Trump's attorney, Marc Kasowitz, released a statement on Wednesday saying the president felt "totally vindicated" by Comey's acknowledgement that he had told Trump on three occasions that he was not personally under investigation.
Republican Senator Susan Collins called on Sunday for Trump to "voluntarily turn them over" to the Senate Intelligence Committee and to the special counsel, Robert Mueller, investigating possible collusion between Trump aides and Russian Federation. That future may be sooner than he expected: Having accused Comey of perjury, the Senate Intelligence Committee is now demanding that the president hand over the "tapes" by June 23rd.
"I'd like to invite the president to testify before the Senate". He painted a picture of an overbearing president who he did not trust and who pressured him to stop the FBI Flynn probe. 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.
After he was sacked, Comey said a threatening Trump tweet that hinted there were secret tapes of their conversations prompted him to ask a friend, Daniel Richman, to share the content of the memos with the New York Times.
"Even after James Comey's testimony, looks like we're stuck with Donald Trump".
During Comey's testimony last week, the former FBI director said he believed he had been directed to end an investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn.
After the election but before the inauguration, Trump asked Bharara to stay on as US attorney in Manhattan when they met at Trump Tower.
US Attorney General questioned on Trump-Russia ties
In March he acknowledged he met twice a year ago with Russia's ambassador to Washington, Sergei Kislyak. Lawmakers will also press Sessions about aspects of Comey's testimony last week.
On Friday during a news conference, Trump denied those allegations, effectively accusing Comey of lying under oath to Congress.
President Trump suggested Sunday that former FBI Director James Comey's leak of memos detailing their conversations may be illegal - and are far more damning than what was in them.
"That didn't make sense to me for a whole bunch of reasons, including the time and all the water that had gone under the bridge since those hard decisions that had to be made", Comey said.
Comey said he kept memos on his conversations with Trump - but hadn't with two previous presidents or other top Justice Department officials - because he "was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting".
But Trump added that if he had made those comments, there would be nothing wrong with it, "according to everybody that I read today".
"Obstruction of justice is clearly on the minds of a lot of people and I think it damages the president politically", he said. He had previously suggested he may have recorded his conversations with Comey and Congress has now asked to be handed over any tapes which, should they exist, could settle the matter. Comey tried to explain that the investigation of Clinton's emails was finished whereas the investigation of Trump's campaign is ongoing.
While Mr Trump's staunchest supporters have tried to paint Mr Comey's testimony as vindication for the president, few Republicans who do not work for Trump have stepped in to defend the president's version of his contacts with the former Federal Bureau of Investigation chief.
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