Comey to tell Senate Trump expected loyalty pledge

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

Ousted FBI Director James Comey will tell a Senate panel Thursday that President Donald Trump sought his loyalty during a private dinner shortly after Trump assumed office.

Comey will tell the Senate intelligence committee during a Jan. 27 dinner: "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," Comey is expected to say, according to prepared remarks released by the committee. "We simply looked at each other in silence."

The FBI and its director are supposed to remain independent of the White House.

The White House has been bracing for Comey's eagerly anticipated testimony that is expected to bring with it bombshells regarding Trump's alleged attempts to interfere with the FBI's probe into Russia's attempts to tilt last year's election in Trump's favor.

Comey is also expected to detail an Oval Office meeting with Trump on Feb. 14 in which the American president asked him to drop an investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, whom Trump fired one day earlier.

Flynn was dismissed after it came to light he misled senior officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, about his contacts with Russia's U.S. ambassador.

"He repeated that Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President," Comey will tell the committee, referring to Trump. "He then said, 'I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.'"

Comey concurred that Flynn is a "good guy", but declined to reply to Trump's request.

"The FBI leadership team agreed with me that it was important not to infect the investigative team with the President’s request, which we did not intend to abide," Comey will say of the "very concerning" suggestion.

Comey and the FBI's leadership team concluded that it was impossible to corroborate the request to end the investigation because it was made during a private one-on-one meeting, and it made "little sense" to inform Attorney General Jeff Sessions of the request.