Comey provided an account of the dinner in a contemporaneous memo, an interview with this Office, and congressional testimony. According to Comey’s account of the dinner, the President repeatedly brought up Comey’s future, 172 asking whether he wanted to stay on as FBI director. Because the President had previously said he wanted Comey to stay on as FBI director, Comey interpreted the President’s comments as an effort to create a patronage 173 relationship by having Comey ask for his job. The President also brought up the Steele reporting that Comey had raised in the January 6, 2017 briefing and stated that he was thinking about ordering the FBI to investigate the allegations 174 to prove they were false. Comey responded that the President should think carefully about issuing such an order because it could create a narrative that the 175 FBI was investigating him personally, which was incorrect. Later in the dinner, the President brought up Flynn and said, “the guy has serious judgment 176 issues.” Comey did not comment on Flynn and the President did not 177 acknowledge any FBI interest in or contact with Flynn. According to Comey’s account, at one point during the dinner the President 178 stated, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” Comey did not respond and the conversation moved on to other topics, but the President returned to the subject 179 of Comey’s job at the end of the dinner and repeated, “I need loyalty.” 180 Comey responded, “You will always get honesty from me.” The President 181 said, “That’s what I want, honest loyalty.” Comey said, “You will get that 182 from me.” After Comey’s account of the dinner became public, the President and his 183 advisors disputed that he had asked for Comey’s loyalty. The President also indicated that he had not invited Comey to dinner, telling a reporter that he 184 thought Comey had “asked for the dinner” because “he wanted to stay on.” But substantial evidence corroborates Comey’s account of the dinner invitation and the request for loyalty. The President’s Daily Diary confirms that the 185 President “extend[ed] a dinner invitation” to Comey on January 27. With respect to the substance of the dinner conversation, Comey documented the President’s request for loyalty in a memorandum he began drafting the night of 186 the dinner; senior FBI officials recall that Comey told them about the loyalty