President Donald Trump is claiming “total and complete vindication” the day after former FBI Director James Comey testified on Capitol Hill.

In his testimony, Comey was clear that the President was never an explicit subject of the Russia probe — but he also said Trump’s private comments urging him to drop the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn led him to tell his Justice Department colleagues they needed to be careful.

“Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.

Comey disclosed Thursday that he provided the content of memos regarding meetings between himself and the President to a friend, who then disseminated the information to the media.

Trump’s outside lawyer insisted Thursday that it was Comey who lied when he detailed conversations between himself and the President, raising the suggestion that Comey committed perjury while testifying under oath. </s> President Donald Trump refused to make a declarative statement about the alleged tapes of his meeting with former FBI Director James Comey that may or may not exist.

"I'll tell you something about that maybe sometime in the very near future," Trump said when asked about the purported existence of the tapes during a joint news conference with the president of Romania at the White House today.

"I'll tell you about it over a short period of time. I'm not hinting at anything," he said.

"You're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer," he said.

Trump was the first person to suggest that there may be recordings of his conversations with Comey after tweeting that Comey should be afraid of the possible recordings being released.

"James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" Trump wrote in a May 12 tweet.

Trump also denied ever asking Comey to "let" the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn go or asking for Comey's loyalty, both of which Comey said under oath during testimony at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday.

"I didn't say that. I will tell you, I didn't say that," he told ABC News' chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl about the Flynn investigation claims.

"And there would be nothing wrong if I did say it according to everybody that I read today but I did not say that," he added.

When asked about the alleged loyalty pledge, Trump denied ever having made such a move.

"I hardly know the man. I'm not going to say I want you to pledge allegiance. What would do that. Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath. Think of that. I hardly know the man," Trump said.

At a different point during the news conference, Trump said he would "100 percent" be willing to testify under oath, and went on to criticize Comey's testimony.

"In the meantime, no collusion, no obstruction. He's a leaker. But we want to get back to running our great country. Jobs, trade deficits. We want them to disappear fast. North Korea, big problem. Middle East, a big problem," Trump said.

"So that's what I am focused on. That's what I have been focused on. But yesterday showed no collusion, no obstruction. We are doing very well. It's almost impossible for the Democrats to lose the electoral college, as you know. You have to run up the whole east coast and win everything as a Republican and that's what we did. So it was just an excuse. But we were very, very happy and, frankly, James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said and some of the things that he said just weren't true," he said. </s> WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump broke his silence, taking to Twitter to respond to former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Early Friday morning, the President tweeted, “Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!”

In his testimony, Comey was clear that the President was never an explicit subject of the Russia probe — but he also said Trump’s private comments led him to tell his Justice Department colleagues they needed to be careful.

Comey disclosed Thursday that he provided the content of memos regarding meetings between himself and the President to a friend, who then disseminated the information to the media.

Trump’s outside lawyer insisted Thursday that it was Comey who lied when he detailed conversations between himself and the President, raising the suggestion that Comey committed perjury while testifying under oath. </s> “Despite so many false statements and lies,” the president of the United States tweeted Friday, “total and complete vindication… and WOW, Comey is a leaker!”

To be clear: on the one hand, Donald Trump alleges that the former director of the FBI, James Comey, perjured himself in sworn testimony before the Senate Intelligence committee — testimony based on his detailed contemporaneous memos of his conversations with him. On the other hand, the same testimony offers “total and complete vindication” of his conduct. </s> Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Former FBI Director James Comey has begun testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday in relation to its investigation into possible connections between the Russian government and President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

In a prepared statement he’s reading to the committee that was released Wednesday, Comey describes a series of uncomfortable interactions with Trump, in which he says the president requested his loyalty and pressed him to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Some of the allegations in Comey’s statement have been directly contradicted by the White House in the past. On May 12, White House press secretary Sean Spicer rejected the notion that Trump ever asked Comey to pledge loyalty, and on May 18 Trump himself said he never urged Comey to back off the investigation into Flynn.

“The president disputes that he ever asked for Jim Comey’s loyalty and he disputes that he ever asked Comey to let the Flynn investigation go in any way,” a source familiar with the president’s thinking told ABC News Thursday.

ABC News has learned that Trump will be watching Comey’s hearing and testimony Thursday with his legal team and senior advisers from the president’s personal dining room near the Oval Office in the White House.

On May 9, Trump fired Comey from his position as FBI director after receiving letters recommending he do so from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Sources told ABC News that the firing came as a surprise to Comey, which is part of the story he plans to tell Thursday before the committee. As one source said, he was “angry” and wants the public to know why.

ABC News reported earlier this week that Comey’s congressional testimony would make the White House uncomfortable, but that Comey won’t say the president directly interfered in the FBI’s probe into Flynn.

Prior to Comey’s testimony Thursday, a person close to the former FBI director told ABC News he was prepared and calm.

“That’s what happens when you are armed with the truth; it washes all over you,” the individual told ABC News. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — Punching back a day after his fired FBI director’s damaging testimony, President Donald Trump accused James Comey of lying to Congress and said he was “100 percent” willing to testify under oath about their conversations.

Trump cryptically refused to say whether those private exchanges were taped — a matter at the heart of the conflicting accounts of what passed between them at a time when Comey was leading an FBI investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election and its ties to the Trump campaign.

He asserted that nothing in Comey’s testimony to the Senate pointed to collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. “Yesterday showed no collusion, no obstruction,” Trump said.

He further denied ever asking Comey for his “loyalty,” contradicting Comey’s detailed sworn testimony about a private dinner the two men had in the White House.

“No I didn’t say that,” Trump stated abruptly, taking questions Friday at a joint press conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in the Rose Garden. Asked if he would make that denial under oath, he said, “100 percent.”

Trump’s aides have dodged questions about whether conversations relevant to the Russia investigation have been recorded, and so did the president, in a series of teases.

“Well, I’ll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future,” Trump said. Pressed on the issue, he insisted he wasn’t “hinting anything,” before adding, “Oh you’re going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer, don’t worry.”

The House intelligence committee sent a letter Friday asking White House counsel Don McGahn whether any tape recordings or memos of Comey’s conversations with the president exist now or had existed in the past. The committee also sent a letter to Comey asking for any notes or memos in his possession about the discussions he had with Trump before being abruptly fired last month. The committee is seeking the materials by June 23.

Comey told the Senate intelligence committee Thursday about several one-on-one interactions with the president, during which he said Trump pressed him to show “loyalty,” to back off on the FBI investigation of his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and to disclose that Trump himself was not under investigation.

Comey said he refused on all points, told senators of the detailed memos he had written after his conversations with Trump and said he hoped those conversations were taped because he is confident of their veracity.

Standing with the president of Romania, a NATO partner, Trump at last confirmed his commitment to the alliance’s mutual defense pact, Article 5, uttering words he deliberately did not say when he spoke at NATO’s gathering in Belgium last month. On Friday he said he was “committing the United States to Article 5.”

He also accused Qatar, a key U.S. military partner, of funding terrorism “at a very high level,” and said solving the problem in the tiny Persian Gulf nation could be “the beginning of the end of terrorism.” It was a forceful endorsement of this week’s move by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to cut off ties to Qatar, but a very different message from the one delivered just an hour before by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Tillerson had called on the Arab nations to immediately ease their blockade on Qatar.

Trump also saluted the United States’ relationship with Romania and praised its contribution to the global fight against terror.

The president had previewed his attacks against Comey in an early-morning tweet that broke his previous day’s silence on his favorite social media megaphone.

“Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication,” Trump wrote. It was a stunning accusation, suggesting that the former FBI director had lied to Congress, while under oath.

He also seized on Comey’s revelation that he had directed a friend to release contents of memos he’d written documenting his conversations with the president to a reporter.

“…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” Trump wrote at 6:10 a.m. He derisively repeated the “leaker” moniker when speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden.

Trump’s private attorney, Marc Kasowitz, seized on Comey’s admission that he had orchestrated the public release of the information. Kasowitz is expected to file a complaint with the Justice Department inspector general next week, according to a person close to the legal team who agreed to speak before the filing on condition that the person’s name is not used.

Sen. Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, and Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, both said Thursday they believed Comey’s account of the events.

“And I think you saw today the overwhelming majority of the intel members, Democrats and Republicans, feel that Jim Comey is credible. Even folks who have been his critics don’t question his integrity, his commitment to the rule of law and his intelligence,” Warner said.

Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Mary Clare Jalonick, Josh Lederman and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report. </s> FILE - In this May 3, 2017, file photo, then-FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing: "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Comey will testify that President Donald Trump sought his "loyalty" and asked what could be done to "lift the cloud" of investigation shadowing his White House, according to prepared remarks released ahead of his appearance on Capitol Hill on June 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) </s> Donald Trump Jr., shown here at the 2016 Republican National Convention, on Thursday tweeted a defense of his father against allegations from former FBI director James Comey. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

President Donald Trump has yet to offer a reaction to explosive testimony from former FBI director James Comey. But his son has now chimed in, using an expletive to describe Comey’s account.

“Flynn stuff is BS,” the younger Trump wrote, referring to Comey’s allegation that the president tried to coerce him, during a one-on-one meeting, to drop an investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

In contrast, Trump Jr. described the conversation, a central part of Comey’s testimony, as, “2 guys talking about a guy they both know well.”

Comey alleged that Trump had demanded his loyalty and asked him to end the Flynn investigation, saying, “I hope you can let this go,” according to Comey’s prepared statements.

“I hear ‘I hope nothing happens but you have to do your job,’ he tweeted. In subsequent tweets, he said the interaction, as Comey had described it, was, “very far from any kind of coercion or influence, and certainly not obstruction.”

“Knowing my father for 39 years when he ‘orders or tells’ you to do something there is no ambiguity, you will know exactly what he means,” he Tweeted.

Trump was widely expected to live-tweet his reaction to Comey’s testimony but has not updated his personal account since early Wednesday morning, when he tweeted about that day’s trip to Ohio.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that the president was planning to refute Comey’s claim that Trump asked him for loyalty and his depiction of the Flynn conversation.

Trump Jr.’s Tweets about the Flynn exchange are below. </s> U.S. President Donald Trump admitted Thursday he did not record conversations he had with then-FBI director James Comey.

Trump took to social media Thursday afternoon and confirmed he did not make “any such recordings.”

With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea…” the president tweeted. “…whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.”

On May 12, Trump suggested he may have recorded conversations between himself and Comey.

“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” the president tweeted.

Comey testified earlier this month at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing investigating possible connections between the Trump administration and Russia.

Comey said Trump had asked him to pledge his loyalty to the president and to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey said he believes he was fired as a result of the FBI investigation.

READ MORE: Donald Trump appears to confirm he’s being investigated for obstruction of justice

“Guess I don’t know for sure. I believe the — I take the president at his word, that I was fired because of the Russia investigation,” Comey testified while under oath.

Trump had said Comey’s firing was the result of the FBI being in “turmoil.”

“The FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that, everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil — less than a year ago. It hasn’t recovered from that,” Trump said in an interview with NBC.

Trump had previously said he terminated Comey based on a recommendation from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Comey said during his testimony he “was fired in some way to change, or the endeavour was to change, the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal, and not just because it involves me.”

Trump lashed out at Comey following the hearing, labelling the ex-FBI boss as a “leaker” after Comey admitted he gave a friend a written memo detailing a meeting he had with the president and asked the friend to give it to a reporter.

READ MORE: Watergate vs. Trump’s Russia scandal: How they stack up

“Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” Trump tweeted.

“I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter,” Comey said. “Didn’t do it myself for a variety of reasons but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel, so I asked a close friend of mine to do it.”
President Donald Trump claims that James Comey committed perjury during his testimony yesterday, and offers to give his own testimony, "under oath," refuting that he requested Comey to drop the Flynn investigation and that he had asked for Comey's allegiance.