As James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill Thursday, President Donald Trump's allies are prepared to cast his decision to fire the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director as a selfless move that he made for the good of the country. "Three in person and six on the phone".
That denial came in a one-to-one dinner on 27 January at the White House, Comey will say, adding that he had a "very awkward conversation" with the president that evening.
The opening statement describes Trump trying to establish what Comey takes to be "some sort of patronage relationship". "Two Navy stewards waited on us, only entering the room to serve food and drinks".
In a written statement ahead of his testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey detailed how Trump repeatedly raised the Russian Federation case with him earlier this year, asking him to go easy on Flynn, who is accused of improper links to Moscow. "But then the explanations, the shifting explanations confused me and increasingly concerned me", said Mr Comey.
The RNC is also activating its national and local surrogates to rebut the Comey testimony, and is holding calls every 30 minutes to transmit the latest talking points. "Because we typically look for someone who is going to be independent, but also that that position is treated independently".
Comey is going to largely confirm all the reports that were circulating in the media about what took place during his private meetings with the president - the talk of loyalty, the pressure on the FBI to ease off its Flynn investigation, the multiple requests for public confirmation that the FBI was not targeting Mr Trump himself. During the meal, Comey wrote, Trump quizzed him about whether he wanted to remain head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation even though the president twice previously said he hoped he would stay.
Mr Preet Bharara, an outspoken former NY prosecutor who was sacked by Mr Trump, tweeted: "Obstruction aside, it's NEVER ok for a (President of the United States) privately to ask an FBI Director to drop a criminal investigation".
The written testimony also recounts a face-to-face conversation the two men had on February 14 - Valentine's Day - at the Oval Office, where many senior officials had gathered for a counterterrorism briefing. "Why would you ask the AG to leave the room?"
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Trump told Comey that "Flynn hadn't done anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President".
"I very carefully chose the words", he explained of his response to Trump that "I agree [Flynn] is a good guy". "I think Director Comey will probably get a lot of questions about that tomorrow, would be my guess".
Although Trump could be viewed as threatening Comey's job with his repeated requests for pledges of loyalty, Weisberg said, the president wouldn't have been the subject of an FBI investigation that focused on Flynn's conversations with Pence - so his attempt to shut down that investigation wouldn't have been "corrupt".
"I stand by my previous answer", Rogers repeated.
Thursday's testimony from Comey is scheduled to be carried live on TV networks across the country. Others claim Comey's testimony is a nothingburger. He says Trump also volunteered that "he had nothing to do with Russian Federation, had not been involved with hookers in Russian Federation, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia" - referencing an unverified intelligence dossier detailing compromising information Moscow had allegedly collected on Trump.
It was during that conversation that Comey said the president asked him what could be done to "lift the cloud" of investigation that was damaging his administration.
He will say he found this "strange" because Mr Trump had already told him twice in earlier conversations that he hoped he would not step down.
Ironically, Trump harassed former President Barack Obama to push a global climate change pact back in 2009 by paying for an ad in the New York Times urging the then president to "lead the world by example".
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