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Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks during the press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, June 5, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Washington(ANN)-The White House has denounced fired FBI chief James Comey’s suggestions that the US president and his administration had lied in a bid to invalidate an investigation into ties with Russia.
“I can definitely say the president is not a liar and frankly am insulted by that question,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said during a briefing at the White House on Thursday.
Comey appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee for the first time on Thursday since he was fired in the midst of an ongoing investigation into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election, before and after Trump’s inauguration.
“Although the law required no reason at all to fire the FBI director, the administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly run, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader,” Comey testified.
“Those were lies, plain and simple,” he told the committee.
Trump: ‘We are going to win’
US President Donald Trump addresses supporters at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event in Washington DC on June 08, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Within minutes of the conclusion of Comey’s testimony, Trump told supporters in Washington, “We are going to fight and win”. He made no direct mention of the event that happened earlier on Capitol Hill.
Speaking to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, the Republican president said, “They will lie, they will obstruct, they will spread their hatred and their prejudice, but we will not back down from doing what is right.”
Trump added “we’re under siege,” noting that, “we will come out bigger and better and stronger than ever.”
On Wednesday, Trump’s lawyer said that the president felt “vindicated” by Comey’s prepared testimony because his statement backed up Trump’s claim that he wasn’t under investigation in the agency’s Russia probe.
“The president feels completely and totally vindicated,” Marc Kasowitz said in a statement. “He is eager to move forward with his agenda.”
Kasowitz is expected to give another statement Thursday afternoon on Comey’s testimony.
“The administration chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly run,” Comey concluded at the hearing.