WASHINGTON: A private lawyer for Donald Trump denied bombshell allegations made by his ex-FBI director James Comey under oath on Thursday, and suggested the ousted director should be prosecuted for leaking “privileged information”.

The president, said Marc Kasowitz, “never told Comey ‘I need loyalty, I expect loyalty’ in form or substance”, rejecting a key allegation made by the sacked FBI director before a Senate panel Thursday.

Rejecting key parts of Comey’s damning testimony while claiming others as a win for the president, Kasowitz also suggested Comey may face prosecution. “Today, Mr Comey admitted that he leaked to friends his purported memos of these privileged conversations, one of which he testified was classified.

We will leave it the appropriate authorities to determine whether this leaks should be investigated along with all those others being investigated.

Earlier, Trump avoided directly responding to the explosive accusations, defiantly telling supporters at a religious event in the capital: “We are going to fight and win.”

But the White House hit back angrily at Comey. “I can definitely say the president is not a liar and frankly am insulted by that question,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2017