Ex-CIA chief: No ‘smoking gun’ in Comey statement

Former CIA Director James Woolsey says that he sees no “smoking gun” in former FBI Director James Comey’s account of his past meetings with President Trump.

“I don’t think it’s a smoking gun,” Woolsey, a former CIA chief under President Bill Clinton who resigned from Trump’s transition team, said Wednesday on Fox Business Network’s “The Intelligence Report.”

“It could have been a josh,” Woolsey suggested of Comey’s claim Trump asked for the former FBI director’s loyalty. “I mean, it could have been, you know, kidding.

“There are lots of different ways that could be taken. I don’t think that’s a highly damaging or difficult matter.”

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Comey provided a dramatic, detailed account of his encounters with Trump in an opening statement released ahead of his hotly anticipated testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

The former FBI director confirmed in the statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee that Trump asked him to “let go” of the probe of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Comey also affirms that Trump asked for his loyalty during a separate conversation that occurred at a White House dinner in January.

“I need loyalty,” Trump said, according to Comey. “I expect loyalty.”

Comey allowed that Trump would get “honest loyalty” from him once the president returned to the topic later in their meal.

“The term — honest loyalty — had helped end a very awkward conversation and my explanations had made clear what he should expect,” Comey added in his testimony.

Trump abruptly fired Comey last month, prompting speculation over the timing of the ouster as it came amid the FBI’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which includes possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.