he hoped that Comey could “let go” of the investigation.

Here’s one of the juicy bits:

The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director, which I found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him that I intended to. He said that lots of people wanted my job and, given the abuse I had taken during the previous year, he would understand if I wanted to walk away.

My instincts told me that the one-on-one setting, and the pretense that this was our first discussion about my position, meant the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship. That concerned me greatly, given the FBI’s traditionally independent status in the executive branch.

I replied that I loved my work and intended to stay and serve out my ten-year term as Director. And then, because the set-up made me uneasy, I added that I was not “reliable” in the way politicians use that word, but he could always count on me to tell him the truth. I added that I was not on anybody’s side politically and could not be counted on in the traditional political sense, a stance I said was in his best interest as the President.

A few moments later, the President said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence. The conversation then moved on.

Read the full statement here.



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