Senate Judiciary Committee Wants FBI's Comey Memos

The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked the FBI for all memos related to interactions between former FBI Director David Comey and his superiors in both the Trump and Obama Administrations and for any tapes the White House may have of such interactions.

That wide net would capture in particular memos reportedly alleging the President asked Comey to back off his investigation of former national security advisor General Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russian officials and instead suggested he consider imprisoning journalists publishing leaks of classified information.

"The requests follow news reports that Comey authored internal memos following meetings and conversations with President Trump in order to document what he perceived to be improper behavior by the President with respect to ongoing investigations at the FBI," said the committee. "The president implied in a tweet last week that the White House may have recordings of interactions with Comey."

The requests came in letters to acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and White House Counsel Donald McGahn.

The Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Look for a hearing on the issue in that subcommittee. 

The letters came from Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, ranking member Dianne Feinstein, Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey Graham and ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse.

(Photo via J's FlickrImage taken on May 17, 2017 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 9x16 aspect ratio.)

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.