The Washington Times: President Trump repeatedly complained to former FBI Director James B. Comey of a “cloud” over his administration because of the bureau’s probe into Trump campaign figures’ dealings with Russia and asked that the FBI drop its probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Mr. Comey says in prepared testimony he’ll deliver to Congress on Thursday.
Mr. Comey said he did, in fact, assure Mr. Trump repeatedly that the president was not personally under investigation — backing up what the White House has said, and undercutting critics who have said the president is a target.
But overall, in recounting five interactions with the president, Mr. Comey describes a strange and strained relationship that, according to the former FBI director, appeared to be an effort to demand loyalty.
He emerged from one Jan. 27 meeting, just a week after the inauguration, saying he felt Mr. Trump was trying to pressure him by asking him — for a third time — whether he wanted to stay on as FBI director.
“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,” Mr. Comey says.
The seven pages of testimony goes on to detail some of Mr. Trump’s asks in their interactions, including calling for a quick end to an investigation into Mr. Flynn, who had just resigned as national security adviser.
