Donald Trump Told James Comey To Drop Flynn Investigation: Report
In a bombshell new report published by the New York Times on Tuesday, it was revealed that Donald Trump asked James Comey to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn during a meeting in February.
According to the New York Times report, Trump said to Comey during the meeting “I hope you can let this go.”
The New York Times report noted, “the existence of Mr. Trump’s request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and FBI investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.”
The report detailed that the entire exchange between Trump and Comey was noted in a memo Comey wrote after the meeting.
NBC News has also confirmed the existence of the memo Comey wrote after being told by Trump to let go of the investigation.
According to the New York Times report, the memo states that Trump told Comey “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.”
“He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
Reporting from NBC News indicates that James Comey wrote a memo after each interaction he had with Donald Trump.
According to the report, James Comey became convinced that Donald Trump was trying to interfere with the FBI investigation int Russian meddling and collusion with the Trump team.
.@PeterAlexander just reported on @MSNBC a source close to Comey—fmr. fed. law enforcement official—confirms existence & contents of memo.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 16, 2017
Another key section from the New York Times report says the following:
Mr. Comey had been in the Oval Office that day with other senior national security officials for a terrorism threat briefing. When the meeting ended, Mr. Trump told those present — including Mr. Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — to leave the room except for Mr. Comey.
Alone in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump began the discussion by condemning leaks to the news media, saying that Mr. Comey should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information, according to one of Mr. Comey’s associates.
Mr. Trump then turned the discussion to Mr. Flynn.
After writing up a memo that outlined the meeting, Mr. Comey shared it with senior F.B.I. officials. Mr. Comey and his aides perceived Mr. Trump’s comments as an effort to influence the investigation, but they decided that they would try to keep the conversation secret — even from the F.B.I. agents working on the Russia investigation — so the details of the conversation would not affect the investigation.
