To believe the president's statement, we must conclude not only that Comey perjured himself on Thursday but that the former director is a liar of exceptional premeditation and forethought.
Prior to the release of DOJ's statement, another statement was released by Trump's lawyer that suggested that there might be discrepancies in the timeline that Comey claims he authorized the leaking of his memos to multiple media outlets.
Comey learned of his abrupt dismissal while giving a speech, and said he was sorry he didn't get a chance to say farewell to his former colleagues.
"My judgment was I need to get [the memos] out into the public square", Comey said.
Kasowitz said Comey confirmed publicly what he had told Trump privately: "That is, that the president was not under investigation as part of any probe into Russian interference".
The attacks were led by members of a hard-right faction in the House, including Texas U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, who said on Fox News over the weekend, "I don't really care what Comey says - he can't be trusted".
Comey told the Senate panel that he was so concerned by his conversations with Trump that he immediately documented their encounters - which included a White House dinner, private meetings, and several phone calls - in a series of memorandums. Okay, but, uh, it wasn't Comey who named Mueller special counsel.
Trump has hired Kasowitz to handle matters related to various investigations of Russian interference in the USA president election, freeing his White House counsel to handle other government-related matters.
But they played perfectly in the predictable partisan political atmosphere, in which it doesn't matter what you say: If you're not with Trump - explicitly, full-throatedly, unreservedly - you're against him.
Iohannis offered support for Trump's position Friday, saying to Trump, "I'm very glad that due to your strong leadership North Atlantic Treaty Organisation made a decision to go against terrorism".
U.S. pulling out of Paris climate accord 'shocking' Rajnath
Modi said India has traditionally been respecting nature and desisted from exploiting it while addressing the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Even Democrats who disagree with his firing remain stung by his revival of the Clinton email investigation days before the November election.
Good Lord, release the tapes!
Pundits and legal experts have been divided on whether Trump's actions rose to the level of obstruction of justice, a potentially impeachable offence, while Comey said that decision was now in the hands of Mueller, who is also a former Federal Bureau of Investigation director.
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.
Interview all those, including White House counsel Donald McGahn, who spoke with Trump before Flynn's firing about Flynn's potential legal exposure.
And Comey admitted he asked a friend to leak those notes to a reporter, betting - correctly - that the details would prompt the appointment of a special prosecutor. And indeed it did. "The understanding that the left is at war with the president and will use any means necessary to defeat him" is energizing the base, said Pennsylvania GOP chair Val DiGiorgio.
News of undisclosed meetings and communications between Trump aides and Russian officials have dogged the early months of the administration and have undermined the White House's policy agenda. According to our data, the word "lie" did not appear on Fox's lower third until Comey used it again 10 minutes later.
Stating that Trump had never tried to pressure Comey into ending the probe into Flynn's behavior, Kasowitz added, "The president also never told Mr. Comey, "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty" in form or substance". The Times ran a story about the memo contents later that day.
While the solidity of Trump's base isn't surprising, the partisan lens through which events like the Comey testimony are viewed gives clues to how congressional Republicans might behave when it comes to the president. His testimony does not implicate the Trump presidency, but it nonetheless questions the billionaire Republican president's personality.
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