Former FBI Director James Comey was uneasy about attending a January dinner with President Donald Trump, according to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
The comments came during a Friday interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell.
Mitchell asked Clapper what he knew about the meeting. The former national intelligence chief was with Comey at a farewell ceremony on the day of the dinner.
"Jim and I spoke briefly before the ceremony and he mentioned that he had been invited to the White House to have dinner with the president, and that he was uneasy with that because of even compromising, even the optics, the appearance of independence, not only of him, but of the FBI," Clapper said.
Clapper continued his defense of Comey when Mitchell asked if he believed the former FBI director attended the dinner to appeal for his job and assure President Trump he was not under investigation.
"Obviously I don't know what was actually said at the dinner, I wasn't there, but I would find that very inconsistent with what I know of Jim Comey," he responded.
"It would really be, I think, inappropriate and certainly in Jim's case out of character to ask to stay on," Clapper later added.
Sources close to Comey relayed a similar sentiment about Comey's feelings and memory of the White House dinner to the New York Times on Thursday.