Trump: I’m ‘100 percent’ willing to testify under oath

President Trump said Friday he is “100 percent” willing to testify under oath about his interactions with James Comey in order to dispute the fired FBI director’s claims.

“One hundred percent,” Trump said when asked if he would give a sworn statement to Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation into Russia’s election interference.

“I would be glad to tell him exactly what I told you,” the president said during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden.

In his first comments since Comey’s dramatic testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Trump accused the ousted FBI chief of making false statements about their private conversations.

{mosads}Trump said Comey’s statements vindicated his long-held claims that he did not collude with Russia to tip the election in his favor and that he did not interfere with the federal probe. 

“Yesterday showed no collusion, no obstruction,” he said. “But we were very, very happy and, frankly, James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said. And some of the things that he said just weren’t true.”

Trump again refused to say whether there are secret recordings of his conversations with Comey, a stunning suggestion he made on Twitter three days after he decided to ax him. 

But he indicated the tapes might not exist, telling reporters, “you will be very disappointed when you hear the answer.”

Trump’s offer to sit for an interview with Mueller raises the stakes in the Russia probe.

Comey’s testimony gave the special counsel plenty of material to consider as he investigates whether the president or his associates acted illegally. 

Trump said he did not pressure the FBI chief to drop an investigation into his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, reiterating a denial made by his personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz. 

“I didn’t say that,” Trump said of his alleged request of Comey to “let go” of the Flynn probe.

Trump flatly denied that he demanded a pledge of personal loyalty from the former FBI director.

“No,” Trump said. “I hardly know the man, I’m gonna say, ‘I want you to pledge allegiance.’ ”

Democrats and some legal experts have cited those actions to accuse Trump of obstruction of justice in the Russia probe. 

The question of whether there are tapes of his conversations with Comey has also dogged Trump.  

“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump tweeted on May 12.

James Comey better hope that there are no “tapes” of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

For the past month, Trump and his aides have repeatedly stonewalled on whether the president actually routinely had his White House conversations recorded — a practice that ended amid the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Comey told senators that he hopes those recordings exist because they would back up his side of the story. 

“Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” he said Thursday. 

He also pointed to the “tapes” tweet as the reason he decided to leak memos recounting his conversations with Trump, saying he was afraid Trump would use them to misrepresent their conversations. 

Trump doubled down on his team’s effort to discredit Comey, accusing him of acting improperly by revealing their private conversations. 

“No collusion, no obstruction. He’s a leaker,” Trump said. “But we want to get back to running our great country.” 

Updated: 4:35 p.m.