被解雇的前联邦调查局局长提供证词

The recently fired director of the FBI, James Comey, said on Capitol Hill Thursday that he believed U.S. President Donald Trump was trying to get him to drop an investigation of Trump\'s former national security adviser, and that White House officials spread "lies, plain and simple" to cover up the reason for his dismissal.

"There\'s no doubt that I was fired because of the Russia investigation," Comey told lawmakers, referring to the widening investigation of Russian influence on last year\'s U.S. presidential election, which American intelligence agencies have said was an effort by the Kremlin to assist Trump\'s electoral defeat of his Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The president\'s efforts "to change the way the Russia investigation was conducted, that is a big deal," Comey said.

Comey\'s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee was his first chance to speak in public about the meetings and conversations he had with Trump during the months before he was fired. The former head of the nation\'s largest law-enforcement agency was questioned alternately by Republican and Democratic senators for nearly three hours; the dramatic session was covered live by all major U.S. television networks, and broadcast worldwide.

The president\'s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, told reporters immediately after the Senate hearing that Trump "never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone."

After Comey\'s abrupt and stunning dismissal last month, Trump and his aides said the action was necessary because the Federal Bureau of Investigation was in disarray, and its director had lost the trust of his agents.

科米对议员们说：“毫无疑问，我是因为俄罗斯调查而被解雇的。” 科米是指扩大对俄罗斯影响去年美国大选的调查。美国情报机构表示，克林姆林宫曾试图帮助川普在选举中击败其民主党竞选对手、前国务卿希拉里·克林顿。

科米说：总统“努力改变俄罗斯调查的方式，是一个很大的问题。”

科米在参议院情报委员会的作证，是他第一次有机会公开谈论他在被解雇前的几个月中同川普的会面和谈话内容。共和党和民主党议员对美国最大执法机构的这位前负责人进行了近三小时的轮流提问。美国所有主要电视新闻网都对这个戏剧性的听证会进行了报道和全球播放。

川普总统的私人律师卡索维茨在参议院听证会后马上对记者表示，川普“从未在形式或内容上指示或暗示科米应该停止对任何人的的调查。”

上个月，在科米令人惊讶地被突然解雇之后，川普和他的助手表示，这个行动是必要的，因为联邦调查局一片混乱，它的负责人失去了下属的信任。