Putin jokingly suggests Russia might grant Comey political asylum

(Image credit: MIKHAIL KLIMENTIEV/AFP/Getty Images)

published 15 June 2017

Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks it's "weird" that former FBI Director James Comey would leak memos recounting his conversations with President Trump. "It sounds very strange when the head of the security services writes down a conversation with the commander-in-chief and then leaks it to the media through his friend," Putin said Thursday during a live call-in show, as he dismissed Comey's assertion that Russia definitely interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Comey, during his congressional testimony last week, admitted that he'd passed memos recounting each of his one-on-one conversations with Trump along to a friend to leak to the media. He said he leaked the memos because he "thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel"; the Justice Department appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller not long after the Comey memos surfaced.

Putin suggested Comey's leaks weren't that different from those of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked top-secret documents revealing the NSA was spying on American citizens. Russia has granted Snowden political asylum and resisted the U.S. government's calls for extradition. The Russian president joked that if Comey "faces pressure, then we are happy to offer him political asylum too."