Senate Judiciary Committee seeks Comey memo on Flynn investigation, related documents
WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee has requested a copy of the FBI memorandum related to the Bureau’s investigation of former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn as well as other documents pertinent to the Russia investigation.
“We are writing to request that the FBI provide the committee with all such memos, if they exist, that Mr. [James] Comey created memorializing interactions he had with Presidents Trump and Obama and Attorneys General Sessions, Lynch, and Deputy Attorneys General Rosenstein, Boente, and Yates regarding the investigations of Trump associates’ alleged connection with Russia or the Clinton email investigation,” Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) wrote Wednesday.
Grassley and Feinstein requested similar records from the White House.
The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday evening requested a copy of recently FBI Director Comey’s memorandum on the Flynn investigation following The New York Times report stating that Comey documented in a memorandum the contents of a February meeting with President Donald Trump in which the president told Comey that he hoped the Bureau would not pursue the Flynn investigation.
According to The Times’ report, Comey’s memo states Trump did not specifically ask the director to end the investigation but instead said: “I hope you can let this go.” Trump also reportedly described Flynn as a “good guy.”
In the memo Como reportedly agreed that Flynn is a “good guy” but the director did not address whether or not the investigation would continue.
Flynn resigned in February following reports that he had diplomatically engaged Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak prior to Trump taking office and that Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence about that conversation.
Those reports suggested that Flynn may have given Kislyak the impression that the incoming administration might be willing to consider lifting sanctions that were imposed on Moscow following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, a Ukrainian territory.
Shortly before leaving office, former President Barack Obama imposed additional sanctions on Russia after receiving information from the intelligence community suggesting the country tried to sabotage Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Flynn has more recently come under scrutiny for failing to disclose on his security clearance application payments he received from Russian media outlets.
Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates last week told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that she warned the Trump administration 18 days before Flynn’s termination that the retired lieutenant general may have been vulnerable to Russian blackmail.
Both the House and Select Senate Intelligence Committees are investigating Russian attempts to manipulate the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election as well as allegations of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and high-ranking Russian officials.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Wednesday also requested a copy of Comey’s memorandum on the Flynn investigation as well as related documents. The Intelligence Committee also invited Comey to testify both publicly and behind closed doors about the reported conversations with President Trump.
This article is republished with permission from Talk Media News
Bryan is an award-winning political journalist who has extensive experience covering Congress and Maryland state government.
His work includes coverage of the election of Donald Trump, the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions-as well as that of the Maryland General Assembly, Gov. Larry Hogan, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bryan has broken stories involving athletic and sexual assault scandals with the Baltimore Post-Examiner.
His original UMBC investigation gained international attention, was featured in People Magazine and he was interviewed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” and local radio stations. Bryan broke subsequent stories documenting UMBC’s omission of a sexual assault on their daily crime log and a federal investigation related to the university’s handling of an alleged sexual assault.