FBI chief's unceremonious ouster boomerangs on president
WASHINGTON (AP) — Firing FBI Director James Comey is already coming back to haunt President Donald Trump.
In dismissing Comey last week, Trump created the very real possibility that a respected law enforcement official known for an outspoken nature and willingness to buck political convention could resurface in public.
And while Comey himself has been silent, his associates have been exposing intriguing details of his encounters with Trump.
On Tuesday, an associate revealed that Comey had written a memo in which he described Trump asking him to shut down an FBI investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Comey, who was known to keep a paper trail of sensitive meetings, chronicled the president's request soon after the February Oval Office meeting with the president, an associate who has seen the memo told The Associated Press. The associate was not authorized to discuss the memo by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The FBI and Justice Department declined to comment Tuesday on accounts of the memo, which was first reported by The New York Times. The White House disputed the account.
The conversation occurred weeks after the FBI interviewed Flynn regarding his contacts with the Russia ambassador and after the acting attorney general, Sally Yates, warned the White House that Flynn had misled them about those conversations and could be vulnerable to blackmail.
Flynn was forced to resign Feb. 13 after reports of the Yates-White House conversation.
News Tuesday of Trump's request of Comey immediately renewed concerns from congressional Democrats that Trump was trying to obstruct an investigation that's been examining potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.
"We are witnessing an obstruction of justice case unfolding in real time," Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Judiciary Committee member and former federal prosecutor, said in a statement. He called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate.
Some Republicans also called for action, asking Comey to speak to Congress and demanding that any memos or recordings of his conversations with the president be presented to them.
Comey, appointed as FBI director in 2013 by President Barack Obama, spoke often about his desire to be as transparent as possible about FBI actions and about proving to the public that his agency was independent, competent and thorough.
"We're not on anybody's side, ever," he said in a March speech. "We're not considering whose ox will be gored by this action or that action, whose fortunes will be helped by this or that — we just don't care and we can't care."