WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump has said that he was ready to testify under oath to refuse the claims of former FBI chief James Comey about halting investigations into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
During a Rose Garden press conference, Trump said that he was 100 percent willing to speak before special counsel Rober Muller to contradict Comey that the president asked him to drop invesitgation, adding, “It doesn’t make sense. I didn’t say that.”
“James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said, and some of the things he said just weren’t true,” Trump said.
In a statement, President Donald Trump tweeted a day after the FBI director’s testimony and called him a “leaker”.
Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2017
James Comey Testimony
On Thursday, Comey, who was probing an alleged Kremlin plot to influence 2016 US election in favour of Trump, and whether there was any links with the president or his campaign staff, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
He said the president had put pressure on him to drop an inquiry into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired by Trump for misleading the White House over having contacts with Moscow’s ambassador.
Under oath, Comey also stated that the president had demanded loyalty during a one-to-one dinner at the White House.
“I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, and so I thought it really important to document,” former FBI head informed the panel, adding that he took careful notes of each meeting or conversation with Trump.
Talking about tapes of conversation, Comey said that if there are tapes of his conversation with the president, these should be released.
Highlighting role of Russia in the 2016 election, he said: “The Russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. They did it with purpose. They did it with sophistication. They did it with overwhelming technical efforts. And it was an active-measures campaign driven from the top of that government.”
Michael Flynn
Controversy erupted regarding Michael Flynn, who served as national security adviser for the shortest time period of 24 days, when he was forced to resign over contacts with Russia before Trump took office.
It was revealed that Flynn had discussed lifting US sanctions on Russia with their ambassador to Washington, and that he misled the US vice-president about that conversation.
Flynn has filed an application seeking immunity from the congressional committees investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election in exchange for his testimony, but so far no development has made on the offer.
