Comey says Trump would 'almost have to fire everyone in the FBI and the Justice Department to derail' the Russia probe

The House Judiciary and Oversight Committees on Saturday evening released a transcript of former FBI Director James Comey's lengthy testimony from the day before.

The document is minimally redacted and sees Comey expressing confidence that investigation of Russian meddling and possible collusion in the 2016 election would continue even if President Trump were to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. "You'd almost have to fire everyone in the FBI and the Justice Department to derail the relevant investigations," Comey said.

He also addressed his personal relationship with Mueller — Trump has claimed the two men are friends — saying they are not close "in any social sense." "I admire the heck out of the man," Comey explained, "but I don't know his phone number; I've never been to his house; I don't know his children's names."

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And Comey reported the FBI's initial investigation into possible Russian interference focused on four Americans, none of them Trump himself.

"Late July of 2016, the FBI did, in fact, open a counterintelligence investigation into, is it fair to say the Trump campaign or Donald Trump himself?" asked Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). "It's not fair to say either of those things, in my recollection," Comey replied. "We opened investigations on four Americans to see if there was any connection between those four Americans and the Russian interference effort. And those four Americans did not include the candidate."