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James Comey testifies Donald Trump administration told 'lies' about why he was fired

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Former FBI Director James Comey has called the Trump administration's shifting explanations for firing him "lies, plain and simple" and said he wrote detailed memos of his conversations with President Donald Trump because he feared the president would paint a false picture of their encounters.

Mr Comey gave testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday morning in Washington DC, in what was the most widely anticipated US congressional hearing in years. 

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Comey: White House 'chose to defame me'

Former FBI Director James Comey accuses Donald Trump's administration of telling lies about the agency at a Senate hearing on Thursday.

The Senate panel released Mr Comey's written testimony on Wednesday, in which Mr Comey quoted Mr Trump as telling him the Russia investigation was a "cloud" impairing his ability to operate as president.

In a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office on February 14, Mr Comey's statement said, Mr Trump asked him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, part of a wider probe into Russian meddling in the election.

"I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," Mr Comey quoted Mr Trump as saying.

Mr Comey elected not to read that testimony aloud on Thursday, instead making a separate brief statement.

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He said prior to his firing he had been assured by the president he was doing a good job, and that the later explanations for his firing left him confused.

"When I was appointed FBI director in 2013, I understood that I served at the pleasure of the president," Mr Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"On May the ninth, when I learned that I was fired, for that reason, I immediately came home as a private citizen," he said. "But then the explanations, the shifting explanations confused me and increasingly concerned me."

He said that though no explanation was required for firing an FBI director "the administration chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI, by saying the organisation was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader."

"Those were lies, plain and simple, and I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them and that the American people were told that," Mr Comey said.

Asked why he took detailed notes about his meetings with the president, Mr Comey said "I was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I thought it really important to document... it led me to believe I gotta write it down."

Lawmakers scrutinised Mr Comey's account to determine whether Mr Trump crossed any legal boundaries. Mr Comey, 56, declined to say whether the president's request to end the Michael Flynn probe constituted obstruction of justice, saying he would leave a determination about that to Robert Mueller, another former FBI chief who is now special counsel leading the Russia probe and who is now in possession of Mr Comey's memos.

While Mr Comey told senators he found the discussion with Mr Trump "a very disturbing thing," he added that "I don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct."

At one point in the hearing, Republican Senator James Risch pressed Mr Comey on whether Mr Trump had actually directed him to drop the Flynn investigation.

"He did not order you to let it go?" Mr Risch asked.

"Again, those words are not an order," Mr Comey said. "I took it as a direction. If it is the president of the United States, with me alone, saying 'I hope this' - I took it as 'this is what he wants me to do.' I didn't obey that, but that's the way I took it," Mr Comey said

When asked later on whether he took Mr Trump's comments as a directive, Mr Comey said "Yes."

In a lighter moment, Mr Comey referred to Mr Trump's apparent warning on Twitter that there could be recordings of their conversations that would undercut the former FBI chief's account of events.

"Lordy, I hope there are tapes," Mr Comey said. But he later said Mr Trump's comment prompted him to ask an acquaintance to leak portions of the memos he prepared on his conversations with the president in an effort to spur the appointment of a special counsel.

"The president tweeted on Friday after I got fired that I'd better hope there are not tapes," Mr Comey said. He said he woke up on Monday thinking that if there are tapes, there might be corroboration of Mr Comey's account. Mr Comey said he asked "a friend of mine to share" a memo he had written about his conversation with Mr Trump "with a reporter."

Mr Comey said the memo was one he had written about his Oval Office conversation with Mr Trump in which the president had expressed a desire that the investigation of Flynn be dropped.

He said the person he asked to share the information was "a good friend of mine" who is a professor at Columbia Law School. "I thought it might prompt the appointment of a special counsel."

Asked why he felt he had the authority to do that, Mr Comey replied: "As a private citizen, I felt free to share that. I thought it was very important to get it out."

Mr Comey said he used someone else to share the information because he was worried, with reporters camped out at his home, that giving the information to a reporter directly "would be like feeding seagulls at the beach."

The friend is Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor who confirmed his role but declined further comment. The reporter is Michael Schmidt of the New York Times, who declined to comment.

A special counsel was appointed - Robert Mueller, who is a former colleague of Mr Comey's - and Mr Comey has provided him with his memos, he testified Thursday.

While President Trump stayed off Twitter during Mr Comey's testimony, his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, didn't.

He repeatedly defended his father and attacked Mr Comey. Mr Trump Jr in particular seized on Mr Comey's assertion that he interpreted the president's statement that he "hoped" the FBI would drop its probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

President Trump's personal attorney Marc Kasowitz said after the hearing that Mr Comey's testimony proved the president was not under any investigation and there is no evidence a single vote was changed as a result of Russian interference in last year's election.

Mr Kasowitz denied Mr Trump ever told Mr Comey he needed and expected his loyalty, as Mr Comey said, and also slammed the former FBI chief for saying he leaked details of a conversation with the president.

Mr Kasowitz added that "we will leave it the appropriate authorities" to determine whether Mr Comey's leak "should be investigated along with all those others being investigated."

Following the public hearing, Mr Comey met with committee members for a separate closed-door hearing.

This story has been updated with news from the hearing.

Agencies and Fairfax Media