Ex-FBI boss James Comey claims U.S. President Donald Trump asked him to investigate allegations in an intelligence dossier that the president had met with Russian prostitutes during a trip Moscow in 2013.
In an interview with ABC News’ chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, Comey said he was asked to investigate allegations made in the dossier, compiled by a former British secret agent, to prove they were not true.
“I said to him, ‘Sir that’s up to you but you want to be careful about that because it might create a narrative that we’re investigating you personally and, second, it’s very difficult to prove something didn’t happen,’” Comey said in an interview aired Friday.
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Comey sat down with ABC News to discuss his forthcoming tell-all book, titled A Higher Loyalty, which sheds light on the time he spent inside the Trump administration, the details of his firing, and even goes so far as to compare the president to a mob boss.
The former FBI director said Trump raised the dossier with him at least four times during meetings. Comey said he first alerted Trump about the dossier on Jan. 6, 2017.
None of the allegations made in the dossier have been verified.
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Comey described to ABC News the meeting with Trump as being “really weird” and “almost an out-of-body experience.”
During a second meeting with Trump at the White House, Comey said the president raised the Moscow allegations again over fears first lady Melania Trump would believe the allegations.
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“He said ‘Even if there’s a one per cent chance my wife thinks that’s true, that’s terrible,’” Comey said of the conversations. “I remember thinking ‘How could your wife think there’s a one per cent chance you were with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow?’”
“I’m a flawed human being but there’s literally zero chance that my wife would think that was true so what kind of marriage to what kind of man does your wife think there’s only a 99 per cent chance you didn’t do that,” Comey said.
Trump has denied all allegations made in the dossier, calling the former MI6 agent a “failed spy.”
“It now turns out that the phony allegations against me were put together by my political opponents and a failed spy afraid of being sued….” Trump tweeted last year. “Totally made up facts by sleazebag political operatives, both Democrats and Republicans – FAKE NEWS! Russia says nothing exists.”
When Stephanopoulos flat-out asked Comey if he believed Trump’s denial, the ex-FBI boss said he didn’t know.
“I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don’t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013. It’s possible, but I don’t know.”
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Trump fired Comey in May 2017. The firing led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Russians and the Trump campaign.
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