Sen. Martin Heinrich grew frustrated with the refusal of intelligence officials to answer questions related to the firing of former FBI Director James Comey and the probe into Russian interference into the 2016 election.
The New Mexico Democrat questioned why McCabe wouldn’t discuss his conversations with Comey in the public hearing, saying it would not be appropriate, instead deferring to the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russian interference in last year’s election. McCabe repeatedly said he would let Comey speak for himself.
“So you’re not invoking executive privilege and obviously it’s not classified, this is the oversight committee, why would it not be appropriate for you to share that conversation with us?” Heinrich asked.
“I think I’ll let Director Comey speak for himself tomorrow in front of this committee.” McCabe responded.
Heinrich moved on to ask Director of National Intelligence Dan Coat whether or not he had a conversation with President Trump about blunting the Russia investigation.
Coats declined to respond, stating that the hearing was an open session and that he did not believe in discussing his conversations with the president or members of the administration in front of the general public.
“I think your unwillingness to answer a very simple question speaks volumes,” Heinrich said.
Heinrich also ripped Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after asking whether he knew that the memo he wrote to the administration in early May would be used to fire Comey.
While Rosenstein was attempting to answer in between redirects to the original question, Heinrich stated that he was “filibustering better than some of my colleagues.”
Rosenstein countered that he had only taken about 30 seconds to answers, before Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., interjected to ask that he be allowed to answer the questions.
