House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), who served on the Trump transition team, prematurely shut down his committee's Russia investigation, and continues to attack federal law enforcement in defense of the president, now is asking Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for notes former FBI Director James Comey kept detailing his conversations with the president.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) have signed on to Nunes' latest letter.
“The Committees request the Department of Justice make copies of the Comey memos available immediately. Copies of any unclassified memos should be produced to all three Committees in unredacted form," they wrote.
“There is no legal basis for withholding these materials from Congress.”
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During an appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee last year, Comey revealed that he had memorialized these meetings with the president by keeping a set of memos about the interactions.
He said he did so because he felt the president inappropriately asked him to pledge of loyalty to him while he was leading the Russia probe. Trump also asked Comey to drop his investigation into former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired after reports revealed that he had lied to investigators about his contacts with a Russian diplomat.
Comey shared one of the memos with a friend who then leaked its contents to the press, but the FBI chief has maintained that it did not contain classified material.
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Earlier this week, Nunes separately threatened to pursue contempt or impeachment proceedings with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Rosenstein if they did not cooperate with his subpoena related to surveillance abuse during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Rosenstein allowed Nunes and other House Intelligence Committee members to view a two-page document in unredacted form, which detailed what information launched the counterintelligence Russia investigation. The move appeared to dispel the situation for now.
Frustrated Republicans are stepping up their pressure on the DOJ and FBI to provide documents related to a range of investigations they are pursuing, including the FBI's decisionmaking during the 2016 campaign.
House chairmen ask Rosenstein for copies of Comey memos (The Hill)