Trump fired me to undermine FBI’s Russia/Trump campaign probe, Comey says

Ex-FBI director James Comey has told a U.S. congressional hearing that President Donald Trump fired him to try to undermine the agency’s investigation of possible collusion by his campaign with Russia’s alleged efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Comey also revealed at the congressional hearing that Trump’s administration had lied and defamed him and the Federal Bureau of Investigation after the president dismissed him on May 9.

The ex-FBI chief would not say whether he thought the president sought to obstruct justice, but added it would be up to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is now investigating the Russia allegations, “to sort that out.”

Read also: Former FBI director Comey offers to testify against Trump in public

“I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct. I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning,” Comey testified.

Trump fired Comey last month in a move which according to him was to restore public trust.

Trump said Comey who had been leading an FBI investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election was no longer able to effectively lead the law-enforcement agency.

Comey’s sacking has raised dust and fuelled concerns about the integrity of the inquiry into Russia’s meddling and also renewed calls for an independent investigation into the matter.

 

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