The 6 Most Remarkable Quotes from James Comey's Prepared Statement for This Week's Senate Hearing @alternet:
"2. Trump: “I Need Loyalty, I Expect Loyalty” About a January 27 dinner at the White House, Comey felt pressured. “The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director, which I found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him that I intended to. … A few moments later, the President said, 'I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.' I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence.” 3. Trump: “I Hope You Can Let This Go” After a February 14 Oval Office meeting, Comey and his colleagues decided they would not follow the president's wishes. "The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn, saying, 'He is a 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.' … "[After the meeting] I immediately prepared an unclassified memo of the conversation about Flynn and discussed the matter with FBI senior leadership. … it was very concerning, given the FBI’s role as an independent investigative agency. The FBI leadership team agreed with me that it was important not to infect the investigative team with the President’s request, which we did not intend to abide"."
