A senior Republican congressman has called on the FBI to hand over records of former director James Comey’s contacts with President Donald Trump.
House Oversight Committee chair Jason Chaffetz demanded that all correspondence be presented by 24 May.
US media have quoted a memo by Mr Comey that reportedly says Mr Trump asked him to drop an inquiry into links between his ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia.
“The president has never asked Mr Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn,” it said.
Mr Trump fired Mr Comey last week in a move that stunned Washington.
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to release to Congress records of a White House meeting between Mr Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
Mr Putin said Mr Trump had passed on no secrets at the meeting.
Critics have questioned the timing of the meeting, which came a day after Mr Comey was sacked, and on Tuesday US media quoted officials as saying Mr Trump had passed on classified information there.
During a White House meeting with Mr Comey in February, the alleged memo quotes Mr Trump as referring to Mr Flynn and saying: “I hope you can let this go.”
The memo was written immediately after the meeting, a day after Mr Flynn resigned, according to media reports.
In a letter to acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, Mr Chaffetz said the memo, along with others made by Mr Comey from his meetings with the president, “raise questions as to whether the president attempted to influence or impede the FBI’s investigation”.
He adds that the FBI should “provide, no later than May 24, 2017, all memoranda, notes, summaries and recordings referring or relating to any communications between Comey and the president”.
Mr Chaffetz had earlier tweeted that he would force the FBI to comply if necessary.
“@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,” he said.
Mr Flynn was forced out in February after he misled the vice-president about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador before Mr Trump took office.
The latest Russian twist, first reported by the New York Times, comes a week after Mr Trump fired Mr Comey over his handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while at the state department.
Mr Comey’s dismissal sent shockwaves through Washington, with critics accusing the president of trying to thwart the FBI investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the US election and any ties to Trump associates.
Mr Comey reportedly wrote a memo following a meeting with the president on 14 February that revealed Mr Trump had asked him to close an investigation into Mr Flynn’s actions.
He reportedly shared the memo with top FBI associates.
“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” the president told Mr Comey, according to the memo. “He is a good guy.”
Mr Comey did not respond to his request, according to the memo, but replied: “I agree he is a good guy.”
In response to the report, a White House official pointed out that Mr McCabe had testified last week that there had been “no effort to impede our investigation to date”.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
