FBI Director James Comey met privately with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee for nearly three hours Friday afternoon as lawmakers continued to grapple with the fallout over national security adviser Mike Flynn’s resignation in the wake of reports that he talked about U.S. sanctions with the Russian ambassador in late December.
The members of the intelligence panel emerged from the meeting, held in a secure room in the Senate basement used for classified briefings, tight-lipped, refusing to confirm that Comey had spoken to them, even though reporters spotted Comey entering and exiting the meeting.
“You know that I don’t talk about Intelligence Committee meetings,” Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., told reporters asking questions about it in the Senate basement.
The Senate Intelligence panel is investigating the content of Flynn’s phone call, as well as other Russian cyber-hacking of the Democratic National Committee and others in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election.
It is also looking into newspaper reports that Trump campaign officials were in frequent contact with Russian officials during the campaign, a charge Trump and several of the official in question, have denied.
Burr told the Washington Examiner that that probe is still in its “early stages” with no known timeline for completing its work.
Democrats have called for the creation of an independent commission to investigate the allegations of Russian involvement in the election. But so far, GOP leaders have said the Intelligence Committee would handle it while other panels, such as the Senate Armed Services and a Judiciary subcommittee have announced related probes.
The FBI looked into Flynn’s call with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassdor to the U.S. According to reports, Flynn told the FBI that he had not discussed sanctions imposed on Moscow by the Obama administration when transcripts of the call showed that he did. Still, CNN reported sources saying that the agency is not expected to pursue charges against Flynn for the phone call.
