• James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, testified that President Trump and others in his administration had lied when they said agents had lost confidence in Mr. Comey.
• Mr. Trump planned to monitor the hearing at the White House with his legal team and close advisers.
• “Today is your opportunity to set the record straight,” the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Richard Burr of North Carolina, said to Mr. Comey.
‘Lies, plain and simple’
Mr. Comey said Mr. Trump lied to the American public when he said that the F.B.I. was in disarray and that agents had lost confidence in Mr. Comey.
“Those were lies, plain and simple,” Mr. Comey said in brief opening remarks.
Mr. Trump made that claim when he fired Mr. Comey last month. Mr. Comey said he was confused and concerned by Mr. Trump’s changing explanation for why he fired him. Mr. Comey learned of his firing from the news media. He offered a heartfelt farewell to his former employees. “I am so sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye to you publicly,” Mr. Comey said.
Comey: Trump conduct within scope of F.B.I. investigation
Mr. Comey acknowledged for the first time that the F.B.I. was scrutinizing Mr. Trump’s actions. He said Mr. Trump’s conduct fell within “the scope of” the F.B.I.’s investigation but that he was not specifically under investigation. The F.B.I. is investigating whether anyone in Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian agents to try to influence the outcome of the presidential election. Comey took notes on Trump conversations
Mr. Comey said he began taking notes on his meetings with the president because, from his first interaction with him, during the transition period, he thought Mr. Trump might lie about what was said.
A solemn tone
Mr. Burr and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee’s top Democrat, both set a solemn tone for the nearing Mr. Burr pointed out that there are two sides to the stories Mr. Comey was set to tell about his one-on-one interactions with President Trump. During one of them, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Comey to drop the F.B.I.’s investigation into his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn.
“Let me be clear,” he said. “This is not a witch hunt. This is not fake news. It is an effort to protect our country from a new threat that will not go away anytime soon.”
What Congress Will Ask James Comey
The New York Times reporter Matt Apuzzo explains what James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, can expect to be asked when he testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
It has been one of the biggest holes in the Comey-Trump story: If Mr. Trump asked Mr. Comey to drop the F.B.I. investigation into Michael T. Flynn, his former national security adviser — a request that some say could amount to obstruction of justice — why didn’t Mr. Comey report it to Jeff Sessions, the attorney general?
In his prepared remarks, Mr. Comey said he had shared details of their conversations with “the senior leadership team of the F.B.I.”
But after Mr. Trump told Mr. Comey he hoped he would ease off the inquiry into Mr. Flynn, Mr. Comey said the team agreed not to inform Mr. Sessions — who was on the cusp of recusing himself from the investigation — or those working on the investigation.
It is likely that Republicans will not be satisfied with that explanation and push him to elaborate on why he did not tell Mr. Sessions or others at the Justice Department.
Will Republicans offer the president a lifeline?
In the end, what occurred between Mr. Comey and Mr. Trump boils down to a case of “he said, he said,” a vulnerability Mr. Comey acknowledges in his o.Republicans did not wait for Mr. Comey’s testimony to start the counterattack, releasing a statement on Thursday assailing his credibility and, in effect, foreshadowing the tough questioning he can expect to face.
The Republicans also highlighted questions previously asked publicly by lawmakers about why Mr. Comey did not act when he said the president asked him to halt the investigation into Mr. Flynn if he felt it was inappropriate. And the statement quoted many Democrats who have criticized Mr. Comey previously for his handling of the F.B.I. investigation last year into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state.
Will Democrats overplay their hand?
The revelations that Mr. Trump may have tried to meddle in an F.B.I. investigation have been enough to push some Democrats in recent weeks to utter a charged term: impeachment. But Democratic leaders have rebuffed the more fervid among the rank and file; they do not want to squander their credibility by looking too politically motivated.
There is also a related concern: Expectations for Russia-tinged investigations have escalated so quickly that the Democratic base might be disappointed with anything less than a decisive blow on Thursday.
Nevertheless, Democrats are horrified by the allegations against Mr. Trump and eager to give Mr. Comey a public forum.
What will a certain viewer make of the spectacle?
Presidents are busy, in theory at least, with little bandwidth for daytime television in the West Wing — at least historically.
But Mr. Trump will be watching. He is expected to monitor the hearing with his legal team and close advisers, a senior administration official said.
And if past episodes are instructive, it is a matter of when, not if, Mr. Trump chooses to offer his review of the show. Whether Mr. Trump is on Twitter or in front of the cameras, his reaction might well become as much of a story as the hearing itself, informing the administration’s bid to contain damage that could result from Mr. Comey’s remarks.
On at least one point near to his heart, Mr. Trump will perhaps be compelled to acknowledge his grudging respect: For a deposed federal employee, Mr. Comey will probably get good ratings.
Happy hour started early
At the Partisan bar, a 10-minute walk from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, patrons ordered breakfast sandwiches and snapped pictures of the CNN coverage blaring from the televisions as they waited for Mr. Comey’s testimony to begin.
“This is history in the making,” said Andria Eguia, 43, one of 20 people who made a reservation to watch the hearing. Ms. Eguia, a San Francisco-based attorney, took a break with a co-worker from a four-day conference to see the hearing. “We’ve been scoping out places.”
While the bar offered $6 specials on two cocktails called Drop the Bomb and Last Word, Ms. Eguia and a fellow attorney, Adrienne Mendle, opted for water and a blood-orange-flavored San Pellegrino sparkling water. With all the tables reserved for the bar’s early opening, walk-ins began filling in at the bar, speculating about what Mr. Comey was likely to say.
Some began to shush the crowd as Mr. Burr made opening statements.
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