What We Know So Far
- President Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to drop the bureau’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s connections to Russia, the New York Times reported, citing a memo Comey wrote about the encounter. (Comey has since been fired).
- The revelation — confirmed by several other news outlets — has set off the most significant crisis in the Trump administration to date, merging the Russia investigations and inquiries into why Comey was fired. Critics say Trump may have obstructed justice.
- Despite White House denials, the House Oversight Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and the Senate Judiciary Committee have requested that the FBI turn over the Comey memos and other recordings for review. The Senate has also called on Comey to testify both publicly and in private.
- In a speech Wednesday, Trump complained “no politician in history…has been treated worse or more unfairly” than him.
- The Republican Party is growing fed up with the Trump administration’s moving from scandal to scandal. Some Democrats are already talking impeachment — though leadership thinks it’s too soon for that.
- Republican Sen. John McCain has called the latest revelation “Watergate” in “size and scale.”
- Two US officials briefed on the matter told BuzzFeed News on Monday that Trump revealed highly classified information concerning ISIS in Syria to two senior Russian diplomats during their visit to the White House last week.
- Two Israeli intelligence officials confirmed to BuzzFeed News that Israel had shared specific intelligence regarding ISIS plots to smuggle explosive laptops onto planes.
- Trump on Tuesday tweeted it was his “absolute right” to share the information — contradicting statements from his own national security adviser, H.R. McMaster.
Updates
House hearing scheduled for Comey, as McConnell calls for public testimony
Officially noticed a hearing for next Wed at 9:30am ET with former FBI Dir Comey. But I still need to speak with him…evidently has a new #
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse)
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, on Wednesday said he had scheduled a hearing for fired FBI Director James Comey to testify.
Chaffetz said the hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 24, at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Comey has also been asked to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Utah congressman, however, said he has been unable to speak directly with Comey.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the Wall Street Journal Comey needs to testify publicly as soon as possible.
“I think we need to hear from him as soon as possible in public to respond to the issues that have been raised in recent days,” McConnell said.
In a statement to the newspaper, the senator’s office added: “It’s appropriate and timely for the Senate to hear directly from former Director James Comey in a public setting as part of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s ongoing investigation.”
—David Mack
Senate Judiciary Committee requests Comey memos from FBI, “recordings” from White House
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday they had written to the FBI and the White House seeking documentation of meetings between President Trump and fired FBI Director James Comey.
The announcement came less than an hour after the Senate Intelligence Committee went public with a similar request.
In a letter to Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, the Senate Judiciary Committee referred to Tuesday’s bombshell report from the New York Times that Comey wrote an internal memo that Trump had asked him to stop investigating former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
The committee called on McCabe to provide them with “all such memos, if they exist,” related to Comey’s meeting with presidents Trump and Obama, attorneys general Jeff Sessions and Loretta Lynch, and deputy attorneys general Rod Rosenstein, Dana Boente, and Sally Yates regarding Russian ties to Trump associates or the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
In a separate letter to White House counsel Donald McGahn, the committee asked for “all White House recordings” of interactions between Trump and Comey, “including all records, transcripts, notes summaries, and memoranda.”
The president last week tweeted that there may be “tapes” of his interactions with Comey — a statement the White House has since refused to elaborate on.
—David Mack
Republican senator: “It may be that we need to look to an independent commission or special prosecutor”
A moderate Republican senator said Wednesday she is considering supporting an independent commission or special prosecutor to investigate Russia and the Trump administration.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said in a statement that she has been “concerned about the continuous and often conflicting reports about President Trump, the FBI, and Russia.”
“The American people deserve to know the truth,” she said.
Murkowski said she still believes the Senate Intelligence Committee should continue with its own investigation, but added that she was open to considering another independent probe.
“It’s imperative that we — Congress, the FBI, the administration — work to restore the public’s trust,” she said. “In order to gain that credibility, it may be that we need to look to an independent commission or special prosecutor.”
—David Mack
Trump complains to cadets he’s the most unfairly treated politician in history
President Trump: “No politican in history …has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews)
In his speech to the 2017 graduates of the United States Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut on Wednesday, President Trump said that “no politician in history” had been treated worse than him.
“Look at the way I’ve been treated lately, especially by the media. No politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or more unfairly. You can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams.”
“Over the course of your life, you will find that things are not always fair,” he told the graduating cadets. “You will find that things happen to you that you do not deserve and that are not always warranted. You have to put your head down and fight, fight, fight.”
“Never ever ever give up. Things will work out just fine,” he said.
—Ellie Hall
Senate intelligence committee requests Comey testify, FBI memos
The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday announced they have requested former FBI Director James Comey testify before them in both open and closed sessions.
Republican Sen. Richard Burr and Democrat Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement that they had also written to Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe “seeking any notes or memorandum prepared by the former Director regarding any communications he may have had with senior White House and Department of Justice officials related to investigations into Russia’s effort [to influence the US election].”
Warner told reporters at the Capitol that he expects McCabe to respond within 72 hours and hopes Comey will testify “soon.”
“I can imagine after kind of what he’s been through that taking a week to chill out would seem appropriate,” he said. “But my expectation is that we’ll hear something early next week about whether he’ll accept our invitation.”
“We’d like to understand the content of the memos, we’d like to hear his testimony as to conversations he’s had with the president,” said Burr.
Warner said he wants to examine the Comey memo first, before deciding whether to release it publicly.
“The chairman and I told our staff, you know, in light of everything that’s going on this week, we need to put the pedal the metal,” he said.
—David Mack and Emma Loop
Two Republicans say, if true, Trump’s behavior could merit impeachment
Two Republican lawmakers have suggested they could support impeachment of President Donald Trump if it is proved he tried to pressure FBI Director James Comey to drop an investigation into Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser.
Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan told The Hill that if the contents of the memo are correct then the behavior would merit impeachment.
“But everybody gets a fair trial in this country,” he added.
Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida told the Independent Journal Review that the reports of the memo were “deeply, deeply troubling and disconcerting, and it would open a new chapter of scandal” for the administration.
When asked if he would support impeachment proceedings if the reports were confirmed, Curbelo nodded, according to the IJR.
“It depends on the facts. If there was any obstruction of justice, that would obviously rise to that level,” he said.
—David Mack
Paul Ryan says “now is the time to get all pertinent information”
Ryan: “There are a lot of unanswered questions. What I told our members is now is the time to get all the pertinent⦠https://t.co/B5FPyzGzOK
— David Mack (@davidmackau)
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday there are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding the James Comey memo, including why, if things happened as the former FBI director allegedly described, didn’t he take action at the time.
“The last thing I’m going to do is pre-judge anything,” Ryan said. “I’m a person who wants to get the facts.”
The House Speaker said that before rushing to judgement, Congress must solely focus on gathering all of the pertinent information and drown out the speculation, innuendo, as well as the “politics being played.”
“There are some people out there who want to harm the president,” Ryan said. “We have an obligation to carry out our oversight, regardless of which party is in the White House.”
“I’m sure we’re going to go on to hear from Mr. Comey about why, if this happened as he allegedly describes, why didn’t he take action the time? There are a lot of unanswered questions,” Ryan said.
—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos
Trump Jr. defends father on Twitter
Truth. https://t.co/g63Our339Z
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr)
Donald Trump Jr., the president’s oldest son, on Wednesday defended his father against criticism he may have obstructed justice by requesting FBI Director James Comey drop an inquiry into his former associate, Michael Flynn.
Trump Jr. shared a tweet from Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera which read, “News Flash, @realDonaldTrump hoping @JamesComeyFBI cuts @MikeFlynn some slack because he is a ‘good man’ is not close to #Obstruction.”
“Truth,” the president’s son wrote.
—David Mack
WASHINGTON — Democrats are warming up to the idea of impeaching President Trump, as opposition to the president drowns out all other causes in the party.
Elected Democrats have to date shied away from progressive activists’ demands that the party focus explicitly to removing the president. And Democrats, who are in the minority in both houses, can’t actually impeach a president without significant Republican support.
But the Democrats gathered here Tuesday in the heart of the progressive establishment are beginning to speak openly about turning midterm elections into a referendum on whether Trump should finish his term.
—Lissandra Villa
Vladimir Putin says Trump did not give confidential information to Russian officials
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed reports Donald Trump gave confidential information to Russian officials during a White House visit.
Putin said Wednesday that Russia was willing to hand over Senate records of Trump’s talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov if the White House approved, the Associated Press reported.
He called all the talk surrounding the reports “political schizophrenia” and said US politicians were “stupid” or “dangerous” for spreading anti-Russian sentiments.
Putin said some US politicians, who he did not name, were “causing the damage to their own country.”
Military figures say McMaster’s credibility is on shaky ground for how he defended Trump
It wasn’t his strained defense of the “wholly appropriate” conversations between Russian officials and President Donald Trump, or even the fact that he, a general, was standing at the White House podium that rattled longtime fans.
Rather, it was that Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, was a current military officer when he stood before the American public and aggressively defended a president during a political crisis — and that he leaned on his credibility as a military general to do so.
“There is no way he is going to be able to live up to the ideals he wrote in his book with this president,” one longtime military observer told BuzzFeed News.
Read more here.
—Nancy A. Youssef
Sen. John McCain said Trump scandals have reached “Watergate size and scale”
Republican Sen. John McCain said the scandals coming from the Trump White house, including reports the president asked the FBI director to stop an investigation into Mike Flynn, have reached “Watergate size and scale.”
McCain, a former presidential candidate, made the comments Tuesday at a dinner where he was being recognized by the International Republican Institute.
“I think we’ve seen this movie before,” McCain told the largely Republican crowd. “I think it’s reaching the point where it’s of Watergate size and scale and a couple of other scandals that you and I have seen.”
@SenJohnMcCain at IRI dinner now- “We’ve seen this movie before. It’s reaching Watergate size and scale….This is not good for the country”
— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro)
McCain just said at a dinner honoring him that the Trump scandals have reached a “Watergate size and scale” — wow
— Tim Mak (@timkmak)
McCain made the comment after a New York Times report was published that said former FBI director James Comey wrote a memo after a meeting with Trump where the president asked him to drop an FBI investigation into Flynn.
“None of us, no matter what our political leanings are, no matter how we feel about Trump, feel this is good for America,” McCain said.
McCain also criticized the president for welcoming Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov into the White House last week, saying Lavrov was a murderer and hosting him at the Oval Office was “unacceptable.”
—Salvador Hernandez
Chairman of House Oversight Committee requests Comey memos
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday sent a letter to the FBI requesting all memos and recordings related to any communication between the agency’s fired director James Comey and President Trump.
In a letter to the FBI’s acting director, Andrew McCabe, the committee’s Republican chairman, Jason Chaffetz, cited media reports that one memo detailed the president asking Comey to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“If true, these memoranda raise questions as to whether the president attempted to influence or impede the FBI’s investigation,” Chaffetz wrote.
The request for the documents came just hours after the New York Times reported the existence of the memo, in which Comey reportedly recalls Trump telling him in the Oval Office “I hope you can let this go” regarding the Flynn investigation.
The FBI was asked to hand over the documents to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee no later than May 24.
—Salvador Hernandez
Exhausted Republicans are getting fed up with White House chaos
Exhausted from having to keep up with self-inflicted crises that detract from their legislative agenda, Republicans on Capitol Hill are slowly starting to break from President Trump, demanding more information from the White House, which they say has kept them in the dark on potentially leaked classified material.
In a new development in the Trump era, several Republicans are making the political calculation that defending the president before they have all the relevant information might not be in their best interest.
Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock, who represents a swing district in the Washington, DC, suburbs and is considered among the most vulnerable House Republicans in 2018, went as far as anybody in a statement, following the Washington Post report about Trump discussing classified information with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in the Oval Office.
“Once again we are faced with inexplicable stories coming from the White House that are highly troubling,” she said.
—Tarini Parti, Alexis Levinson, and Adrian Carrasquillo
Congressional leaders say they’re going to get Comey’s memo
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Tuesday he would file a subpoena to get a copy of former FBI Director Jim Comey’s memo that recounted attempts by President Trump to stop the investigation into his campaign’s possible ties to Russia.
“.@GOPOversight is going to get the Comey memo, if it exists,” Chaffetz tweeted on Tuesday. “I need to see it sooner rather than later. I have my subpoena pen ready.”
The existence of the memo was reported by the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and other media outlets.
.@GOPoversight is going to get the Comey memo, if it exists. I need to see it sooner rather than later. I have my subpoena pen ready.
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse)
Democrats in the House agreed that it was necessary to get the memo immediately, as well as any related documents — as well as “tapes” that Trump has threatened exist of his meeting with Comey.
The reported attempts by Trump to shut down investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia required immediate action from Congress, said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
“This is an explosive allegation, and it appears like a textbook case of criminal obstruction of justice,” he said in a statement. “We need to hear testimony immediately from Director Comey — in public.”
Democrats on the Oversight Committee went on to request a joint investigation into whether Trump and other officials were involved in obstructing the work of the FBI and Department of Justice.
“It is unacceptable to continue ignoring these scandals,” their letter said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Richard Burr, chair of the Senate intelligence committee, questioned why the information reportedly contained in the memo was only coming out now. Burr, a Republican, is leading the Senate’s inquiry into Russian meddling into the 2016 election.
Burr said the New York Times and other media outlets had a responsibility to obtain and release a copy of the memo to prove its existence. A spokesperson later added Burr would also work to find more information related to Tuesday’s reports.
“The Committee relies on facts to guide the investigation,” the statement said. “Sen. Burr will follow relevant leads, but the Committee has not seen what the New York Times reported today. It certainly raises questions and he will follow up on acquiring those facts from credible sources.”
—Claudia Koerner