Former FBI Director James Comey on Monday suggested that Fox News canceled his upcoming appearance on the network because a report from the Justice Department's internal watchdog undermined President Donald Trump's past claims about him.
"I offered to go on Fox & Friends to answer all questions," Comey said on Twitter. "They booked me for tomorrow at 8 am. They just cancelled. Must have read the report."
A Fox spokesperson said Comey's representatives "reached out to us to be booked on Fox and Friends."
But, the spokesperson added, Comey "was not booked and was never confirmed to appear" on the morning show.
The long-awaited report from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that an FBI investigation into possible coordination between Trump's 2016 campaign and the Russian government was justified, and was not tainted by political bias, as Trump and many of his allies have long claimed.
Comey was the director of the FBI at the time of the Trump-Russia probe. He was fired in May 2017 by Trump, who went on to attack him regularly as a "liar" and a "leaker."
Comey took a victory lap after Horowitz's report was released.
"Although it took two years, the truth is finally out," he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.
"There was no illegal wiretapping, there were no informants inserted into the campaign, there was no 'spying' on the Trump campaign," Comey wrote.
After Comey's tweet, Fox's top political anchor Bret Baier sent Comey a public invitation to his own news program.
"We'd love to have you back on @SpecialReport Mr Comey - live or pretape. I have read the report. Just DM me," Baier said.
In an appearance on MSNBC later Monday, Comey stuck to his story.
"I offered to go on Fox & Friends," Comey said, and "they agreed to book me." But "after the report came out, they canceled," Comey said.