Comey says he had friend leak Trump memo to spark probe

Former FBI director James Comey admitted Thursday that he leaked his personal notes on his meetings with US President Donald Trump to prompt the naming of a special prosecutor to lead the Russia probe.

He said he asked a friend at Columbia Law School to share his written recollection of those conversations with a reporter after Trump fired him on May 9.

“I didn’t do it myself for a variety of reasons,” Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “But I asked him to, because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel” to conduct the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russian meddling in the 2016 election, he said.

Daniel Richman confirmed to The Associated Press and other media in an email that he was the friend who Comey mentioned in his testimony. He declined further comment.

Richman served with Comey in the Southern District of New York and at the FBI.

The New York Times published a report on the Comey memo on May 16, and the following day former FBI director Robert Mueller was named special counsel to take over the investigation.

The memo contained notes on a conversation between the two in which the president asked Comey to shut down an investigation into ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn’s ties with Russia.

The president has not yet publicly denied the specifics of Comey’s accounts but has broadly challenged his credibility, tweeting last month Comey had “better hope there are no ‘tapes'” of the conversations.

“Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Comey remarked at one point in his testimony Thursday to the committee, suggesting such evidence would back up his account over any claims from the president.

Comey was also asked if he believed he was fired because of the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election as well as Russia’s ties with Trump’s campaign.

“Yes,” Comey said. “Because I’ve seen the president say so.”