James Comey declined to tell House lawmakers on Monday if the FBI had any reason to believe that President Trump, as a candidate in 2016, was working with the Russian government to influence the election.
Comey was grilled by the House Judiciary and Oversight committees on Monday, and according to transcripts released Tuesday, he was pressed by lawmakers on whether or when the FBI believed Trump might have conspired with Russia to win the election.
“In late July of 2016, did the [FBI] have any reason to believe that candidate Trump himself was working with Russia to influence the election?” asked House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.
“I can’t answer that,” Comey replied. “Yeah, I can’t answer that.”
“Because I think it calls for information that falls within the special counsel’s investigation, and I’ve been instructed by the [FBI] not to be answering questions that fall within that,” Comey said when asked why he couldn’t answer. Special counsel Robert Mueller took over the investigation in May 2017, after Comey was fired.
Comey declined most questions about Mueller’s investigation, mostly because he was appointed after Trump fired him. But Comey also declined questions on the FBI’s Russia investigation prior to his firing because he said the bureau instructed him not to answer any questions that contain information that falls within the special counsel’s investigation.
Comey was also deposed on Dec. 7. Both closed-door hearings included questions about Michael Flynn, the first national security adviser hired by President Trump who was let go after it was revealed he lied about his communications with Russian officials.
Comey was forthcoming about the FBI’s handling of Flynn. For example, he explained why he broke normal protocol by sending two FBI agents to the White House to interview Flynn in January 2017. Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about sanctions imposed by the Obama administration.
“The agents went to interview Flynn to try and understand why the national security adviser was making false statements to the vice president of the United States about his interactions with the Russians during the transition,” Comey said in response to a question from Gowdy.
Comey added, “I knew certain classified facts about the nature of [Flynn’s] interactions with the Russians” prior to sending FBI agents to the White House for the interview.
“I knew that the vice president was making statements that he attributed to conversations he’d had with Mr. Flynn that were starkly at odds with those classified facts,” he said.
After another question from Gowdy, Comey said he knew exactly what Flynn said to Russia’s ambassador before he was interviewed by the FBI.
After Monday’s deposition, Comey slammed the GOP for bringing him in for questioning on Hillary Clinton’s emails and the dossier written by Christopher Steele which had unverified and salacious allegations connecting Trump to Russia.
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