Reading News for You: Congressional panels pledge thorough probe into Comey firing
Sunday, May 21, 2017
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https://www.yahoo.com/news/congressional-panels-pledge-thorough-probe-comey-firing-143339982--politics.html
Congressional panels pledge thorough probe into Comey firing
Associated Press HOPE
YEN•Associated PressMay 21, 2017
Trump: Russia
Investigation a 'Witch Hunt'
Associated Press Videos
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of key congressional committees
pledged Sunday to proceed with aggressive investigations into Russia's meddling
in the U.S. election and any ties with the Trump campaign, saying the American
people need a full airing as to why former FBI director James Comey was ousted.
Comey was fired by President Donald Trump earlier this
month. The former director agreed to testify before the Senate intelligence
committee after the Memorial Day holiday.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a member of that
committee, said he wants to press Comey as to 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 him."
"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."
Rubio said White House officials had told him they had no
transcripts nor notes of Trump's meeting with Russian officials but
"apparently someone has discussed them, or leaked them."
"This cloud is impacting everything else," Rubio
said, describing a number of questions, such as possible obstruction of
justice, that are hanging over the White House. "So, we need to get over
this once and for all."
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, 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, saying Trump had felt
"hamstrung."
"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, 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. The California Democrat said public hearings should ferret out
what has been a flurry of apparently contradictory comments by many of the
parties involved.
"I really think that rather than have all these
memorandums and issues circulating around, that we need to put the facts before
the American people," she said. "Did the president fire Comey because
of his investigation and was he worried about what the investigation might
conclude? If so, that borders on a very serious charge."
"And it's got to come from Director Comey
himself," Feinstein said.
Rubio appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" and
CBS' "Face the Nation," Feinstein also was on CBS' "Face the
Nation," and Chaffetz, Cummings and McMaster spoke on ABC's "This
Week."
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