Former FBI director James Comey's key revelations in testimony to a US Senate committee investigating possible Russian collusion with President Donald Trump's election campaign and subsequent political fallout.
THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION
Comey goes public for the first time accusing Trump of sacking him on May 9 to thwart a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into the Russian meddling allegations.
LIES
Comey said the Trump administration had lied and defamed him and the FBI after his firing by saying the agency was in disarray and that the workforce had lost confidence in him.
The former FBI chief said he also felt he needed to keep notes about his meetings with Trump after an encounter with the president-elect on January 6 as he had concerns Trump might lie about it. Comey said he never felt this necessary with Trump's predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
THE FLYNN INVESTIGATION
Comey confirmed that when Michael Flynn was fired as national security adviser on February 13, the retired lieutenant general was under criminal investigation for statements in connection with Russian contacts and for the contacts themselves.
ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS
Comey said the FBI knew Attorney General Jeff Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation following reports that Sessions had met with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the campaign. Comey said there was more he could say about Sessions that he could not discuss in an open hearing.
SHARING MEMOS
Comey said he shared memos of his nine conversations with Trump with investigators for Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
He also showed copies of his meeting notes with Trump to people outside the Justice Department. Comey said he also asked a close friend, a Columbia Law School professor, to share them with a reporter. A tweet from Trump after he was fired prompted this move, Comey said.
CLINTON EMAIL INVESTIGATION
Comey said Obama's attorney general, Loretta Lynch, directed him to refer to the probe of Hillary Clinton's emails as a "matter" rather than an "investigation." That and her private tarmac meeting with former president Bill Clinton before the FBI's decision on whether Hillary Clinton may have criminally mishandled government information led Comey to disclose the agency's findings ahead of schedule last summer.
