Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) released the following statement on memos written by former FBI Director James Comey, that the Judiciary Committee received from the Justice Department yesterday:

“The release of these memos—under threat of subpoena by the Majority—has accomplished little other than corroborating Mr. Comey’s previous testimony.  President Trump asked Comey to see his way to ‘letting this Flynn [investigation] go,’ ‘needed loyalty and expected loyalty,’ and wanted to ‘lift the cloud’ of the Russian investigation. 

“It may be that the memos raise questions about the ethics of former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who attempted to interfere in an ongoing investigation—asking Mr. Comey directly about a ‘FISA order on Mike Flynn.’  We are again left to question why President Trump retained Flynn as National Security Adviser when he had ‘serious reservations about his judgment.’

“But if news is to be made with the release of these memos, it is that Republicans will continue to use their investigatory powers to prop up President Trump’s wildest conspiracy theories and to divert attention from the myriad scandals facing the Trump Administration.  The majority has been here before.  Chairman Nunes ran to the White House for ‘evidence’ of wiretapping that turned out to be nothing of the sort.  He wrote a memorandum that was wrong on the facts, wrong on the law, and has since been thoroughly debunked.  And now he has joined forces with Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman Gowdy to engineer the release of sensitive documents, in the middle of an ongoing criminal investigation, in a failed attempt to undercut Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and validate spurious claims that Mr. Comey has leaked classified information.

“This fecklessness is astounding.  The Majority refuses to hold hearings on corruption and conflicts of interest in the Administration, past and ongoing election interference by the Russian government, and growing evidence that the President has obstructed justice and abused his office. It is long past time that we do our jobs and conduct meaningful oversight of the Trump Administration.”

Ranking Member Nadler and Committee Democrats have long called on the Judiciary Committee Majority to conduct oversight of the Trump Administration. Democrats have called on the Majority to hold hearings on the firing of James Comey, attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigators, foreign threats to the integrity of U.S. elections, Russian interference in the 2016 election and more.

Yesterday, Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler released a new report detailing Committee Democrats’ efforts to conduct proper oversight of the Trump Administration. The full report is available here.

Ranking Member Nadler has also proposed that Congress take several immediate actions to restore accountability and protect DOJ and FBI from undue interference, including passing the Special Counsel Integrity and Independence Act.

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