Comey to testify Trump told him: ‘I expect loyalty’

Trump and ComeyImage copyright
Reuters

Former FBI Director James Comey will testify to Congress on Thursday that President Donald Trump told him at a dinner: “I expect loyalty.”

According to his opening statement, Mr Comey will also say the president asked him to drop an inquiry into fired National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.

Mr Comey will back up the president’s assertion that the FBI chief assured him Mr Trump was not under scrutiny.

He will say Mr Trump called the Russian probe “a cloud” over him.

In Thursday’s eagerly anticipated hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr Comey will detail his interactions with Mr Trump leading up to his firing on 9 May.

It is one of several congressional panels that, along with the FBI, is investigating US intelligence assessments that Russian hackers meddled in last November’s US presidential election in an effort to help Mr Trump beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

The inquiries are also investigating whether any Trump campaign officials colluded with the alleged Kremlin plot, which Moscow has repeatedly denied.

Mr Comey will say his first meeting with the president occurred on 6 January in a conference room at Trump Tower, where Mr Comey briefed him alone on “salacious and unverified” allegations about him.

A dossier compiled by a former British intelligence official had claimed the Russian security services possessed compromising material on Mr Trump, including that he had been recorded consorting with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel.

Mr Comey’s statement says the president “expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them” during a subsequent meeting.


Who do you believe? Anthony Zurcher, BBC News

It’s like a sneak preview of a blockbuster movie – this opening statement should be preceded with a “spoiler alert!” warning.

Mr Comey is going to largely confirm all the reports that were circulating in the media about what took place during his private meetings with the president – the talk of loyalty, the pressure on the FBI to ease off its Flynn investigation, the multiple requests for public confirmation that the FBI was not targeting Mr Trump himself.

While Mr Comey casts the president in a less-than-flattering light, he does shy away from directly accusing the president of obstruction of justice. Much will be made of how the two men may have interpreted the phrase “honest loyalty” differently. In addition, Mr Comey viewed the president’s Flynn request as only relating to his conversations with the Russian ambassador and not the investigation as a whole.

That may not matter much, however.

Large portions of the former director’s account is in direct contradiction with Mr Trump’s version of their meetings. It sets up a “he-said, he-said” situation – but Mr Comey has memos and conversations with other FBI officials to buttress his case.

What’s more, if recent polls are any indication, the American public trusts him more than the president. Mr Comey’s performance under questioning – particularly if Mr Trump responds angrily via Twitter – could further sour the public mood.


That denial came in a one-on-one dinner on 27 January at the White House, Mr Comey will say, adding that he had a “very awkward conversation” with the president that evening.

Mr Trump asked the FBI director during the discussion in the Green Room whether he wanted to stay in his job, Mr Comey will testify.

He will say he found this “strange” because Mr Trump had already told him twice in earlier conversations that he hoped he would not step down.

The former FBI director will say the question “concerned me greatly” because he felt the dinner was an effort to “create some sort of patronage relationship”.

The former FBI director will say: “A few moments later, the president said, ‘I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.’

“I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence.”

Mr Comey will say the president moved on, only to return to the subject near the end of the dinner.

The FBI director will testify that he explained to the president why it was so important that the FBI and US Department of Justice kept independent of the White House.

Mr Comey will say: “He [Mr Trump] then said, ‘I need loyalty.’ I replied, ‘You will always get honesty from me.’ He paused and then said, ‘That’s what I want, honest loyalty.'”

In testimony, the former FBI director will detail his next encounter with Mr Trump, during a meeting attended by intelligence chiefs at the White House on 14 February.

Media captionTrump’s love-hate relationship with Comey over a tumultuous year

The president asked Mr Comey to stay at the end of the Oval Office meeting and told him: “I want to talk about Mike Flynn.”

Mr Trump fired Mr Flynn as national security adviser just 24 days into the job after he misled the White House about his conversations with the Russian ambassador.

Mr Comey will say Mr Trump told him: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy.”

The former FBI director will testify that he offered no such assurance.

Mr Comey will also say he spoke with the president on the phone on 30 March, when Mr Trump said the Russia investigation was “a cloud that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country”.

The former FBI director will testify that Mr Trump “said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia”.

Mr Comey will say he assured Mr Trump during their discussions on 6 January, 27 January and 30 March that the president himself was not under investigation.

He will testify that Mr Trump told him during the 30 March phone call: “We need to get that fact out.”

Comey to testify Trump told him: ‘I expect loyalty’