Fired FBI Director James Comey will testify that President Trump repeatedly asked him to pledge his 'loyalty' during a one-on-one dinner inside the White House in January.

Describing the encounter in testimony in advance of his blockbuster testimony before a Senate panel on Thursday, Comey claims discomfort at the outset that the meal was 'an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship.'

Comey's testimony, released by the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday, goes on relay efforts by the president to push the then-FBI director to let go of an FBI investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn, to lift the 'cloud' that the Russia investigation was posing on his presidency, and to 'get out' information that he wasn't being personally investigated.

Drawing from detailed notes he kept after each encounter, Comey details Trump's efforts both to vouch for his own innocence – stating he had nothing to do with Russia and saying he had not been involved with hookers in Russia – and to discredit those who might potentially be causing a problem.

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Loyalty demand: James Comey says in written testimony that the president told him over dinner: 'I need loyalty. I expect loyalty.'

Focus of his presidency: The Comey testimony came as Trump tried to push his infrastructure plan, speaking in Cincinnati, Ohio, Wednesday

As the FBI and congressional committee probed contacts between his campaign and Russian officials, Trump said it would be good to know if 'satellite' associates of his had done something wrong, but repeatedly pressed Comey to state that he wasn't being investigated and stressed the burdens of the investigation.

Comey even details what could be interpreted as a threat from the president two weeks before he got fired. Trump told Comey he had been 'very loyal' to him, adding without explanation, 'We had that thing, you know.'

THE LOYALTY PLEDGE DEMAND

The testimony confirms earlier press reports that emerged following Comey's firing that that Trump pressed him for personal 'loyalty' even as a Russia investigation swirled around him.

The FBI director serves a 10-year term, something meant to insulate the position from executive interference, although a president has the authority to fire the director.

'That concerned me greatly, given the FBI's traditionally independent status in the executive branch,' Comey says in advance testimony.

'A few moments later, the President said, 'I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,' Comey plans to say.

'I didn't move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence.'

Then, Trump brought up the subject again.

'He then said, 'I need loyalty.' I replied, 'You will always get honesty from me.' He paused and then said, 'That's what I want, honest loyalty.' I paused, and then said, 'You will get that from me,' Comey plans to say, according to Senate Intelligence panel testimony.

Comey describes his first meeting with Trump at Trump Tower, where he was selected by members of the intelligence community to brief the president days before he took office on a dirty dossier and partially discredited of material he called 'salacious.'

'The president feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda,' Trump's personal lawyer Mark Kasowitz said in a statement following the testimony release.

THE 'GOLDEN SHOWER' DOSSIER

Trump brought up the matter again during their private White House dinner.

'During the dinner, the President returned to the salacious material I had briefed him about on January 6, and, as he had done previously, expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them,' Comey writes in his prepared testimony.

'He said he was considering ordering me to investigate the alleged incident to prove it didn't happen. I replied that he should give that careful thought because it might create a narrative that we were investigating him personally, which we weren't, and because it was very difficult to prove a negative,' Comey wrote.

Trump told him he would think about it and 'asked me to think about it.'

Comey, a lawyer known for being methodical and an effective bureaucratic force, also confirmed that he kept copious notes on his encounters with the president, buttressing press reports that were based on the notes.

'As was my practice for conversations with President Trump, I wrote a detailed memo about the dinner immediately afterwards and shared it with the senior leadership team of the FBI,' he writes.

'Good guy': How Trump described his sacked national security adviser Mike Flynn to James Comey, asking the then-FBI director to 'let this go'

LET THIS GO TRUMP SAID OF FLYNN

Comey also outlines a Feb. 14 meeting, shortly after Trump fired national security adviser Mike Flynn, where he says Trump vouched that Flynn was a 'good guy' and asked him to 'let this go' in reference to the FBI's Russia probe.

As Comey tells it, following an Oval Office meeting with multiple staff about counterterrorism, Trump told the group he wanted to meet with Comey alone.

'When the door by the grandfather clock closed, and we were alone, the President began by saying, 'I want to talk about Mike Flynn,' Comey writes, noting Flynn had resigned a day earlier.

Comey is set to deliver bombshell testimony on Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee

The president called Comey to complain that the Russia investigation had his administration under a 'cloud' and asked him to 'get out' that he wasn't personally under investigation

'The President began by saying Flynn hadn't done anything wrong in speaking with the Russians, but he had to let him go because he had misled the Vice President,' according to Comey. 'He added that he had other concerns about Flynn, which he did not then specify.'

Trump then returned to Flynn, telling Comey 'He is a good guy and has been through a lot.'

According to Comey, 'He repeated that Flynn hadn't done anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President.'

'He then said, 'I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,' according to Comey.

Trump told him: 'He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.'

Comey writes that he replied only that 'he is a good guy,' and that he in fact had had a positivie experience with him when he was director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Obama (a post from which Obama fired him).

'I did not say I would 'let this go,' Comey writes.

COMEY DID TELL TRUMP HE WASN'T BEING PROBED

Comey also appears to partially validate at least one claim by Trump – that he told him he wasn't under investigation – although Comey only mentions one occasion, not the three assurances Trump claimed Comey gave him in the letter he wrote dismissing the FBI director.

Comey gave the assurance without being asked about it by the president.

'Because the nature of the hostile foreign nation is well known, counterintelligence investigations tend to be centered on individuals the FBI suspects to be witting or unwitting agents of that foreign power,' Comey explains at the top of his letter.

This includes those 'targeted for recruitment by a foreign power' or those acting covertly.

'Counterintelligence investigations tend to be centered on individuals the FBI suspects to be witting or unwitting agents of that foreign power,' Comey will testify. Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak speaks during a chess tournament at the Russian embassy May 13, 2017 in Washington, DC

'In that context, prior to the January 6 meeting, I discussed with the FBI's leadership team whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally.'

'That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him,' Trump will testify. 'During our one-on-one meeting at Trump Tower, based on President-elect Trump's reaction to the briefing and without him directly asking the question, I offered that assurance,' Comey says.

FBI BOSS KEPT NOTES

'I felt compelled to document my first conversation with the President-Elect in a memo,' Comey wrote – noting this is not something he did during his two meetings with President Obama.

'To ensure accuracy, I began to type it on a laptop in an FBI vehicle outside Trump Tower the moment I walked out of the meeting. Creating written records immediately after one-on-one conversations with Mr. Trump was my practice from that point forward.'

'This had not been my practice in the past,' he noted. 'I spoke alone with President Obama twice in person (and never on the phone) – once in 2015 to discuss law enforcement policy issues and a second time, briefly, for him to say goodbye in late 2016. In neither of those circumstances did I memorialize the discussions.'

'I can recall nine one-on-one conversations with President Trump in four months – three in person and six on the phone,' Comey will say.

READ THE BOMBSHELL TESTIMONY IN FULL

LIFT 'THE CLOUD' – 'NO INVOLVEMENT WITH HOOKERS'

Comey describes a March 30 phone call where the president describes the Russia investigation as 'a cloud' that was impairing his ability to do his job.

During the call, the president returned to one of the most salacious and discredited allegations of the dossier, based on research by a retired British intelligence officer that wasn't verified – that the Russians had compromising material on him involving a golden shower with hookers in a Moscow hotel room.

'He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia. He asked what we could do to 'lift the cloud,' Comey writes.

By arguing that he assumed he was bugged, Trump was suggesting he would never have engaged in some of the conduct alleged in the dirty dossier.

'I responded that we were investigating the matter as quickly as we could, and that there would be great benefit, if we didn't find anything, to our having done the work well. He agreed, but then re-emphasized the problems this was causing him.'

'He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia,' Comey says Trump told him

When Comey told Trump that he had briefed Congress about who was being probed and that Trump wasn't among them, the president responded: 'We need to get that fact out.'

With multiple Trump associates already under scrutiny for Russia contacts, Trump 'went on to say that if there were some 'satellite' associates of his who did something wrong, it would be good to find that out, but that he hadn't done anything wrong and hoped I would find a way to get it out that we weren't investigating him.'

In just one odd detail, Trump brought up now-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, referencing a Clinton connection in his background, although Comey vouched that McCabe was 'honorable'

Trump said it would be good to know if 'satellite' associates of his had done something wrong. Campaign officials including former campaign chair Paul Manafort have come under investigation

Trump also brought up information that might tarnish a leading FBI figure, Andrew McCabe, who became acting director with Comey's firing.

Trump said he 'hadn't brought up 'the McCabe thing,' which he then did, noting that Clinton-linked Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe had given him campaign money (Comey writes that he assumes Trump meant McAuliffe had given funds to McCabe's wife).

After the call, where Trump once again mentioned the 'cloud,' Comey immediately called Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente.

PARTING THREAT?

Another summary details what could be interpreted as a threat from the president two weeks before he got fired.

Comey writes that Trump called him on April 11 to ask what he had done to 'get out' information that he wasn't personally under investigation.

He said the 'cloud' was getting in the way of his ability to do his job. Trump then said perhaps he would have his people reach out to the acting deputy attorney general to follow up, something Comey said was the way to handle it.

Trump told Comey he had been 'very loyal' to him, adding without explanation, 'We had that thing, you know.'

'He said he would do that and added, 'Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know.''

Comey continued: 'I did not reply or ask him what he meant by 'that thing.' I said only that the way to handle it was to have the White House Counsel call the Acting Deputy Attorney General. He said that was what he would do and the call ended.'

'That was the last time I spoke with President Trump,' he concluded.

President Trump, returning from a trip to the White House after a trip to Cincinnati, didn't answer questions about the bombshell document.

'Are you concerned about James Comey's testimony?' asked one reporter. The president smiled and gave a thumb's up.

Comey requested that the remarks be released in advance on Wednesday, CBS news reported. A source close to Comey told the network, 'this is the way he wanted it to play out.'

The move ensured he got two days of media coverage, brought attention to his own remarks instead of questioning from the committee, and preempted any last-ditch effort to block his appearance.

The testimony 'confirms a host of troubling allegations concerning the President's conduct,' House intelligence committee ranking Democrat Adam Schiff said.

'Two stand out: The President sought to obtain a pledge of loyalty from the Director of the FBI during a conversation that centered on whether the Director would be able to keep his job,' Schiff said. 'And second, the President effectively asked the Director to drop the investigation of his former National Security Advisor.'

'It is not the Director's job to lift the cloud of suspicion over the President's conduct or that of his associates,' said Schiff. 'The request by the President ... represents yet another improper effort to coerce the intelligence agencies to do public relations for the White House and to undermine the independence and integrity of the intelligence community.'

According to a statement from RNC chair Ronna McDaniel: 'President Trump was right. Director Comey’s statement reconfirmed what the president has been saying all along - he was never under investigation.'