Might as well get this out here. Comey's written statement is up:
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/...mey-060817.pdf
This is not going to go well for the Democrats. There are a few select quotes that one could interpret as pressure, but not in the way Politicians speak.
The gist is - Trump was being distracted by politically motivated "Russia, Russia, Russia" attacks and wanted this stop. Several times he asked to publicize findings or even further investigate the dossier. What's interesting is Trump calling people directly - like a business CEO would. What do you mean I have to call the Deputy AG to talk to you, don't you work for me? Seems more like not understanding how government works (and to be fair, probably should work).
Let's pick out the choice quotes though:
Quote:
During the dinner, the President returned to the salacious material I had briefed him about on January 6, and, as he had done previously, expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them. He said he was considering ordering me to investigate the alleged incident to prove it didn’t happen. I replied that he should give that careful thought because it might create a narrative that we were investigating him personally, which we weren’t, and because it was very difficult to prove a negative. He said he would think about it and asked me to think about it.
Quote:
The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn, saying, “He is a good guy and has been through a lot.” He repeated that Flynn hadn’t done
anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President. He then said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” I replied only that “he is a good guy.” (In fact, I had a positive experience dealing with Mike Flynn when he was a colleague as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the beginning of my term at FBI.) I did not say I would “let this go.”
Quote:
I did not understand the President to be talking about the broader
investigation into Russia or possible links to his campaign. I could be wrong, but I took him to be focusing on what had just happened with Flynn’s departure and the controversy around his account of his phone calls. Regardless, it was very concerning, given the FBI’s role as an independent investigative agency.
Quote:
He replied that “the cloud” was getting in the way of his ability to do his job. He said that perhaps he would have his people reach out to the Acting Deputy Attorney General. I said that was the way his request should be handled. I said the White House Counsel should contact the leadership of DOJ to make the request, which was the traditional channel.
Now, where did Comey put those Clinton memos?