At his joint news conference with the Romanian president, reporters will have their first formal opportunity to ask Trump for his response to Comey' s testimony Thursday
President Trump on Friday afternoon will hold his first press conference since fired FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday. Mr. Trump will appear at a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is in Washington, D. C., to discuss defense issues with Mr. Trump.
President Trump set himself up to possibly testify under oath about his conversations with Comey and the circumstances surrounding Comey’s firing.
Mr. Trump said he would “100 percent” testify under oath if called upon, and that he would speak with special prosecutor in the FBI’s Russia probe Robert Mueller.
“I would be glad to tell him exactly what I just told you, ” Mr. Trump told reporters.
Mr. Trump reiterated that he never told Mr Comey to drop his investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. But, if he had, there wouldn’t be anything wrong with that, Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump answered a question about whether he supports Article 5 in NATO, but dodged a question about whether he agrees with many NATO nations that Russia is a threat to security.
The president said he is “committing” the U. S. to Article 5. That article provides that if a NATO ally is victim of an armed attack, all NATO allies will consider it an act of violence and take necessary actions.
Mr. Trump ignored the portion of a question about whether he views Russia as a threat, like many NATO nations near Russia do.
President Trump dodged questions about whether tapes of his conversations with Comey exist, saying he would divulge more information about that in the “near future.” Mr. Trump stood by his past statements, turning the table on Comey and saying some of the former FBI director’s testimony was simply untrue.
The president also said Comey’s testimony confirmed much of what he has said in the past — such as that he personally wasn’t under investigation.
“No collusion. No obstruction. He’s a leaker, ” Mr. Trump said of Comey and Comey’s testimony.
President Trump took a hard line on Qatar, moments after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Saudi Arabia and Egypt to ease a blockade on Qatar, creating a seeming messing conflict within the Trump administration. Mr. Trump criticized Qatar for being a “funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
The president said Qatar must end its support for extremism, along with “all other nations.”
“I won’t name other countries, ” Mr. Trump said.
Standing by Romania’s president, Mr. Trump thanked Romania for its participation in the fight against terrorism.
“Romania has been a valuable member oft the coalition to defeat ISIS, ” Mr. Trump said.
