Justice to provide access to Comey memos to GOP lawmakers

by Katie Bo Williams - 04/19/18 3:55 PM ET

The Justice Department is expected to provide a group of House GOP members access to former FBI Director James Comey’s memos documenting his interactions with President Trump on Thursday, according to a department official.

It is unclear whether copies of the documents will be sent to Capitol Hill or whether lawmakers will be required to travel to the Justice Department to view them. Four of the memos are classified.

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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) was poised to subpoena the department over access to the documents. The seven memos have been a flashpoint in the debate over Comey’s handling of the investigations into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server and into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia.

Comey drew fire from Republicans after he revealed that he provided one unclassified memo to a personal friend to reveal to The New York Times. Comey did so in order to spark the appointment of a special counsel in the Russia probe following his dismissal as FBI director last year.

Three powerful House lawmakers — Goodlatte, Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) — have been investigating what they say is evidence of bias and potential wrongdoing at the Justice Department and the FBI in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Democrats have described the probe as a partisan exercise designed to undercut special counsel Robert Mueller. Comey’s memos are seen as key to a potential obstruction of justice case against the president.

Comey said Thursday he’s doesn’t mind if the memos are made available, and added that that he supports transparency.

“I think what folks will see if they get to see the memos, is I’ve been consistent since the very beginning right after my encounters with President Trump,” he said during an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had asked the three lawmakers to give him extra time to consult with the “relevant parties” on whether he can make the memos available to them.

Rosenstein told lawmakers on Monday that the Comey memos may relate to an “ongoing investigation,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Hill.

—Updated at 5:11 p.m.