The Federal Bureau of Investigation won’t be publicly releasing any memos that former Director James Comey wrote about his conversations with President Donald Trump because they might interfere with an ongoing investigation, The Hill reports.
Those documents fall under a part of the law that allows agencies to withhold records if they have been “compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information… could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,” according to a letter the FBI sent to The Hill.
Comey told a Senate panel that he wrote the memos recapping conversations with Trump because the longtime FBI Director was “honestly concerned that the President might lie.”
The memos reportedly include a description of one private conversation with Trump when he allegedly asked Comey to end an investigation into former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had been fired for allegedly misleading the Vice President about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.
“The records responsive to your request are law enforcement records. There is a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding relevant to these responsive records, and release of the information… could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings”, the FBI said in its denial.
The denial comes as several organizations, including USA Today, the New York Times, CNN and conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch, have sued to receive the documents.
Since the report about Trump’s request to “let go” of the investigation into Flynn, there have been questions swirling about whether Trump may be under investigation for obstruction of justice.
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