US President Donald Trump intensified his effort to discredit former FBI director James Comey, accusing him of cowardice in leaking an eye-popping account of their private meetings.
In an angry early-morning tweet from his New Jersey golf club, Trump questioned Comey's character and whether he had broken the law in revealing their conversations.
It was unclear what Trump meant by "prevalent" in his tweets. Legal experts have questioned whether Comey's leak broke any law.
Comey had been leading an FBI investigation into several Trump aides and their contacts with the Russian government – which US intelligence agencies say tried to tilt the 2016 election in Trump's favor – before being fired.
After his dismissal, Comey leaked shocking details of a series of meetings with Trump, in which the president allegedly asked for Comey's "loyalty" and suggested that he shelve an FBI investigation into Trump's national security adviser.
Trump critics said that was evidence that the president may have obstructed justice, possible grounds for impeachment.
Do Tapes Exist Or Not?
The president has suggested several times, but not confirmed, that tapes of his private talks with Comey exist – a prospect the ex-FBI chief has emphatically welcomed.
A member of Trump's legal team, Jay Sekulow, told ABC that Trump would "address the issue of the tapes, whether the tapes exist or not, next week." The White House has repeatedly tried to shift the focus away from the content of Comey's allegations and onto the manner of their release.
Demand for Probe Strengthening?
But Trump's denunciations of Comey have only fueled demands that the president – who has denied asking for loyalty or urging that the investigation be shelved – give his account under oath.
On Friday, Trump indicated that he was willing to do that, a highly unusual step for a sitting president and one fraught with legal hazard.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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