United States President Donald Trump on Friday threatened sacked FBI chief James Comey not to "leak" details of their conversations to the media."James Comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" Trump tweeted.
President Trump, who is facing a barrage of questions over why it took him so long to fire Michael Flynn as compared to FBI Director James Comey, has asserted that he didn`t feel a sense of urgency in firing his national security adviser.
Trump fired Comey without giving any prior indication, but took 18 days to fire Flynn.
"Firing Flynn did not sound like an emergency," CNN quoted Trump as saying.President Trump said he didn't feel a sense of urgency in firing his national security adviser on conversation with top administrative lawyers.
"My White House counsel, Don McGahn, came back to me and did not sound like an emergency," Trump said.
Defending Flynn, Trump said that former acting Attorney general Sally Yates was also of the opinion that it wasn't necessary to fire Flynn immediately, after he reportedly misled Vice President Mike Pence on his interactions with Russian representatives.
Trump has also called Comey a "showboat" and a "grandstander."
"He`s a showboat, he's a grandstander, the FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that. Everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil, less than a year ago. It hasn`t recovered from that," Trump had said of Comey in an NBC interview.
Trump flatly said that he had decided to fire Comey even before receiving a recommendation from the deputy attorney general.He also said he called on Comey to ask for an update on a possible criminal investigation into his ties with Russia."
He wanted to stay on at the FBI," Trump said, "and I said I`ll, you know, consider and see what happens But we had a very nice dinner, and at that time he told me, 'You are not under investigation.'
'The US President also said that two phone calls were made - one made by himself and another by Comey. The President admitted, "I actually asked him, yes. I said, 'If it's possible would you let me know, Am I under investigation?
He said, "You are not under investigation.
"Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, when asked at Thursday's White House press briefing, said it was inappropriate for Trump to have asked Comey if he was under investigation.
"No, I don't believe it is," she said.
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