security team, then even as comey was still testifying, addressing the freedom and faith coalition. you did not let me down. i will never, ever let you down. you know that. the president personal attorney marc kasowitz launched it in the dining room, took to the microphones to proclaim what he saw as good news. mr. comey has finally confirmed publicly what he repeatedly told president trump privately. that is that the president was not under investigation as part of any probe into russian interference. some aspect of the testimony marc kasowitz took issue with. comey s assertion that the president was ordering him to drop the investigation into michael flynn and president trump demanded a pledge of loyalty. the president never informed or substance directed or suggested that mr. comey stop
or substance, directed or suggested that mr. comey stop investigating anyone, including the president never suggested that mr. comey quote let flynn go, closed quote. shannon: what do you think? now you ve got sworn testimony of the former director of the fbi who served under multiple different presidents versus the unsworn tkpwra mattically riddled statement of the president s private attorney denying it. one person s under oath, one person s not. so if this is going to go away, if it will be investigated by the special counsel, you re almost guaranteed that the president s going to have to be deposed under oath by robert mueller to address whether or not he said or didn t say what director comey excuse me, mr. comey, alleged that he said. shannon: we ve got to move on, but quick final word from you. i think very clearly for everybody out there, saying you hope something is not a directive.
as soon as james comey s testimony was over today, that lawyer went into a press availability and denied this claim, denied that the president ever tried to shut down the flynn investigation. he denied it on the president s behalf again in no uncertain terms. they are declaring essentially that this is the hill they want to die on. the president never in form or substance directed or suggested that mr. comey stop investigating anyone, including the president never suggested that mr. comey, quote, let flynn go. president in form or substance did not direct or suggest, everyone told the fbi director to let the flynn investigation go. this is it. this is the nut. if there s only one thing that everybody on earth is going to remember about this this is
the dispute. the idea james comey said the president asked him to stop investigating michael flynn. here s what the president s personal lawyer had to say about it. never in form or substance, directed or suggested, that mr. comey stop investigating anyone, including the president never suggested that mr. comey, quote, let flynn go, close quote. the president also never told mr. comey, quote, i need loyalty. i expect loyalty, close quote. he never said it in form. he never said it in substance. robert ray, this could be solved very quickly if somebody, the special counsel, the house intel committee, the senate intel committee, could figure out whether tapes exist. form/substance, i m not sure what we re arguing about here. at bottom, let s start with the first thing. before we get to the tapes, bottom, both men could be telling the truth. the president is correct to say
this interaction took place. the president never in form or substance directed or suggested that mr. comey stop investigating anyone. reporter: while simultaneously celebrating other parts of comey s testimony. mr. comey has finally confirmed publicly what he repeatedly told the president privately. that is that the president was not under investigation as part of the probe into russian interference. reporter: still unclear whether the president actually recorded their conversations as he suggested on twitter after firing comey. i have seen the tweet about tapes. lordy, i hope there are tapes. reporter: the president s lawyer sharply criticizing this admission from the former fbi director. i asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. i did not do it myself for a number of reasons. i asked him to. i thought that may prompt a