FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, CNN reports, told the House Intelligence Committee that former FBI Director James Comey informed him of his conversations earlier this year with President Trump shortly after they occurred, a revelation that could play a key role in the building of an obstruction of justice case against the president. At the heart of the matter is a Jan. 27th dinner at the White House where the then-FBI director says Trump told him: “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty.”

Later, in February, Comey says Trump asked him to go easy on former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn during an Oval Office meeting. “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Trump told Comey. “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” By May, however, Trump had fired Comey and denied asking Comey, who was at the time overseeing the investigation into Russia’s election meddling and the Trump campaign’s ties to Moscow, to pledge his loyalty. Comey also recounted that Trump asked him he wanted to keep his job, which concerned the FBI director that president was trying to establish “some sort of patronage relationship.”

James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

“The testimony suggests McCabe could corroborate Comey’s account, including Trump’s ask that Comey show him loyalty, which the President has strongly disputed,” CNN reports. “Comey previously testified that he briefed some of his senior colleagues at the FBI about this conversation with Trump.” Comey also wrote contemporaneous memos of his interactions with Trump; an FBI agent’s contemporaneous are widely admissible in court as credible evidence.