Key US lawmakers vow full airing of reasons for Comey firing

WASHINGTON — Members of key congressional committees are pledging a full public airing as to why former FBI director James Comey was ousted amid an intensifying investigation into Russia’s interference with the US election.

The probe appears to be reaching close to US President Donald Trump and his inner circle.

In Sunday show appearances, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers say they will press Comey in hearings as to whether he ever felt that Trump tried to interfere with his FBI work. Others are insisting on seeing any White House or FBI documents that detail conversations between the two, following a spate of news reports that Comey had kept careful records.

Comey was fired by Trump earlier this month. The former FBI director agreed to testify before the Senate intelligence committee after the Memorial Day holiday.

“The American public deserves to know the answers,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, a member of the Senate intelligence committee. “Did he keep these memos? What do those memos say? And why did he write it? And how did he feel? Did he ever feel like he was being put in a position where he couldn’t do his job? There’s no doubt that that’s the questions that are going to get asked, and asked repeatedly.”

The New York Times reported last week on a Comey memo indicating that Trump had urged him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. A second Times report said Trump also had told Russian officials in a closed-door meeting at the Oval Office that firing Comey “had relieved great pressure on him.” The Washington Post, meanwhile, said a senior Trump adviser is now being considered a “person of interest” in the law enforcement investigation into whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the election.

— AP