President Donald Trump on Friday accused former FBI director James B. Comey of lying under oath to Congress in the Russian Federation investigation and called him a "leaker", before suggesting he would be willing to give his side of the story to special counsel Robert Mueller.
The president claimed Comey's testimony on Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee mostly vindicated his previous claims about their interactions.
The unflattering moniker might fit: Comey has conceded to Congress that he told a friend to give a reporter information about his recollection of the president's request that he shut down the bureau's probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
President Donald Trump lambasted former FBI Director James Comey on Friday as a "leaker" for engineering the release of details of their conversations to a news reporter.
Earlier Friday, Trump weighed in for the first time about the testimony on Twitter, claiming "total and complete vindication".
But Donald Trump refused to say whether his private conversations with the fired FBI Director were taped - an issue at the centre of conflicting accounts of what passed between them.
Trump's tweet about Comey was one in a series Sunday morning.
Bharara says he found it "very weird and peculiar" to be drawn into private conversations with the president.
"I would be glad to tell him exactly what I just told you", Trump said.
Trump repeatedly announced that Comey had told him that he was not personally under investigation but, prior to Thursday morning's testimony, Comey had never confirmed that Trump was being truthful about the lack of an investigation. Comey testified that Trump told him, in a private Oval Office conversation on February 14, "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go". Comey also made a point that Trump had asked him multiple times to express "loyalty" to him.
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Comey's appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee was no day at Palm Beach for Trump.
When Comey was sacked, the White House alluded to the director's failure to move forward with the investigation of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
Pundits and legal experts were divided about whether Trump's actions rose to the level of obstruction of justice, a potentially impeachable offense.
But Trump said at the news conference that Comey's testimony proved he had not colluded with the Russians or sought to obstruct the investigation.
Leaders of the House Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating suspected Russian election meddling, have written White House counsel Don McGahn asking whether tapes exist and, if so, that they be produced to the committee by June 23.
He said that he'd carefully documented his interactions with Trump because he anxious Trump would misrepresent them, and accused the administration of spreading "lies, plain and simple" about the reasons for his firing.
If a pro like Baker had been on the job instead of an amateur like Reince Priebus, when Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Priebus to leave him alone in the Oval Office with Comey, chief of staff of Baker would have stepped in immediately.
"I didn't say that", Trump insisted Friday, before heading to his New Jersey golf club in Bedminster where he will spend the weekend.
Speaking at the White House, he denied having asked for Mr Comey's loyalty or for an inquiry into a former White House aide to be dropped.
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