Justice Department to give Congress Comey memos

The Department of Justice is expected to soon release memos written by fired FBI Director James Comey to members of Congress.

The memos, which detail the ousted FBI head’s interactions with President Trump, could be made available on Capitol Hill as early as Thursday evening, a source with knowledge on the matter told CNN.

It’s unclear whether Comey’s notes will be provided in redacted form, un-redacted in a classified setting or combination of the two.

"It's fine by me," Comey told CNN's Jake Tapper Thursday of Congress obtaining the memos. "I don't care. I don't have any views on it. I'm totally fine with transparency."

Inside the White House on the day Trump fired James Comey

News of the memo release comes a day after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte took initial steps to subpoena the Justice Department in a bid to get access to seven of the memos Comey penned at the end of last year.

The House Judiciary Committee warned it would move ahead with the subpoena and potentially charge deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein with contempt of Congress if the notes were not turned over by the end of the week.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman David Nunes, House Oversight Committee Trey Gowdy and Goodlatte have long demanded access to the memos as part of their investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email probe in 2016.

Goodlatte on Wednesday alerted ranking Democratic Rep. Jerrold Naddler about the potential subpoena, per judiciary rules.

“Although the majority has shown little or no interest in conducting meaningful oversight into the Trump Administration so far, no matter what the Chairman’s motivations are today, I hope that we will now have an opportunity to review some of the evidence surrounding President Trump’s dismissal of Mr. Comey,” Naddler said in a statement on Wednesday.

Comey, who was fired by Trump in May 2017, testified before a congressional committee about the memos he wrote detailing his conversations with the Commander in Chief — among them, a memo that alleges the President pressured Comey to end the FBI’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Another outlines how Trump supposedly demanded Comey’s loyalty.

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The memos are believed to be a major portion of Mueller’s probe and may offer insight into whether the President dismissed Comey in a bid to obstruct investigations into his campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia.

Naddler warned holding onto the memos could provide the groundwork for Trump to replace Rosenstein, who’s overseeing Mueller’s special investigation. Rumors suggesting Trump is looking to dismiss both men have gained traction in recent weeks, though Trump has denied he intends to fire them.

“As far as the two gentlemen you told me about, the’ve been saying I’m going to get rid of them for the last three months, four months, five months. And they’re still here,” Trump said in a press conference Wednesday night during which he also denied any collusion.

“So we want to get this investigation over with, done with, put it behind us.”

Rosenstein earlier this week requested more time from the GOP lawmakers, saying on Monday the memos may relate to an ongoing investigation.

But Gowdy pushed back, telling CNN on Wednesday that there’s nothing in the memos that should prevent Rosenstein from releasing them.

While officials argue the validity of sharing the memos, the author behind them had a significantly more blase perspective.