Fired FBI director James Comey insisted Wednesday that he was right to start investigating Donald Trump and his campaign over potential collusion with Russia saying: 'However could the FBI leave that alone?'

Comey told NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt that he stood by his decision in July 2016, despite Robert Mueller being revealed this weekend to have found no evidence of collusion.

In his first interview since Attorney General Bill Barr published a four-page summary of Mueller's report, Comey said he was 'confused' about how Trump came to be cleared of obstruction of justice, and about why the president had not been subpoenaed for an interview by the special counsel.

He also accused Trump of a campaign to 'burn down an institution of justice because he saw it as a threat', and accused him of 'terrible' lies about himself, the FBI and Mueller.

'The investigation had to happen,' Comey said.

'It would have been irresponsible not to investigate. And we don't investigate, despite what the partisans say, to find a particular result. We investigate to find out what's true, and as best I can tell, looks like Bob Mueller was allowed to do that, and that's a great thing.'

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Speaking out: James Comey broke his silence in an interview with Lester Holt which came just three days after Trump proclaimed himself 'exonerated' by Mueller

No regrets: James Comey says that his investigation of Donald Trump was the right thing to do and says: 'Obviously there was overwhelming evidence the Russians were interfering in the election to hurt one candidate and help the other.'

Trump declared himself 'exonerated' by the Mueller report's findings on Sunday and said 'no president should have to endure' a similar investigation.

But Comey fired back, saying the FBI had 'smoke' - and offered an analogy with the Iranians attempting to get Barack Obama elected which is certain to provoke fury in the Oval Office.

'There was smoke and enough smoke to justify investigating,' he said.

'Obviously there was overwhelming evidence the Russians were interfering in the election to hurt one candidate and help the other.

'Whether Americans were conspiring with him, I didn't know but we had to look at that.'

He went on: 'I don't know what people are thinking saying "we shouldn't have investigated."

'Remember where this started. Late July of the election year, we knew the Russians were engaged in a massive effort to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump.

'And then we learn that a trump campaign adviser had spoken to a Russian operative about the dirt they had on Hillary Clinton. Before any of us knew anything about it. How on Earth would the FBI leave that alone?'

Asked by Holt to respond to Trump's demand that such an investigation should 'never, ever again happen to an American president, Comey hit back.

Obviously there was overwhelming evidence the Russians were interfering in the election to hurt one candidate and help the other. Whether Americans were conspiring with him, I didn't know but we had to look at that.'

'Close your eyes. Again, change the names. Let me make one up for you. The Iranians - this is totally made up,' he said.

'The Iranians interfere in the election to help elect Barack Obama because they think they'll get a better nuclear deal from him.

'And during that election an Obama aide meets with the Iranians and talks about the dirt they have that will help Obama get elected. And the FBI finds out about that. We should not investigate that?

'And then president Obama's national security adviser lies to the FBI about his contacts with the Iranians, and then the president, Obama, asks me to drop an investigation of that and then fires me and says, "I was thinking of the Iranians then."

'Thing he invites the mullahs to the Oval Office and tells them, that FBI director was a real nutjob, I lifted a lot of pressure by firing him.

'Who on Earth doesn't think the FBI should investigate that in the hypocrisy is revealed just by changing the names? The FBI did what it absolutely had to do.'

Comey also attacked the reasoning behind Barr clearing Trump of obstruction of justice - that there was no 'underlying crime' because Mueller had not proved there was collusion.

'That's just not been my experience as a prosecutor for decades,' he said.

'Every day in this country people are prosecuted for obstructing justice, to avoid embarrassment, to avoid harm to their business, to avoid threats to their families, where there isn't an underlying crime that they committed.

'You wouldn't want it any other way, because if you always had to prove the underlying crime, you would create incentives to obstruct, because people get away with both if they successfully stop an investigation.'

Comey said he believed Mueller was supposed to conclude whether there was obstruction of justice and said: 'I don't know why he didn't here.

'I don't know what combination of law and fact led him to that. Which is why I'm going to wait and hear the explanation, which I hope will come.'

Comey told Holt that he had come to believe his firing was 'potential obstruction of justice' after the same anchor's interview with Trump in May 2017, shortly after he terminated Comey's service as FBI director.

In that interview Trump told Holt: 'In fact, when I decided to just do it I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.'

Former FBI Director James Comey on his firing: "I thought that's potentially obstruction of justice"



Watch his exclusive interview with @LesterHoltNBC tonight on @NBCNightlyNews at 6:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. CT. pic.twitter.com/Mp67d0UZyA — NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) March 27, 2019

'Potentially obstruction of justice': James Comey said he watched Lester Holt's Mat 2017 interview with Trump in which the president spoke about why he fired the FBI director and thought: 'I hope somebody is going to look at that.'

Why? Comey old NBC News he was 'confused' about Robert Mueller leaving it to attorney general Bill Barr to decide if there was enough evidence of obstruction of justice to indict Trump

On Wednesday Comey said he had watched that and said: 'I thought that's potentially obstruction of justice.

'And I hope somebody is going to look at that. Again, the president appears to be saying - I don't know what's in his head, which is why I can't reach the conclusion - what he appears to be saying is, I got rid of this guy to shut down an investigation that threatened me.'

Comey said that until that point he had no real insight into why Trump fired him.

'Anything's possible with this president. It's possible he was lying to me when he told me earlier in the year how well I had handled the Clinton thing, and that I had taken a beating but behaved honorably,' he said.

'Maybe that was a lie and he really had harbored concern about my violating Department of Tustice norms or something. Doesn't seem like that to me. Then obviously his interview with you kind of put that to rest.'

Comey had already said that he can't 'quite understand' why Mueller let Donald Trump's attorney general decide whether the president obstructed justice.

Comey said Tuesday evening at a Queens University, in Charlotte, North Carolina, event that he found it baffling that Mueller left it up to the president's political appointees - Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein - to determine whether to prosecute Trump.

'The part that's confusing is, I can't quite understand what's going on with the obstruction stuff,' Comey said at the event, according to NBC News.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters that he will use her position as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to probe who was responsible for advancing the Trump-Russia narrative

Later on Sunday Graham tweeted at Comey, 'Could not agree more. See you soon.' implying the former FBI director may be called before congress to explain himself in the near future

Obama-era officials who are playing defense against the White House after Mueller ruled out 'collusion' Former FBI Director James Comey Comey’s conduct in both his handling of the Clinton email scandal and the Russia probe has already come under scrutiny by House Republican investigators. Now, with the delivery of the Mueller report, Comey could is facing a new pressure to explain his decisions. President Trump cited Comey’s conduct in the email probe as the reason he fired the longtime FBI official early in his presidency. Comey had himself announced in July 2016 the decision not to prosecute Clinton, even as he chided her for carelessness in her emails. After his firing, Comey delivered riveting testimony to Congress about what he took as pressure from Trump to ease off prosecution of National Security Advisor Mike Flynn. Now, Judiciary Chairman Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina wants to pursue the matter further. ‘Why did he take over the investigation in July, make a statement that she did a lot of bad things but not quite a crime. That did affect this election,’ said Graham on Monday. Former CIA Director John Brennan Brennan cast off his normally tight-lipped persona to become one of President Trump’s fiercest critics after he ended his tenure. In one example, he retweeted Trump in January, writing: ‘Your cabal of unprincipled, unethical, dishonest, and sycophantic cronies is being methodically brought to justice. We all know where this trail leads. If your utter incompetence is not enough to run you out of office, your increasingly obvious political corruption surely will.’ He predicted the Mueller probe could ensnare Trump family members. He predicted, incorrectly, that Mueller would bring additional indictments dealing with criminal conspiracy. Former FBI agent Peter Strzok Strzok was fired as one of the lead investigators on the Russia probe after his anti-Trump text exchanges with lover Lisa Page were revealed. After his texts were first uncovered during the course of an inspector general’s probe, Strzok was transferred to another position in human resources. When he was fired, Trump tweeted: ‘Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI — finally.’ In one infamous August 2016 text to Page, Strzok wrote about Page’s apparent contention in a meeting that there was ‘no way’ Trump would get elected. “It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before 40,’ he said. Republicans pointed to the email as signal of partisan origins of the probe, and cast the comment as a plan to keep Trump from becoming president. Strzok denied that interpretation, and defenders noted Strzok could have just been defending the need to open a counterintelligence probe even of someone unlikely to win. Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page Page was a high-level FBI lawyer who advised former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Like Strzok, she worked on both the Hillary Clinton email probe and the Russia probe. She resigned her post amid the inquiry into messages she exchanged with Strzok. In one piece of newly-revealed information, she told Congress the Obama Justice Department told investigators not to charge Clinton with gross negligence over her emails. 'We neither had sufficient evidence to charge gross negligence, nor had it ever been done, because the Department viewed it as constitutionally vague’ Page told a joint committee investigating the prosecutorial decisions. She said investigators had studied it because there was ‘potential’ for the charge. Former senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr Ohr came under scrutiny for his role in the transmission of information from the Steele dossier to the FBI. Ohr is a senior Justice Department official who had prior professional contacts going back years with former British Intelligence officer Christopher Steele. Steele famously authored what became known as the dossier about Russia contacts to Trump officials as well as unproven salacious allegations about the candidate. Ohr had a specialty that focused on organized and international crime. In addition, Ohr testified that he took additional information that was gathered by his wife, Nellie Ohr, who worked for Fusion GPS political intelligence firm. He told investigators she gave him a memory stick containing information she gathered on Russian figures. Trump has regularly attacked Ohr as a ‘disgrace’ on Twitter. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Clapper had early insights into the origins of the Russia probe. When he left office after the Obama administration, he took a job as a CNN commentator, and became a fierce critic of President Trump’s. Clapper, along with Brennan and others, who ended up on a list the White House compiled of officials whose security clearances would be revoked. The White House said it was to target people who made ‘baseless’ accusations or had ‘monetized’ their public service. "I think this is just a very, very petty thing to do,’ Clapper said afterward. GOP critics blasted his testimony had given to Congress about warrantless surveillance, claiming he may have perjured himself. Clapper denied at a 2013 Senate hearing that the NSA was not ‘wittingly’ collecting information on millions of Americans. ‘No, sir … Not wittingly,’ Clapper responded. Advertisement

'And I have great faith in Bob Mueller, but I just can't tell from the letter why didn't he decide these questions when the entire rationale for a special counsel is to make sure the politicals aren't making the key charging decisions.'

He amplified that in his interview with Holt, saying: 'The purpose of the special counsel is to make sure that the politicals, in this case the attorney general, don't make the ultimate call on whether the subject of the investigation, the president of the United States, should be held criminally liable for activities that were under investigation.

'And so the idea that a special counsel wouldn't reach the question and hand it to the political leadership doesn't make sense. I'm not prejudging it, I'm saying it doesn't make sense on its face, so I have a lot of questions.'

In the letter presenting Mueller's findings, new Attorney General Barr said it fell to him to decide whether Trump obstructed justice based on the special counsel's report and the underlying evidence.

Barr said he consulted with Rosenstein, and they determined together that the sitting president had no motive to obstruct the investigation that proved he wasn't guilty of collusion.

He said that 'to obtain and sustain an obstruction conviction, the government would need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person, acting with corrupt intent, engaged in obstructive conduct,' and he could not do that.

Despite the president assailing him as a 'bad' and 'corrupt' cop, he insisted he wasn't hoping that Trump would get caught red handed.

'I think it's good that he was able to finish the work and establish both that the Russia thing wasn't a hoax, that the husbands interfered in the election in a huge way, and that's really important, and another piece of good news, the evidence didn't establish that any Americans conspired as part of that effort,' he said.

'That should be good news no matter what party you're associated with.'

He added: 'We don't investigate, despite what the partisans say, to find a particular result. We investigate to find out what's true, and as best I can tell, looks like Bob Mueller was allowed to do that, and that's a great thing.'

Earlier this week Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham suggested in a tweet that he would summon Comey back in front of the panel for further questioning, and also said that he wanted to investigate the process which resulted in FISA warrants to eavesdrop on Trump campaign staff Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.

Republicans have aired claims that those warrants were based on the golden showers dossier drawn up by Christopher Steele, the British spy which has not been fully proven, and that the judges issuing the warrant were not told of its partisan background.

Steele was commissioned by opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was paid for its work first by an anti-Trump Republican, and then when Trump became the Republican candidate, by Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Comey said he was unconcerned about being questioned again but said he wanted the hearings to be in public.

'Look, it would be like going to the dentist. I don't love going to the dentist but I believe in going to the dentist,' he said.

'So if there are questions that haven't been answered in the hours and hours and hours of testimony I've given, of course I'll answer them.

'I want it all done in the light of day, though - no more secret depositions.

'Public hearings serve the public interest. So if there are questions to be asked about how we handled this investigation or any other, let me know when you want me.'



READ IN FULL: Attorney General Barr's letter to Congress summarizing the Mueller investigation findings Advertisement