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Trump asked for loyalty, Comey promised honesty ‒ ex-FBI director’s prepared remarks Trump asked for loyalty, Comey promised honesty ‒ ex-FBI director’s prepared remarks
(35 minutes later)
The Senate Intelligence Committee has published fired FBI Director James Comey's prepared remarks the day before his testimony on Capitol Hill about his ousting by President Donald Trump.The Senate Intelligence Committee has published fired FBI Director James Comey's prepared remarks the day before his testimony on Capitol Hill about his ousting by President Donald Trump.
Thursday morning’s open hearing will be Comey’s first public comments since he was abruptly fired by Trump on May 9. The seven-page text of Comey prepared remarks was released by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday afternoon.Thursday morning’s open hearing will be Comey’s first public comments since he was abruptly fired by Trump on May 9. The seven-page text of Comey prepared remarks was released by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday afternoon.
Comey’s testimony outlined all of his meetings with Trump, the first of which was a January 6 briefing at Trump Tower in New York City on the Steele Dossier. Ahead of the meeting, Comey discussed with the FBI’s leadership team “whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally,” Comey wrote, noting the bureau did not have an open counterintelligence case on him.Comey’s testimony outlined all of his meetings with Trump, the first of which was a January 6 briefing at Trump Tower in New York City on the Steele Dossier. Ahead of the meeting, Comey discussed with the FBI’s leadership team “whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally,” Comey wrote, noting the bureau did not have an open counterintelligence case on him.
The then-FBI director “offered that assurance,” even though Trump did not “directly [ask] the question.”The then-FBI director “offered that assurance,” even though Trump did not “directly [ask] the question.”
Comey’s practice of documenting his meetings began after the first one-on-one. There were nine total conversations between the two men over the course of four months: three in person and six on the phone.
“I felt compelled to document my first conversation with the President-Elect in a memo. To ensure accuracy, I began to type it on a laptop in an FBI vehicle outside Trump Tower the moment I walked out of the meeting. Creating written records immediately after one-on-one conversations with Mr. Trump was my practice from that point forward. This had not been my practice in the past,” he wrote.
On January 27, Trump and Comey met for a now-infamous dinner. The meeting began with the president asking the then-FBI director if he wanted to stay on in that role. Comey said he found the question “strange” because Trump had previously told him twice that he hoped Comey would stay.
“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,” Comey wrote.
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.’ I paused, and then said, ‘You will get that from me,’”  Comey continued.
The two men met again on February 14 for a scheduled counter-terrorism briefing in the Oval Office, during which Trump repeatedly brought up fired national security adviser Lieutenant General Michael Flynn and his reported interactions with Russian officials during the presidential campaign and transition period.
It was during this briefing that Trump asked Comey to “let this go,” which Comey took to be a reference any investigation into false statements Flynn made to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in December.