Trump: FBI director James Comey 'more famous than me'
The President warmly greets James Comey, who has been heavily criticised for his handling of a probe into Hillary Clinton's email.
Monday 23 January 2017 08:52, UK
Donald Trump has praised the work of FBI chief James Comey - the man who Hillary Clinton blames for her election defeat.
Mr Trump singled out Mr Comey at a reception for law enforcement and security officials in the White House Blue Room during his second full day as President.
He gave Mr Comey a hug and a handshake and patted him on the back, joking: "He has become more famous than me."
Eleven days before the US election in November, Mr Comey reopened an investigation in Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
A week later, he announced the new investigation had found no criminal activity.
However, Mrs Clinton .
She said analysis of polling by her team showed Mr Comey's intervention was pivotal. She had led in almost every poll before Mr Comey announced he was reopening the investigation.
Earlier this month, the US Justice Department said it was opening a broad investigation into how Mr Comey handled the case over Mrs Clinton's emails, including his public statements in the days before the election.
Ahead of the White House reception, Mr Trump visited the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, in a visit seen to be aimed at rebuilding bridges damaged following his criticism of US security agencies over their claims that Russia tried to skew the results of the election.
Mr Trump previously called the outgoing CIA director John Brennan a "leaker of fake news".
But, in a speech to CIA employees at the headquarters, Mr Trump claimed the media had invented a "feud", adding: "There is nobody that feels stronger about he intelligence community and the CIA than Donald Trump."
He said he was behind them 1,000%, saying: "You're going to get so much backing that you're going to start saying, 'Don't give us so much backing'.
"I love you, I respect you, there is no one I love more, we are going to start winning again and you will be leading the charge."
Earlier in the day, Mr Trump and his team also
The President insisted that crowds at the event stretched back all the way to the Washington Monument, even though photographs and footage from the scene showed large, empty spaces around the landmark.
His press secretary, Sean Spicer, went one further during a heated White House briefing on Saturday night, describing it as "the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period".
Mr Spicer also claimed that the Washington Metro system recorded more users on the day of Mr Trump's inauguration than when Mr Obama was sworn in for his second term - but this claim was later disproved.
Official figures showed the number of rides on the Metro system did not match those of recent inaugurations.
As of 11am on Friday, there were 193,000 trips taken, according to the transport service's Twitter account. At the same hour eight years ago, there had been 513,000 trips. Four years later, there were 317,000 for Mr Obama's second inauguration.
Mr Trump's senior adviser Kellyanne Conway was asked on NBC why Mr Trump sent out his spokesman to convey a "provable falsehood" about the turnout.
She replied: "Sean Spicer gave alternative facts."
Washington authorities no longer estimate crowd sizes.
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