Judiciary Committee Leaders Seek Copies of Reported Comey Memos and Possible Trump Tapes
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein along with Crime and
Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey Graham and Ranking Member Sheldon
Whitehouse today called on the FBI to provide all memos relating to former FBI
Director Comey’s interactions with his superiors in both the Trump and Obama
administrations. They also called on the White House to provide records of
interactions with former Director Comey, including any audio recordings.
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.
The president implied in a tweet last week that the White House may have
recordings of interactions with Comey.
In a letter
to Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, the Judiciary Committee leaders request
“all such memos, if they exist, that Mr. Comey created memorializing
interactions he had with Presidents Trump and Obama, Attorneys General Sessions
and Lynch, and Deputy Attorneys General Rosenstein, Boente, and Yates regarding
the investigations of Trump associates’ alleged connections with Russia or the
Clinton email investigation.”
The letter
from the senators to White House Counsel Donald McGahn, seeks “all White House
records memorializing interactions with Mr. Comey relating to the FBI’s
investigation of alleged ties between President Trump’s associates and Russia,
or the Clinton email investigation, including all audio recordings,
transcripts, notes, summaries, or memoranda.”
The Judiciary Subcommittee on
Crime and Terrorism, led by Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Whitehouse, is
currently conducting an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016
United States elections. Committee leadership expects to hold a hearing on
these matters.
Full text of both letters
follows.
May 17, 2017
VIA
ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
The Honorable Andrew McCabe
Acting Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20535
Dear
Acting Director McCabe:
Yesterday,
the New York Times reported that former Director Comey created memos
regarding his interactions with President Trump, “a paper trail Mr. Comey
created documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to
influence an ongoing investigation.” The article stated that “Mr. Comey created
similar memos – including some that are classified – about every phone call and
meeting he had with the president.” More generally, the article stated “Mr.
Comey was known among his closet advisers to document conversations that he
believed would later be called into question.” Presumably, this means that Mr.
Comey created similar memoranda relating to other controversial conversations,
whether with officials in the current administration or the prior one.
We
are writing to request that the FBI provide the Committee with all such memos,
if they exist, that Mr. Comey created memorializing interactions he had with
Presidents Trump and Obama, Attorneys General Sessions and Lynch, and Deputy
Attorneys General Rosenstein, Boente, and Yates regarding the investigations of
Trump associates’ alleged connections with Russia or the Clinton email
investigation. Please provide these documents by no later than May 24, 2017.
We
anticipate that some of these documents may be classified, some may not, and
others may contain both classified and unclassified information. Please deliver
any documents containing classified information to the Office of Senate
Security and provide all unclassified documents directly to the Committee. If
you have any specific requests with regard to the Committee’s handling of
unclassified material, please raise those with us in advance.
Thank
you for your prompt attention to this important matter. If you have any
questions, please contact Patrick Davis of Chairman Grassley’s staff at (202)
224-5225, Heather Sawyer of Ranking Member Feinstein’s staff at (202) 224-7703,
Lee Holmes of Chairman Graham’s staff at (202) 224-5972, or Lara Quint of
Ranking Member Whitehouse’s staff at (202) 224-2921.
Sincerely,
Charles
E. Grassley Dianne Feinstein
Chairman
Ranking Member
Committee
on the Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary
Lindsey
Graham Sheldon Whitehouse
Chairman
Ranking Member
Subcommittee
on Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism
Committee
on the Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary
May 17, 2017
VIA
ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
The
Honorable Donald McGahn
White
House Counsel
1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington,
DC 20500
Dear
Mr.McGahn:
Yesterday,
the New York Times reported that former FBI Director Comey memorialized
the content of his phone calls and meetings with President Trump in a series of
internal memoranda. In particular, the article alleged that Mr. Comey had
memorialized a conversation with the President in which the President made
statements that have been interpreted as asking the FBI to clear Mr. Flynn of
alleged wrongdoing. The article noted that Mr. Comey was known among his closet
advisers to document conversations that he believed would later be called into question.
Last week, the President tweeted a message implying that the White House may
have audio recordings of interactions with Mr. Comey.
The
Judiciary Committee has already written to the FBI requesting all memos, if
they exist, that Mr. Comey created memorializing interactions he had with
Presidents Trump and Obama, Attorneys General Sessions and Lynch, and Deputy
Attorneys General Rosenstein, Boente, and Yates regarding the investigations of
Trump associates’ alleged connections with Russia or the Clinton email
investigation. In order for the Committee to fully assess these allegations, we
are also asking that the White House please provide the Committee all White
House records memorializing interactions with Mr. Comey relating to the FBI’s
investigation of alleged ties between President Trump’s associates and Russia,
or the Clinton email investigation, including all audio recordings,
transcripts, notes, summaries, and memoranda. To the extent the prior
administration’s records of interactions with Mr. Comey about these topics may
now be housed at the National Archives or elsewhere, we ask that you make the
relevant personnel there aware of the request and authorize them to release the
records to the Committee.
Please
provide the records by May 24, 2017. Thank you for your prompt attention to
this important matter. If you have any questions, please contact Patrick Davis
of Chairman Grassley’s staff at (202) 224-5225, Heather Sawyer of Ranking
Member Feinstein’s staff at (202) 224-7703, Lee Holmes of Chairman Graham’s
staff at (202) 224-5972, or Lara Quint of Ranking Member Whitehouse’s staff at
(202) 224-2921.
Sincerely,
Charles
E. Grassley Dianne Feinstein
Chairman
Ranking Member
Committee
on the Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary
Lindsey
Graham Sheldon Whitehouse
Chairman
Ranking Member
Subcommittee
on Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism
Committee
on the Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary
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