James Comey defends Michael Flynn's interview by the FBI, according to the transcript



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The FBI interview with Flynn at the White House was the subject of a thorough review and criticism by Republicans after Flynn's lawyers questioned the context last week, although Flynn told a federal judge on Tuesday that he was responsible for his false statements about his contacts with him. Sergey Kislyak, Russian Ambassador to the United States.

A transcript of the testimony of Comey was made public Tuesday. The five-hour interview was conducted Monday by the oversight committees and courts of the House.

During the interview, President of the Observatory, Trey Gowdy, a Republican from South Carolina, explained to Comey the purpose of the interview.

"Unless I'm mistaken, the FBI does not have the job of correcting the misrepresentations that politicians say to themselves, so why did you send two officers to interview Michael Flynn?" Gowdy asked.

"Because one of the FBI's roles is to understand the efforts of foreign opponents to influence, coerce, corrupt the US government," replied Comey. "So they were sent there as part of this counterintelligence mission to try to understand why the national security adviser had apparently made false statements about his conversations with the Russians with the Vice President of National Security. United States." [19659002] Gowdy also told Comey about the comments he made at a forum in New York earlier this month, in which Comey informed the moderator of his decision to send two FBI agents in the White House without notifying the White House council office, which he "probably would not do". have made or may have fled with a more organized administration. "

" I'm just a bit suspended from the phrase "I ran away with," Gowdy told Comey on Monday in a private interview at Capitol Hill, according to

"In an administration where the pace of background between the FBI and the White House was more established, we strongly expected that we coordinate it through a White House lawyer directly the national security advisor. That's what I meant, "said Comey.

The House released the transcript of the testimony a day after Comey criticized the Republicans of Congress as he walked out of Monday's in-camera interview. It was made public by Republicans, following Comey's first appearance earlier this month, which was part of the agreement reached between Republicans and the former FBI director to obtain his testimony.

On leaving the interview Monday, Comey accused the Republicans of not having resisted President Donald Trump's attacks on the FBI.

"Those who know it best, including the Republican members of this body, must have the courage to stand up and tell the truth, and not be intimidated by wicked tweets or fear of their base. There is a truth and they do not say it, "Comey told reporters." Their silence is shameful. "

But Republicans had a radically different view of Comey's testimony and her public comments. The representative of North Carolina criticized Comey for saying that he assumes no responsibility for the tarnished reputation of the FBI.

"All you need to know about Dir The uplifting conference that Comey is addressing to Americans today is that he assumes no responsibility for the erosion of trust in the FBI and the MJ, "Meadows tweeted ." The generalized process of abuse and violation of the protocol has occurred under his watch. He refuses to be transparent to this topic. "
And Sarah Sanders, White House Press Secretary, responds by tweeting that" Republicans must stand up to Comey and his terrible corruption – ranging from the false Hillary investigation Clinton to lie
In Comey's first interview, he defended the way the FBI had handled investigations of Hillary Clinton and Russia, although Republicans expressed frustration that an FBI attorney had prevented Comey to answer some questions about the e Survey on Russia

This story has been updated and will continue to be updated on Tuesday with further developments.

CNN's Marshall Cohen, Laura Jarrett, Manu Raju and David Shortell contributed to this report.

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