Comey: Trump ‘Defamed’ Me and FBI With ‘Lies, Plain and Simple’

Former FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that “the administration then chose to defame me... [with] lies, plain and simple.” Comey was testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee; he disputed President Trump’s account that he had lost the confidence of the FBI or that the bureau was in disarray or being led poorly. “He told me repeatedly he had talked to lots of people about me, including our current attorney general and had learned that I was doing a great job and that I was extremely well-liked by the FBI workforce,” Comey said. “So it confused me when I saw on television the president saying that he actually fired me because of the Russian investigation and learned again from the media that he was telling, privately, other parties that my firing had relieved great pressure on the Russian investigation.”