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Former FBI agent: ‘I literally wanted to rinse myself off’ after Comey statement

by Rebecca Savransky - 06/08/17 7:17 AM ET

A former FBI agent said he felt “completely disgusted” after reading the prepared testimony of former FBI Director James Comey regarding interactions with President Trump.

“I read this and I literally wanted to rinse myself off afterwards,” James Gagliano said on CNN.

“I felt completely disgusted.”

Gagliano’s comments came after Wednesday’s release of the opening statement Comey is set to deliver Thursday to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

{mosads}Trump repeatedly sought to influence the FBI’s investigation into Russian election meddling before firing Comey as the bureau’s director, according to the testimony Comey is set to deliver.

Comey’s opening statement details multiple interactions with the president, including a January dinner at the White House where Trump said he needed and expected the FBI director’s loyalty.

Gagliano on CNN also described the interactions between Trump and Comey.

“Beginning with that first awkward handshake that we saw on camera when Director Comey and the president met and … it started out as a handshake, turned into kind of a half hug,” Gagliano said.

“You could tell — it was palpable — how uncomfortable Director Comey was.”

“For 48 years … FBI Director [J. Edgar] Hoover pulled puppet strings, and had presidents on their heels,” he added. “We now have a president that was attempting to put an FBI director on his heels.”

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