Marc Kasowitz, President Donald Trump's outside counsel, is pictured in 2005. Trump's lawyer attacks Comey for disclosing content of memos

President Donald Trump’s outside counsel on Thursday attacked former FBI Director James Comey for disclosing the content of memos he kept of his conversations with Trump and said the White House will let the authorities determine whether to investigate the ousted FBI chief.

Marc Kasowitz said in a statement following Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier Thursday that he “admitted” to sharing the contents of the memos to a personal friend, who then leaked it to the press. It’s unclear if such a disclosure would be a violation.


“Today, Mr. Comey admitted that he unilaterally and surreptitiously made unauthorized disclosures to the press of privileged communications with the president,” Kasowitz said. “We will leave it to the appropriate authorities to determine whether these leaks should be investigated along with all those others being investigated.”

Comey, who kept notes after his interactions with the president, told lawmakers that he shared memos with a friend, with the idea that such a disclosure could lead to a special prosecutor.

“My judgment was, I need to get that out into the public square. 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. I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.”

In his statement, Kasowitz maintained that Comey’s testimony “finally confirmed” what Trump has said: that he is not personally under investigation by the FBI, which is looking into possible collusion between Trump associates and Russian officials during the presidential campaign.

Kasowitz said Trump “never sought to impede the investigation into attempted Russian interference,” “never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone” and “never pressured Mr. Comey,” directly contradicting Comey’s testimony.

In a written statement released Wednesday afternoon, Comey detailed multiple occasions in which he interacted with the president, beginning with a Jan. 6 briefing at Trump Tower and ending with an April 11 phone call.

Comey alleged that Trump had pressured him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn and asked him for his loyalty. Kasowitz argued, however, that Trump never demanded Comey’s loyalty and suggested Comey leaked memos as revenge for his abrupt dismissal.

“Of course, the Office of the President is entitled to expect loyalty from those who are serving in an administration, and, from before this president took office to this day, it is overwhelmingly clear that there have been and continue to be those in government who are actively attempting to undermine this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified information and privileged communications,” he added.

Trump had ominously hinted at “tapes” of his conversations with Comey, warning in a tweet last month that Comey “better hope” none exist before he starts leaking to the media. White House aides have been unable to confirm whether a secret recording device or system exists in the Oval Office, with deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders telling reporters on Thursday she has “no idea.”

Comey told lawmakers, “Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” later explaining that the tweet sparked a thought to leak his memos.

“Although Mr. Comey testified he only leaked the memos in response to a tweet, the public record reveals that the New York Times was quoting from these memos the day before the referenced tweet, which belies Mr. Comey’s excuse for this unauthorized disclosure of privileged information and appears to entirely retaliatory,” Kasowitz said.

Trump’s “tapes” tweet came on May 12. The New York Times reported on Comey’s Trump-Flynn memo on May 16, although the newspaper also reported on May 11 that Trump had demanded Comey’s loyalty. The May 11 report, however, made no mention of any memos.