Investigators request Trump/Comey tapes - if they exist

Comey testified that while he was FBI director, Trump was not under investigation by the FBI - not in a criminal investigation, and not in a counter-intelligence investigation, which, in Comey's words, "tend to be centered on individuals the FBI suspects to be witting or unwitting agents" or "covertly acting as an agent" of a hostile foreign nation, or "targeted for recruitment".

Former FBI director James Comey speaks during a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill June 8, 2017 in Washington, DC.

So Trump's dinner with Comey, and his reopening of what Comey had thought was the settled question of whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation director would keep his job, did not take place in a vacuum.

President Donald Trump greets then-FBI Director James Comey in the Blue Room of the White House on January 22. "We were very, very happy, and, frankly, James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said, and some of the things that he said just weren't true", he said.

The president had previewed his attacks against Mr Comey in an early-morning tweet that broke his previous day's silence on his favorite social media megaphone. If that makes you think less of him, fine, but keep a few things in mind: Comey was by then a private citizen, reporting on an unclassified conversation with the president. Comey took notes on their conversations because he anxious the president "might lie" later. But, she said, he was wrong to leak his notes to the public and should have given that document to her panel.

In a brief statement to reporters Thursday after Comey's testimony, Kasowitz accused Comey of admitting "that he unilaterally and surreptitiously made unauthorized disclosures to the press of privileged communications with the President".

Trump was also asked about Comey's testimony and the supposed tapes the following day during his joint press conference with the president of Romania.

"Those activities taken together could well constitute obstruction of justice, though obviously that will be for Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor, to determine", Paul Schiff Berman, a law professor at George Washington University, said.

Mr Trump cryptically refused to say whether those private exchanges were taped - a matter at the heart of the conflicting accounts of what passed between them at a time when Mr Comey was leading an FBI investigation into Russia's interference in the presidential election and its ties to the Trump campaign.

He also said he did not ask Comey to drop his probe of Trump's former national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who resigned his post after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about conversations with Russian officials.

During more than two hours of testimony, Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee he believed Trump had directed him in February to drop an FBI probe into the Republican president's former national security adviser Michael Flynn as part of the broader Russian Federation investigation.

"That is a very big deal, and not just because it involves me". This ended speculation that began immediately after Comey admitted under oath he had leaked the memo containing his account of conversations between himself and President Donald Trump.

It's slightly off-point in that a criminal prosecution of Trump while he is president is unlikely and, at least according to the Justice Department's long-standing assessment, constitutionally impermissible.

"One hundred percent", said Trump when asked about his willingness to testify under oath. "I'm not going to say, 'I want you to pledge allegiance, '" Trump added.

The agency also warned that if Scavino engages in prohibited political activity again, it will be considered "a willful and knowing violation of the law, which could result in further action". The investigation was still ongoing when Comey was sacked in early May. "We had an investigation open at the time so that gave me a queasy feeling".

Many Democrats still blame Comey for Clinton's loss, leading Trump to apparently believe they would applaud him for firing Comey.