Us President Donald Trump has warned sacked FBI director James Comey not to talk to the media, a highly unusual move that prompted fresh charges that Mr Trump is trying to silence the man who led an investigation into possible collusion between Mr Trump's election campaign and Russia.
On Twitter, Mr Trump appeared to suggest that if Mr Comey gave his version of contacts between them, the administration might produce tapes of conversations, although it was not clear if such tapes exist.
The veiled threat added to the storm over Mr Trump's abrupt firing of Mr Comey on Tuesday.
Critics have assailed Mr Trump for dismissing the FBI chief at a time when the agency is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, and possible Moscow ties to the Trump presidential campaign.
In a report that fueled charges that Mr Trump has overstepped the norms of his office, the New York Times reported, citing accounts of Mr Comey associates, that the president asked Mr Comey in January to pledge loyalty to him.
Such a request would undermine the standing of the FBI chief as an independent law enforcer.
"James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" Mr Trump said in a string of Tweets.
CNN said later that Mr Comey is "not worried about any tapes" Mr Trump may have of their conversations, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter.
CBS Evening News, citing a source who has spoken with Mr Comey, said on Twitter that MR Comey hopes there are "lots of tapes."
Russia must be laughing up their sleeves watching as the U.S. tears itself apart over a Democrat EXCUSE for losing the election.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2017
Mr Comey has not publicly discussed any conversations he had with Trump.
The president faces accusations from Democrats that he fired Mr Comey to hinder the FBI investigation into US intelligence agency allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election to benefit Mr Trump.
"He's a showboat. He's a grandstander," Trump told NBC News.
"The FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that, everybody knows that."
However, his characterisation was at odds with that of the top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Republican chairman of the panel, Richard Burr, and the top Democrat, Mark Warner, praised Mr Comey, with Mr Warner saying he was offended at Mr Trump's remarks.
Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, testifying in place of Mr Comey at the Senate Intelligence Committee, contradicted Mr Trump's appraisal of turmoil at the FBI, saying that Mr Comey had "broad support" from the rank and file "and still does to this day."
Mr Trump's explanation of why he fired Mr Comey also ran counter to previous administration explanations of the dismissal.
The White House and Vice President Mike Pence had said Mr Comey was fired on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein.
Yesterday however, Mr Trump said he would have taken the action regardless.
"I was going to fire Comey. My decision," Mr Trump said.
I was going to fire regardless of recommendation
Mr Rosenstein, who met privately with some senators yesterday, was invited to brief all 100 senators next week, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.
Mr Schumer said he hoped that Mr Sessions would also speak to senators separately on the firing of Mr Comey.
Several candidates are being considered to replace Mr Comey, a senior White House official said, including Mike Rogers, a former Republican representative; Trey Gowdy, a Republican representative and former federal prosecutor; Alice Fisher, assistant attorney general in the George W Bush administration; and Ray Kelly, former commissioner of the New York Police Department.
The nominee must be confirmed by the US Senate.
At the Senate hearing, Mr McCabe testified it was not typical practice to tell people they were not a target of an investigation.
Mr McCabe promised to tell senators of any White House meddling into the agency's probe on Russia.
"It is my opinion and belief that the FBI will continue to pursue this investigation vigorously and completely," he said.
Moscow has denied interference in the election, and the Trump administration denies allegations of collusion with Russia.
In firing Mr Comey, Mr Trump said he knew he ran the risk he would "confuse people" and "lengthen out the investigation" into ties to Russia.
"In fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, 'You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won," he told NBC.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Mr Trump said in the interview that he never pressured Mr Comey into dropping the FBI probe, adding: "If Russia did anything, I want to know that."
Mr Trump said there was no "collusion between me and my campaign and the Russians," but that "the Russians did not affect the vote."
