Ranking intel Democrat calls Comey words ‘disturbing’

WASHINGTON — The ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee says former FBI director James Comey’s account of his conversations with the president about the Russia investigation are “disturbing.”

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia will emphasize at Thursday’s committee hearing that the American people need to realize that what happened was that a president asked an FBI director to drop an ongoing investigation into a former national security adviser.

Warner released excerpts of his opening remarks to the committee early Thursday ahead of the hearing.

Comey’s testimony is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET June 8. Watch live in the player above or on your local PBS station.

Warner says that in violation of clear guidelines put in place after Watergate to prevent any whiff of political interference by the White House in FBI investigations, President Donald Trump also called Comey twice to ask him to lift the cloud of the Russia investigation over his White House.

READ MORE: 9 things we learned from Comey’s prepared Senate remarks

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