Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, editor-in-chief of the Lawfare blog and a friend of Mr. Comey, spoke with PBS NewsHour's William Brangham on May 17 about a series of conversations he had with Comey about the president.

Wittes believes the conversations provide insight into the president’s relationship with the former FBI director, who he fired on May 9.

In these talks, Wittes said, Comey described several interactions he had with the president that “disquieted” him, the infamous hug that “disgusted him” and the loyalty oath that the president requested and Comey refused to give.