Comey emphasized that he documented conversations with President Donald Trump out of concern that Trump would later try to defame him personally or impugn the FBI’s independence.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. asks Comey why he initially decided to document his conversations with President Trump.

“I was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of the meeting and it led me to document it,” Comey said.

Comey added that he believes he documented almost all of the nine conversations he had with Trump. Comey emphasizes he met with former President Barack Obama twice over the course of three years but did not document either of those conversations. He also said he did not typically document conversations with former President George Bush. But, Comey said he felt he needed to specifically document conversations with Trump because of the “person I was interacting with.” 

— Meredith Mandell