Mr. Kasowitz, however, disputed other elements of Mr. Comey’s testimony, including his assertion that the president had indicated he wanted the FBI to back off its investigation of Mr. Flynn and that Mr. Trump had told Mr. Comey he expected loyalty.
“The President never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone, including suggesting that Mr. Comey ‘let Flynn go,'” Mr. Kasowitz said. “The President also never told Mr. Comey, ‘I need loyalty, I expect loyalty’ in form or substance.”
But, Mr. Kasowitz added: “Of course, the Office of the President is entitled to expect loyalty from those who are serving in an administration.” He also criticized government officials who “are actively attempting to undermine this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified information and privileged communications” and added: “Mr. Comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers.”
The guardrails can’t contain Trump
Donald Trump’s character — volatile, impulsive, often self-destructive — had not changed since the campaign. But it seemed as if the guardrails of our democracy— Congress, the courts, the states, the media, the Cabinet — were keeping things within bounds.
Then came the past 10 days. The country is now caught in the internal maelstrom that is the mind of Donald Trump. We are in the realm of the id. Chaos reigns. No guardrails can hold.
.. Layers of falsehoods giving the impression of an elaborate coverup — in the absence of a crime.
.. Trump insists there’s no there there, but acts as if the there is everywhere.
.. Trump had three top officials come out and declare the disclosure story false. The next morning, Trump tweeted he was entirely within his rights to reveal what he revealed, thereby verifying the truth of the story.
.. The White House hurriedly issued a statement denying the story. The statement was unsigned.
.. this would be seen by millions as an establishment usurpation to get rid of a disruptive outsider. It would be the most destabilizing event in American political history
H.R. McMaster Issues Misleading Denial About Trump’s Disclosure to Russians
It didn’t take long to stress-test the putative denial and see what it didn’t say. The caveat “as reported” left McMaster space to quibble with the details of the story without contradicting the big picture. Meanwhile, his statement that Trump never discussed sources or methods or unknown military operations was beside the point, since the Post hadn’t said he did. McMaster was denying a story that didn’t exist.
Post reporter Greg Miller went on CNN, where he accused the White House of “playing word games.”
Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation
President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting.
“I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey, according to the memo.
The documentation of Mr. Trump’s request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.
.. In a statement, the White House denied the version of events in the memo.
“While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that General Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn,” the statement said. “The president has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr. Comey.”
.. Mr. Comey created similar memos — including some that are classified — about every phone call and meeting he had with the president, the two people said.
.. Despite the conversation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Comey, the investigation of Mr. Flynn has proceeded.
.. Part of the Flynn investigation is centered on his financial ties to Russia and Turkey.
.. When the meeting ended, Mr. Trump told those present — including Mr. Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — to leave the room except for Mr. Comey.
Alone in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump began the discussion by condemning leaks to the news media, saying that Mr. Comey should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information, according to one of Mr. Comey’s associates.
.. In 2007, he told Congress about a now-famous showdown with senior White House officials over the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. The White House disputed Mr. Comey’s account, but the F.B.I. director at the time, Robert S. Mueller III, kept notes that backed up Mr. Comey’s story.
.. At that dinner, on Jan. 27, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Comey at least two times for a pledge of loyalty — which Mr. Comey declined