President Donald Trump asked James Comey for “loyalty” four months before he fired him as Federal Bureau of Investigation director over what he called the “Russia thing”.
According to prepared remarks for his appearance before Congress on Thursday, Mr Comey said Mr Trump had also urged him to drop any investigation related to former national security adviser Michael Flynn having lied about talks with the Russian ambassador to the US.
Mr Comey said the request was “very concerning” given the FBI’s role as an independent agency. However, the former FBI chief will also make it clear that he did not believe that Mr Trump was trying to shut down a wider probe into connections between his presidential campaign aides and Russian officials.