JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The acting head of the FBI on Thursday pushed back on White House assertions this week that the agency’s rank and file had lost confidence in James Comey in the run-up to his firing as FBI director.

“I can tell you also that Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day,” Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the Senate Intelligence Committee, though noting that some agents inside the agency who disagree with Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email case were “vocal” about their dissent.

McCabe, who had been deputy director of the FBI since last year after starting his career there in the mid-1990s, also offered an impassioned, personal defense of Comey.

“I worked very, very closely with Director Comey from the moment he started at the FBI [in 2013]. … I can tell you that I hold Director Comey in the absolute highest regard,” he said.

“I have the highest respect for his considerable abilities and his integrity, and it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my professional life to work with him,” McCabe added.

His statements contradicted comments from White House officials this week. White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a briefing Wednesday that, “most importantly, the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director.”

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, told CNN Wednesday, “Jim Comey had lost the confidence of people at the FBI.”

The investigation continues

McCabe also told senators Thursday that the firing of Comey has not affected his agency’s investigation into whether associates of President Trump colluded with Russian officials to influence last year’s presidential election, and he promised to speak up if there is any effort by the White House to impede the wide-ranging probe.

“As you know senator, the work of the men and women of the FBI continues despite any changes in circumstance,” he told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “There has been no effort to impede our investigation to date. You cannot stop the men and women of the FBI from doing the right thing.”

The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., asked McCabe whether he would commit to informing the committee if the White House makes any moves to “quash” or otherwise impede the FBI’s Russia-related investigation.

“I absolutely do,” McCabe responded.

McCabe challenged reports that Comey requested additional resources

During Thursday’s hearing, McCabe challenged reports that Comey had requested additional resources for the Russia investigation just before being fired.

“I’m not aware of that request, and it’s not consistent with my understanding of how we request additional resources,” McCabe said. “We don’t typically request resources for an individual case. And … I strongly believe that the Russia investigation is adequately resourced.”

No comment on whether Trump is under investigation

McCabe refused to answer questions about Trump’s assertion in his letter of dismissal to Comey that the ex-FBI director has assured the commander in chief that he was not under investigation himself.

“I will not comment on whether the director and the president of the United States had that kind of a conversation,” McCabe said.

The elephant in the room

Noting that Comey — not McCabe — was supposed to be testifying at Thursday’s hearing, Warner said, “Trump’s actions this week cost us an opportunity to get at the truth, at least for today.”

Warner called Comey’s firing Tuesday as FBI director “shocking” and “especially troubling.”

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said, “The timing of this firing is wrong to anyone with a semblance of ethics.”

As Thursday’s hearing got underway, two Republicans — Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and the committee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. — also alluded to the controversy surrounding Comey’s firing.

Burr told McCabe, “Welcome to the table and into the fray,” and he thanked McCabe for “filling in on such short notice.”

McCabe was just one of several top U.S. officials testifying Thursday before the committee, which was holding a broad hearing on threats to the U.S. homeland and U.S. interests around the world.

Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.