James Comey. Drew Angerer/Getty Images WASHINGTON — Former FBI Director James Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that he felt President Donald Trump fired him "because of the Russia investigation," raising further questions about whether the president obstructed justice in dismissing Comey last month.

"I know I was fired because of something about the way I was conducting the Russia investigation," Comey told Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island. "I was in some way putting pressure on him, in some way irritating him, and he decided to fire me because of that."

He later added: "There's no doubt that it's a fair judgment — it's my judgment — that I was fired because of the Russia investigation. I was fired, in some way, to change, or the endeavor was to change, the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal, and not just because it involves me. The nature of the FBI, and the nature of its work, requires that it not be the subject of political consideration."

Comey told the committee in his opening remarks that he had been "confused" and became "increasingly concerned" by Trump's comments in the days after he was fired, which indicated that he had been dismissed because Trump wanted to "relieve pressure" from the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Moscow.

In an interview with NBC's Lester Holt shortly after firing Comey, Trump admitted that "the Russia thing" was on his mind when he fired Comey, adding that the FBI was in "turmoil" and in need of a new director. He acknowledged that he was going to fire Comey "regardless" of the recommendations given to him by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Comey's testimony raises questions about whether Trump obstructed justice in his interactions with the former FBI director, beginning with a dinner on January 27, during which Comey said Trump asked him for his "loyalty."

Experts told Business Insider on Wednesday that Comey's written remarks for testimony, published on the committee's website, "absolutely bolster the case for obstruction of justice."

Comey told the committee in both written and spoken testimony that Trump asked him during an Oval Office meeting on February 14 to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey told Sen. Jim Risch he took Trump's comment that it was his "hope" the investigation could be dropped "as a direction."

"I took it as: This is what he wants me to do," Comey told Risch. When Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked him to elaborate, he said that "the context and the president's words are what led me to that conclusion."

"Flynn had been forced to resign the day before, and the controversy around Gen. Flynn at that point in time was centered on whether he had lied to the vice president about the nature of his conversations with the Russians," Comey said. When they met on February 14, Comey said, "the president made specific reference to that. So that's why I understood him to be saying he wanted me to drop any investigation connected to Flynn's account of his conversations with the Russians."

Comey said he told the president that Flynn was "a good guy," but he wouldn't commit to dropping the probe. Asked why he didn't tell Trump in that moment that what he was requesting was unethical, Comey told Feinstein that he was "so stunned by the conversation that I just took it in."

He added that he did not tell Sessions about the conversation, which he took notes on, because he had information to suggest that Sessions would soon recuse himself from the investigation. But he told the committee he could not disclose that information in a public session.

Sessions recused himself in late February after reports surfaced that he had had more than one undisclosed conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Comey said he relayed the details of the conversation with his chief of staff, the FBI's deputy director, the bureau's general counsel, the deputy director's chief counsel, and the associate deputy director. The head of the FBI's national security branch was also apprised of the meeting, he said.

Comey told the committee that he documented his interactions with Trump in memos because he was "honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meetings, so I thought it really important to document."

Watch Comey's exchange with Reed: