In his Senate testimony on Thursday, James Comey revealed several bombshell details about his exchanges with President Trump, including that he had leaked information about their meetings. Though the president remained conspicuously silent throughout the hearing, Trump's lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, accused Comey retaliating against the president and floated the possibility of an investigation into his leaks.
In a press conference after the Senate hearing, Kasowitz highlighted Comey's remarks about the president not being under investigation, and accused the former FBI director of "unauthorized disclosures" of "privileged communications" he had with the president.
Kasowitz also threw a jab at the media — "false press accounts" — for reporting on the Trump-Russia investigation, and denied Comey's claim that Trump demanded his loyalty. "The president never told Comey, 'I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,' in form or substance," he said, adding that Trump, however, is "entitled to expect loyalty" from those serving in his administration.
Kasowitz went on to criticize Comey for leaking information about his communications with Trump. "Comey's excuse for this unauthorized disclosure of privileged information [...] appears to be entirely retaliatory," he said. "We will leave it [to] the appropriate authorities to determine whether this leaks [sic] should be investigated along with all those others being investigated."
Kasowitz also pointed his finger at "those in government who are actively attempting to undermine this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified information and privileged communications." He added, "Mr. Comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers."
Trump's lawyer said that Comey "admitted that he leaked to friends his purported memos of these privileged conversations, one of which he testified was classified" and that Comey "also testified that immediately after he was terminated, he authorized his friends to leak the contents of these memos to the press in order to 'prompt the appointment of a special counsel.'"
Kasowitz's statement reached its conclusion on the note that it was now "established" that Trump was out of the crosshairs of the FBI's inquiry. The statement said, "It is now established that the President was not being investigated for colluding with the Russians or attempting to obstruct that investigation." He said that "these important facts for the country to know are virtually the only facts that have not leaked" during the FBI investigation.
The statement ended on Kasowitz highlighting that Trump felt "completely vindicated" and ready to move on with "this public cloud" out of the way.
