Comey Isn’t Going to Go Quietly

Summary: With the request for Comey’s notes written after meetings with Trump, evidence is being presented that puts Trump in a sticky situation.

After President Trump threatened former FBI director James B. Comey with secret “tapes,” Comey has come forward with his own evidence. Comey has pointed out a memo that he wrote shortly after a meeting with Trump in February. The meeting in the Oval Office was where he was directed to stop the federal investigation into Michael T. Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser. According to the memo written by Comey, the president told him, “I hope you can let this go.”

The release of the memo comes at the request of Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee. He demanded that the FBI turn over all “memoranda, notes, summaries and recordings” of the conversations between Trump and Comey. This memo shows that Trump was trying to influence the Justice Department and FBI investigations into his ties with Russia. Chaffetz stated that these documents may “raise questions as to whether the president attempted to influence of impede.”

According to those that have read the memo, this particular meeting between Comey and Trump took place the day after Flynn resigned. The belief is that Comey wrote this memo as part of a larger paper trail of evidence showing the president’s improper actions towards an ongoing investigation.

One of Comey’s associates read parts of the memo to a New York Times reporter. According to what Comey wrote, Trump urged that Flynn was a “good guy” that didn’t do anything wrong. “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.” Comey agreed with Trump that Flynn was a good guy.

The White House says the events in the memo were not how things went. Their statement read, “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 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.”

Chaffetz had been criticized for not showing the same gumption in pursuing an investigation into Trump’s associates as he did with Hillary Clinton. Since announcing he will not seek re-election in 2018, he has placed more emphasis into investigating the Russia connection by sending the request to acting FBI director Andrew G. McCabe. He set a May 24 deadline for the materials to be handed over to the House committee.

McCabe said in testimony before the Senate last week that “There has been no effort to impede our investigation to date.” The investigation into Flynn is separate.

Comey was fired last week. The reasons for his dismissal have varied depending on who you talk to at the White House and when. Trump expressed a reason during a TV interview to be because he believed the “Russia thing” was a “made-up story.”

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To learn more about Comey and his issues with Trump, read these articles: