‘I HOPE YOU CAN LET THIS GO’
Comey memo: Trump asked me to nix Flynn probe
President Trump asked FBI Director James Comey to “let go” of an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, according to The New York Times. The White House denied the story.
President Trump pressured then-FBI Director James Comey to pull the plug on the feds’ probe into ex-National Security Adviser Mike Flynn during an Oval Office sit-down in February, a report claimed Tuesday.
“I hope you can let this go,” the president told Comey, according to a memo that the FBI chief wrote following the Feb. 14 meeting, The New York Times reported.
The White House denied the account, but some lawmakers said that it would amount to obstruction of justice if confirmed and that it could lead to impeachment proceedings — a stunning development in an administration barely 4 months old.
Flynn has been under investigation for his possible ties to Russian officials.
Comey wrote the memo immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Flynn resigned under pressure for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, the Times reported, citing two sources who read the memo.
Comey created a paper trail to document what he thought was the president’s attempt to influence the investigation, which remains ongoing, the report said.
CNN said Comey documented “everything he could remember” because he realized something “momentous” had happened.
In another Comey memo, he noted that Trump discussed the crowd size at his inauguration, an issue of contention for the president since Day One.
Trump also lamented the leaks coming out of his administration, suggesting that Comey should put “reporters in prison” for publishing the leaks, the Times said.
Just before the president made the suggestion that Comey drop the investigation, Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Vice President Mike Pence to leave the Oval Office.
“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go,” Trump told Comey, according to the memo, adding that Flynn had done nothing wrong.
Comey wrote that he did not directly reply to the president’s request that he drop the probe, and answered only, “I agree he is a good guy.”
Trump fired the FBI chief last week.
The latest revelations were met with bipartisan disapproval on Capitol Hill, where the Republican-controlled Congress has been reluctant to criticize the president.
The House Oversight Committee Tuesday night requested every memo written by Comey and all other communications, including phone calls and tape recordings.
A letter from the committee claimed the revelations about Comey “raised questions as to whether the president attempted to influence or impede” the investigation into Flynn.
Some lawmakers even accused the president of obstruction of justice.
The White House denied the version of events laid out in mul- tiple reports.
“While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that General Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn,” the White House said in a statement.
“The president has the utmost respect for our law-enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr. Comey.”
A White House aide also pointed out that Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told lawmakers last week that no one had tried to meddle in the investigation.
An FBI agent’s contemporaneous notes are considered credible evidence of the contents of a conversation.
Flynn was forced to resign after only 23 days on the job after it was revealed that he misrepresented himself regarding conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn spoke with the ambassador on the same day that then-President Barack Obama slapped sanctions on the Russian government in response to Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
Investigations launched both by the FBI and by congressional leaders on Capitol Hill are trying to determine whether anyone in the Trump campaign colluded with Russian hackers on the collection and dissemination of hacked e-mails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.
Trump has called the allegations of collusion with Russia “a total hoax.”