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Did Trump Ask FBI to End Investigation Into Flynn?

by William Gallo

   WHITE HOUSE --

   Following a bombshell revelation that President Trump may asked
   then-FBI Director James Comey to drop the agency's probe into former
   national security adviser Michael Flynn, a powerful Republican
   Congressional committee chairman has asked the FBI to hand over Comey's
   notes on the incident within a week.

   In a letter to acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, House Oversight
   Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) demanded that "all memoranda,
   summaries, and recording, referring or relating to any communications
   between Comey and the President" be made available to the committee by
   May 24.

   The New York Times broke the story late Tuesday, reporting that Comey
   had written a memo detailing his conversation with Trump a day after
   Flynn resigned under fire last February. The Times story said the memo
   was part of a paper trail Comey created to document his perception that
   the president's request was improper.

   Several legal analysts have argued that any such request could be
   considered obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense.
   Representative Adam Schiff of California, ranking Democrat on the House
   Intelligence Committee, said at a news conference Tuesday, "if true,
   this is yet another disturbing allegation that the president may have
   engaged in some interference or obstruction of the investigation."

   The Times reported that an FBI agent's contemporaneous notes are widely
   held up in court as credible evidence of conversations.

   The Trump White House swung into crisis mode after the story broke. A
   statement issued Tuesday evening did not directly refer to the Times
   report, but denied that Trump had asked Comey or anyone else to end the
   Flynn probe.

   "While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that General
   Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the
   president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any
   investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn,"
   the statement said. "The president has the utmost respect for our law
   enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or
   accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr.
   Comey."

   In a separate statement issued at the same time, the administration
   pointed out that then deputy FBI Director McCabe had told a Senate
   committee last week that the White House had not interfered with any
   investigation.

   FBI controversy

   Trump abruptly fired Comey last week, creating a firestorm of political
   controversy and increasing calls for a special prosecutor or
   independent commission to look into any Russia-Trump connections.

   White House officials have stressed that the Russia probe had nothing
   to do with Trump's firing of Comey, although Trump himself has
   suggested in interviews that it was at least partly a motivation.

   Colleagues of Comey have said the former FBI director took careful
   notes of meetings, especially politically sensitive ones, and there
   have been reports in recent weeks suggesting that such memos existed.

   Flynn's resignation came hours after it was reported that the Justice
   Department had warned the White House that Flynn could be vulnerable to
   blackmail for his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
   before Trump took office.

   A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment on the details of the
   Comey memo.

   Reaction from Congress

   News of the reported Comey allegations prompted swift reaction on
   Capitol Hill. Several key Republican Senators seemed to question
   Comey's reported version of events.

   "The director might have told us that there'd been a request like that,
   and it was never mentioned by him," said Senate Intelligence Committee
   Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC). "So somebody's going to have to do more
   than have anonymous sources on this one for me to believe that there's
   something there."

   Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a frequent Trump critic, said, "If this
   happened, the FBI director should have done something about it or
   quit."

   Seeking independent investigation

   But for House Democrats, the revelations are just the newest reason on
   a long list that should move Congress to pass legislation creating an
   independent investigation into Russian election interference.

   On the floor of the Senate, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he was
   "shaken" by reports that Trump tried to shut down an active
   investigation. "The country is being tested in unprecedented ways