Former FBI Director Comey's prepared testimony: Trump said "I need and expect loyalty"
Former FBI Director James Comey's testimony has been posted by Senate Intelligence Committee. According to the document, U.S. President Donald Trump told Comey during a dinner in January: "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty".
Key points (via Reuters):
On Jan 6, Comey briefed Trump on a salacious and unverified report about Russian efforts to undermine the election
Comey says FBI wasn't investigating Trump personally
Told Trump they didn't have an open counter-intelligence case on him on Jan 6
Had one-on-one dinner with President on Jan 27
More from the statement:
The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director, which I found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him that I intended to. He said that lots of people wanted my job and, given the abuse I had taken during the previous year, he would understand if I wanted to walk away. My instincts told me that the one-on-one setting, and the pretense that this was our first discussion about my position, meant the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship. That concerned me greatly, given the FBI's traditionally independent status in the executive branch.
I replied that I loved my work and intended to stay and serve out my ten-year term as Director. And then, because the set-up made me uneasy, I added that I was not "reliable" in the way politicians use that word, but he could always count on me to tell him the truth. I added that I was not on anybody's side politically and could not be counted on in the traditional political sense, a stance I said was in his best interest as the President.
A few moments later, the President said, "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty."