In his forthcoming testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, fired FBI Director James Comey plans to confirm that U.S. President Donald trump pressured him into stopping the investigation on Michael Flynn. He has spoken to special counsel Robert Mueller about the extent of what he would be allowed to share in his testimony expected to be held as soon as next week.
The New York Post reported that it is unlikely for Comey to provide a lot of details about the ongoing FBI investigation into the collusion between Russian officials and members of Trump’s campaign team.
The fired director wants to talk about his meeting with the president who allegedly pressured him in dropping the probe on Flynn, one of the members of the campaign team.
Meetings with Trump
Trump, who was barely a month in office as the 45th U.S. president, ordered Comey in a White House meeting on Feb. 14 to close the investigation on the involvement of Trump’s National Security adviser whom the president fired on Feb. 13. Comey, who has documented his meetings with Trump, claimed the president told him, “I hope you can let this go,” which the FBI director wrote in one of his notes.
But the White House denied the version of Comey regarding the Feb. 14 meeting. When Trump and Comey met again on May 9, the president fired Comey, although he claimed it was not over the Russian investigation but the way the director handled the email server controversy of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival.
Everything points to Russia
Meanwhile, on late Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, guested on the show of David Letterman in New York City. Letterman, a late-night TV host, pressed Franken to share his thoughts on the ongoing investigation of Trump’s involvement. The senator insisted that everything pointed to a collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign.
While Franken did not point to any evidence to back his claim, he said Mueller has been appointed to lead the investigation by the FBI into the Russian interference. The senator added that the people being investigated are not acting like they have nothing to hide.
According to Associated Press, the House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena to Flynn and Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, and their businesses to testify.
The committee also issued three more subpoenas for the National Security Agency, FBI, and CIA. Another Trump lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, was designated to answer all queries about the firing of James Comey and the Russian investigation instead of the White House staff answering those types of questions.
