This version of events conforms to what Trump wrote in his letter dismissing Comey.
Once Comey uttered those words, President Donald Trump could not fire him - absent proof of criminal conduct or unethical behavior - without creating the appearance of impropriety or the appearance of undermining the investigation.
In comments Friday to MSNBC, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he did not know whether there was any collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russian Federation. When Trump then pressed for "honest loyalty", Comey told him, "You will have that", the associates said.
Asked about his suggestion in a tweet earlier on Friday that there might be recordings of his conversations with Comey, Trump said: "That I can't talk about".
"Even that is possible", Trump said, speaking on Air Force One before departing for Lynchburg, Virginia, where he delivered a commencement address. Trump said in excerpts of an NBC News interview released Friday that Comey "should have never exonerated" Hillary Clinton. He is the one who must hope there are no tapes. Aides were also eager for Trump's first foreign trip, a high-stakes blitz through the Middle East and Europe.
The second-ranking Senate Democrat on Friday called Trump "dangerous because he may be obstructing justice" in the investigation of Russia's involvement in the 2016 presidential election and possible ties to the Trump campaign. Comey offered honesty instead.
Before he moved into the White House, President Trump often taped phone conversations inside his Manhattan office, it was reported Saturday.
Trump didn't help tamp down speculation that Spicer could be sent packing when he refused to say that he would be staying in the job.
"It's shocking to the conscience".
At first, the administration said that Rosenstein "made the recommendation, the president made a swift and decisive action and let Comey go".
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions orders crackdown on drug traffickers
Under Sessions, the Justice Department believes critics of mandatory minimum sentences are challenging laws approved by Congress. In fact, under President Barack Obama, the crime rate and incarceration rate both went down for the first time in 40 years.
Neither the White House nor the Trump Organization responded to requests for comment on whether the President recorded conversations inside his Trump Tower office.
"If shown that Trump removed Comey to avoid being investigated?"
A felony obstruction of justice criminalizes a wide range of activities. "We could pick up a lot of seats, especially if it all keeps going like it's going now", the president said.
Kyle Hupfer, chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, said picking the Federal Bureau of Investigation chief is a president's prerogative, despite tradition that the post be held for 10 years regardless of who occupies the White House.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the top Justice Department official at the center of the firestorm over the firing, will provide a briefing to the entire U.S. Senate after requests from Capitol Hill. In the NBC interview on Thursday, Trump said he would have fired Comey regardless of any such recommendations.
Regardless of his muddled connection to Comey's firing, 20 Democratic state attorneys general wrote to Rosenstein on Thursday, saying he is the only one who can begin to fix the damage.
In a subsequent tweet, Trump inaccurately claimed that James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, had exonerated him, and described the ongoing FBI investigation as a "witch hunt".
Spicer did not dispute Trump's suggestion that press briefings should be canceled, saying only, "I think he's a little dismayed" by the media coverage.
Barr assured investigations would continue, including the Clinton email scandal and claims of Russian involvement in US elections, and the agency would "do a thorough and professional job regardless of who is serving as the bureau's director". Moscow has denied any such meddling.
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