President Trump pledges to testify under oath following James Comey’s testimony

After slamming Comey as a "leaker," Trump said he’s “100 percent” willing to testify under oath himself

By Sophia Tesfaye

Senior Politics Editor

Published June 9, 2017 4:11PM (EDT)

President Donald Trump gestures in the Rose Garden of the White House  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump gestures in the Rose Garden of the White House (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Speaking at a Rose Garden joint press conference one day after fired FBI director James Comey delivered his explosive congressional testimony, President Donald Trump pledged to do the same, telling reporters he is “100 percent” willing to testify under oath.

"James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said. And some of the things that he said just weren't true," Trump told reporters during a meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. The president slammed Comey as a “leaker” and said he'd be "glad" to tell special counsel Robert Mueller the same.

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"I would be glad to tell him exactly what I told you,” the president said to ABC’s Jon Karl.

“No collusion, no obstruction, he’s a leaker, but we want to get back to running our great country,” Trump said. He also added that he would answer the question about whether tapes of his conversations with Comey exist in a "very short period of time."

“I’ll tell you about that maybe sometime in the near future," he said. "You're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer, don’t worry."

But when pressed by a reporter, Trump stopped short of stating directly that Comey lied under oath to Congress, which would be a crime.


Trump was publicly silent while Comey testified on Thursday, but tweeted Friday an accusation that Comey -- whom Trump fired in May -- lied under oath.


By Sophia Tesfaye

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's senior editor for news and politics, and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

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