WASHINGTON (AFP) - Fired FBI director James Comey admitted Thursday (June 8) he leaked his personal notes on his meetings with President Donald Trump to prompt the naming of a special prosecutor to lead the Russia probe.

He said he asked a friend at Columbia Law School to share his written recollection of those conversations with a reporter after Trump fired him on May 9.

"I didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons," Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"But I asked him to, because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel" to conduct the investigation into the Trump campaign's possible collusion with Russian meddling in the 2016 election, he said.

The New York Times published a report on the Comey memo on May 16, and the following day former FBI director Robert Mueller was named special counsel to take over the investigation.