Comey, the Federal Bureau of Investigation director who was abruptly fired by Trump in May, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Thursday.
File picture shows FBI Director James Comey testifying before the House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 United States election, on Capitol Hill, March 20, 2017.
Presidents have often moved to keep their records and other communications with senior officials private until they leave office, on the theory that confidentiality is crucial to their ability to receive unvarnished advice on sensitive matters.
Specifically, according to sources familiar with the matter, at no point in the weeks and months before Comey's termination did Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein or Attorney General Sessions tell Comey they were uneasy about his leadership or upset over what Rosenstein later called Comey's "mistaken" decision to announce the results of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server a year ago. "The exception would be any conversations that haven't yet been made public, by Comey or by Trump, assuming such conversations exist".
Comey, who was leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year's USA presidential election, was sacked by Trump last month, four years into his 10-year term.
Jeff Sessions denies secret pre-election Russian Federation meetings
Attorney General Jeff Sessions hasn't sought any information on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, he said. Sessions requested an open hearing, though it's not clear what he will and won't address in his televised testimony.
Legal experts say Trump could invoke a doctrine called executive privilege to try to stop Comey from testifying. Typically a president uses executive privilege to prevent government employees from releasing information. The GOP staffer, who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the chairman has the authority to sign off on subpoenas and that all the committee rules were followed.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer disputed Comey's account of the president's remarks, saying it "is not an accurate representation of that meeting".
Richard Painter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, who served as the chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said he had no idea what Comey might say. What's more, the New York Times notes the president himself has "publicly disclosed" certain aspects of his and Comey's otherwise private conversations on Twitter and in television interviews. Has the White House cooperated? He later tweeted that Comey better hope there are no "tapes" of their conversations. Susan Collins, a Republican on the Intelligence Committee, said she also wants to understand "the tone, the exact words that were spoken" between Trump and Comey because the context is "so important".
Trump asked Comey to drop the Flynn investigation, said a person who was given a copy of a memo Comey wrote about the conversation.
Trump has denied any collusion between Russian Federation and his presidential campaign. Trump's argument in favor of privilege also may be overcome because the investigation is focused on corruption and possible obstruction of justice. Putin has repeated there is no evidence of Kremlin involvement in the election. He has repeatedly questioned the U.S. intelligence finding that Putin directed an operation that included computer hacking, fake news and propaganda meant to swing the election in Trump's favour against democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
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