Trump v Comey: Who said what

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she has concerns about President Donald Trump's "fitness for office" - and thinks he needs more sleep.

President Donald Trump on Friday broke his silence on Twitter following explosive testimony by fired FBI Director James Comey, declaring "total and complete vindication".

On Thursday, Comey confirmed to the Senate Intelligence Committee that he did write the memos, which he then turned over to his friend Professor Daniel Richman of Columbia Law School to leak to the press.

The White House was reportedly relieved with the testimony of James Comey, who failed to deliver any single breakthrough moment during his three-hour hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

Pelosi is citing Trump's habit of early morning tweeting, as well as Thursday's congressional testimony by former FBI Director James Comey.

Detailing one-on-one talks with a sitting president - which under normal circumstances are private - Comey said he took painstaking notes for fear Trump might "lie" about the unusual encounters. "I knew there might come a day when I might need a record of what happened not only to defend myself but to protect the Federal Bureau of Investigation".

"I mean, today's hearing was cool and everything, but basically it was like listening to a clean version of a hip-hop song", Noah said. The issue of the Trump election campaign's relationship with Russian Federation has dogged Trump's first months in office and distracted from his policy goals such as overhauling the US healthcare system and making tax cuts.

He said that when Trump told him he hoped he would terminate an investigation into Michael Flynn, the ousted national security adviser, he interpreted that as a directive. Disseminating unclassified information is generally not considered leaking and the President did not assert executive privilege over Comey's testimony. "The president has the authority to tell the director of the FBI to stop an investigation".

Comey nevertheless did not make any major new revelations about alleged links between Trump or his associates and Russian Federation, an issue that has dogged the president's first months in office and distracted from his policy goals such as overhauling the US healthcare system and making tax cuts.

The former FBI director also appeared to confirm Trump's statements that, on three occasions, Comey told the president he was not personally under investigation with regard to Russian Federation.

Mr. Comey has far greater credibility than Mr. Trump.

On Friday, Trump indicated that he was willing to do that, a highly unusual step for a sitting president and one fraught with legal hazard.

In March, the Center for the National Interest, the right-leaning, Russia-linked group that hosted the event, said that the receiving line "moved quickly and any conversations with Mr. Trump in that setting were inherently brief and could not be private".

Republicans have looked to discredit Comey by calling him a "leaker" because of the way he disseminated the information about Trump.

Television commentators did not break in to Comey's testimony, but through headlines put onscreen - called chyrons - they were able to choose often contradictory points of emphasis. Comey also bluntly accused the White House of spreading "lies, plain and simple". "The attorney general was not silent; he responded to this comment by saying that the F.B.I. and Department of Justice needed to be careful about following appropriate policies regarding contacts with the White House". We also heard for the first time that the president cleared the room before making the remarks, removing even Mr Comey's boss, the attorney general.

Facing a Senate committee Thursday, Comey portrayed Trump as dismissive of the FBI's independence.