Washington, Jun 8 (EFE).- President Donald Trump “never … suggested or directed” former FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation into anyone linked to Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 elections and the possible connections between his campaign and the Kremlin, his personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz, said Thursday.
In a statement read before reporters, Kasowitz denied that Trump asked, as Comey testified in a Senate hearing regarding his conversations with the president, to “let … go” the investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who had resigned in February after being in contact with Kremlin representatives.
In the statement, leaked to the media before Comey appeared before the Senate, Kasowitz also denied that Trump asked the ex-FBI chief for his loyalty “either in form or substance.”
Kazowitz, who had just been hired by the president for his legal team, said that “the Office of the President is entitled to expect loyalty from those who are serving in an administration” in an appearance at the National Press Club in Washington although he took no questions from reporters.
The attorney said that it would be appropriate to determine if Comey should be investigated for having leaked the memos he wrote to record the content of his conversations with Trump, a move he called “surreptitious, unilateral and unauthorized.”
Comey admitted on Thursday that he leaked the content of some of the conversations he had with Trump before the president fired him on May 9 to a friend to distribute to the press and increase the pressure to name an independent counsel to investigate the alleged Russian interference in the election, something which occurred a few days later.
Trump’s attorney said that Comey’s testimony on Thursday proves that the president “was not being investigated for colluding with the Russians or attempting to obstruct that investigation” and that “there is no evidence that a single vote changed as a result of any Russian interference.”