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Panels pledge aggressive probe of Comey firing
Senator stresses questions will get ‘asked repeatedly’
WASHINGTON — Members of key congressional committees pledged Sunday to proceed with aggressive investigations into Russia's alleged meddling in the U.S. election and any ties with the Trump campaign, saying the American people need a full airing on why former FBI director James Comey was ousted.
President Donald Trump fired Comey this month. The former director agreed to testify before the Senate intelligence committee after the Memorial Day holiday.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a member of that committee, said he wants to press Comey on whether he ever believed the White House was interfering with his work, in light of a spate of news reports that Comey had kept detailed records of his interactions with Trump.
The New York Times and other news outlets reported last week on a Comey memo indicating Trump had urged him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Separately, another Times report said Trump had told Russian officials in a closed-door meeting at the Oval Office that firing Comey “had relieved great pressure” on Trump.
“Did he keep these memos? What do those memos say? And why did he write it? And how did he feel? Did he ever feel like he was being put in a position where he couldn't do his job?” Rubio asked. “There's no doubt that that's the questions that are going to get asked, and asked repeatedly.”
Leaders of the House oversight committee, Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said they would demand Comey's notes. Cummings also is urging Chaffetz, the committee chair who is resigning from his job next month, to subpoena the White House for any documents relating to Flynn.
Chaffetz said he expects to speak with Comey on Monday and that if there are any notes of White House meetings, “we're certainly pursuing them.”
“There have been so many lies, so many contradictions,” Cummings said, adding that he expects parallel investigations from Congress to proceed fully after the Justice Department last week appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to head an investigation into possible Russian coordination with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
Referring to the whole sequence of events leading to Comey's firing, Cummings added: “I think that there may be quite a few people that may have some problems with the law.”
The White House has repeatedly insisted that a “thorough investigation will confirm that there was no collusion between the campaign and any foreign entity.” It has not denied The Times report that Trump was critical of Comey to the Russians the day after he fired him. But White House spokesman Sean Spicer has called the president's rhetoric part of his deal-making, contending that Comey had created “unnecessary pressure” on Trump's ability to negotiate with Russia on a range of issues.
White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster underscored that point in an interview that aired Sunday”.
“The president feels as if he is hamstrung in his ability to work with Russia to find areas of cooperation because this has been obviously so much in the news,” said McMaster, who was present at the meeting.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the intelligence committee, said she also plans to press Comey regarding what was discussed with Trump about Flynn and whether he was asked by Trump to alter the FBI investigation.
Rubio appeared on CNN's “State of the Union” and CBS' “Face the Nation,” Feinstein also was on “Face the Nation,” and Chaffetz, Cummings and McMaster spoke on ABC's “This Week.”