Chaffetz: House Oversight Committe ‘Going to Get the Comey Memo, If It Exists’

FBI Director James Comey testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said they are “going to get the Comey memo, if it exists.”

He wrote in a tweet that he has his “subpoena pen ready” after a New York Times story claimed President Donald J. Trump told the now-fired FBI director James Comey he hoped former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn doesn’t get prosecuted. The Times and other media outlets are interpreting that as obstruction of justice, or as the AP put it, President Trump “tried to get Comey to shut down the investigation.”

The White House said the report is “not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr. Comey.” The White House added that while the president has repeatedly expressed his view that Flynn is a “decent man,” he never asked Comey or anyone else to end any investigations involving him.

What the Comey memo says exactly, if it exists, will only truly be known when Chairman Chaffetz issues a subpoena. However, while the Times story is being portrayed as an order, the quote allegedly stated that President Trump said he had hoped Flynn wasn’t prosecuted because he was a good man.

Worth noting, Mr. Comey, and later acting director Andrew McCabe, both said in recent testimony to Congress that the White House never attempted to obstruct the investigation into Lt. Gen. Flynn or the Russia counter-intelligence probe.