[link to www.newsday.com]


In sworn testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey complained that after Trump dismissed him on May 9, his administration “defamed” him and the FBI by saying the bureau was in “disarray,” was “poorly led” and its agents had lost confidence in Comey.

“Those were lies, plain and simple,” Comey said in his brief opening statement at a hearing before a national television audience and a packed Senate hearing room

“I was fired because of the Russia investigation, something about the way I was conducting it, the president felt, created pressure on him that he wanted to relieve,” Comey said. “I was fired in some way to change, or the endeavor was to change, the way the Russia investigation was being conducted.”

Comey added, “That is a very big deal, and not just because it involves me.” And he stressed that the Russian election interference the FBI has been investigating since last summer is a fact, “as unfake news as you can get.”