The Latest on President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey’s firing (all times local) :
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey’s firing (all times local) : 7: 20 p.m. An attorney for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has declined to comment on the issuance of a subpoena from the Senate intelligence committee. The subpoena seeks documents from Flynn related to the committee’s ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Flynn attorney Robert Kelner declined comment. Flynn had previously been in talks with the committee about agreeing to be interviewed as part of the investigation as long as he was granted immunity. In March, Kelner said in a statement that Flynn had a “story to tell” but no reasonable person would agree to be questioned by the committee without “assurances against unfair prosecution.” The panel had first requested the documents on April 28, but Flynn, through his lawyer, declined to cooperate with the request. ___ 6: 45 p.m. House Speaker Paul Ryan is defending President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. Ryan says Trump lost patience with Comey, and says many Republicans, Democrats and senior Justice Department officials had lost confidence in him. The Wisconsin Republican says Trump doesn’t want the FBI “in disarray” and acted within his authority to fire Comey. Ryan also says appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Russian ties to Trump’s presidential campaign would be a bad idea. He says the FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committees are already conducting investigations. Ryan says the methods and sources of intelligence gathering must be protected. Ryan also says he doesn’t know “all that led up to this decision.” Ryan made his remarks Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report with Bret Baier.” __ 6: 30 p.m. The Senate intelligence committee has subpoenaed former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn for documents related to the panel’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling. Sen. Richard Burr, the Republican chairman, and Sen. Mark Warner, the committee’s Democratic vice chairman, say the panel had first requested the documents from Flynn on April 28. They say Flynn’s lawyer declined to cooperate with the request. Flynn was fired by Trump after less than a month on the job. The White House said he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other top officials about his communications with Russia’s ambassador to the United States. Flynn’s Russia ties are also being scrutinized by the FBI as it investigates whether Trump’s campaign was involved in Russia’s election interference. ___ 3: 50 p.m. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is threatening to use a parliamentary maneuver to force a vote on a bill that would create an independent panel to investigate possible contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. Pelosi says in a letter Wednesday to House Democrats that they’ll file a discharge petition if Speaker Paul Ryan doesn’t call up the legislation “immediately upon our return next week.” The House is on recess this week. A discharge petition allows a measure to be brought straight to the floor, bypassing consideration by committee. But successes are rare through this approach because a majority of House members must sign the petition. Pelosi says the “fireworks at the Department of Justice demand that we remove the investigation from the Trump-appointed Justice Department leadership.” ___ 3: 10 p.m. Senate Democrats are united in demanding a special counsel be named to take over the federal investigation into Russia meddling in last year’s election. But they say that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein – who recommended the controversial dismissal of FBI Director James Comey – should not be the one to make such an assignment. That’s the report from top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer after he and his colleagues met this morning on what to do in response to Comey’s dismissal. The Trump administration and top Senate leaders such as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say a special counsel isn’t warranted, though some Republicans favor the idea. Schumer said that Comey should still testify before Congress even though he is no longer at the FBI. ___ 2: 20 p.m. White House wants the FBI to complete its investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday “we encourage them to complete investigation” so that it will be proven that “there is no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.” Sanders said the White House does not think appointing a special prosecutor is necessary. President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey Tuesday, amid an investigation into Russian ties to the Trump campaign and meddling in the 2016 election. __ 2: 20 p.m. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says President Donald Trump is meeting with Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe later Wednesday in the aftermath of his firing of FBI director James Comey. Sanders said during the daily White House briefing that the president will be discussing morale at the FBI. She says that rank-and-file employees of the FBI had lost faith in Comey’s leadership. She says Trump is willing to make a personal appearance at FBI headquarters if he feels that’s necessary and appropriate. __ 2: 15 p.m. The Senate intelligence committee has asked ousted FBI Director James Comey to appear before the committee next week. It is the first time Comey has been asked to appear before Congress as a private citizen since he was fired by President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Rebecca Watkins, a spokeswoman for the committee, said Wednesday that Comey has been invited to meet in a closed session next Tuesday. Comey had been slated to appear before the committee later this week to discuss ongoing threats to U. S. security. But the committee says acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe will stand in for Comey at Thursday’s hearing. Several high-ranking intelligence officials will join McCabe at that open hearing. __ 1: 55 p.m. The White House says that President Donald Trump had considered firing FBI Director James Comey “since the day he was elected president.” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that the president had “lost confidence” in Comey and acted on the advice of the deputy attorney general and others when he decided to fire him on Tuesday. Sanders said, “I think it’s been an erosion of confidence” and that there were a lot of “missteps and mistakes” leading up to the decision to let Comey go. ___ 1: 35 p.m. More than a dozen Republican senators voiced concerns about President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, in a series of statements suggesting that, on this issue, the GOP was not yet prepared to close ranks behind its president. The unease expressed by key committee chairs and rank-and-file lawmakers alike on Wednesday came even as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell echoed White House talking points on the issue and tried to shut down talk of a special prosecutor to investigate Russia issues. Said West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito: “I think we need to find out what’s happened and why.” Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell noted that Democrats themselves had repeatedly criticized Comey over his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email issues. And he said that with the FBI and Senate intelligence committee already investigating Russian interference, nothing further was needed. ___ 1: 30 p.m. President Donald Trump is considering four high-ranking FBI officials to serve as the bureau’s interim director following the firing of James Comey. Among the candidates is Andrew McCabe, who was elevated to acting director after Comey’s ouster Tuesday. A White House official says Trump is also considering assistant FBI director Paul Abbate, Chicago special agent Michael J. Anderson and Richmond, Virginia, agent Adam Lee. The Justice Department is overseeing the interview process for the interim director, which is separate from Trump’s decision-making process on a permanent replacement. ___ 1: 25 p.m. Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe will appear at a Senate intelligence committee hearing on Thursday in place of ex-FBI Director James Comey. The Senate intelligence committee has confirmed that McCabe will be at the hearing instead of Comey, who was fired on Tuesday by President Donald Trump. The hearing is about current and projected national security threats to the United States and U. S. interests both domestically and abroad. Others scheduled to testify are National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Adm. Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency. Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, who heads the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Robert Cardillo, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, also will be questioned by lawmakers on the committee. The hearing will move into closed session following the open hearing. ___ 12: 25 p.m. Three U. S. officials say fired FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers that he asked the Justice Department for more money for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling. President Donald Trump fired Comey Tuesday. The officials say Comey told lawmakers he had made the request to Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general. The Justice Department is denying that Comey asked for more resources. The White House has wielded a critical memo from Rosenstein to justify President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Comey on Tuesday. Rosenstein’s memo focused only on Comey’s handling of last year’s investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s email practices. It does not mention the Russia investigation. The officials were not authorized to disclose the meetings publicly and insisted on anonymity. -By Julie Pace and Eileen Sullivan __ 12: 10 p.m. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (SEHR’-gay LAHV’-rahf) says it is “humiliating” for the American people to hear that Russia is controlling the political situation in the U. S. Lavrov is speaking at the Russian Embassy in Washington after meetings with President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He said Wednesday that politicians raising questions about Russian interference in the election are damaging the U. S. political system by suggesting that it is being controlled externally. Lavrov is brushing off the questions as “noise” about Russians’ contacts with people in Trump’s campaign. He says through a translator that “there is not a single fact” or piece of compelling evidence proving Russia’s intervention in the election. Lavrov is pointing out that Trump dismisses the controversy as “false news.” ___ 11: 45 a.m. President Donald Trump says ousted FBI Director James Comey “was not doing a good job.” It was Trump’s first public remarks about his firing Tuesday of the FBI chief. Trump briefly spoke to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday after a closed meeting with Russia’s foreign minister. His remarks come as the White House is defending the decision to dismiss Comey. Administration officials have said the firing was not related to the investigation into possible contacts between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia. Trump was joined by Henry Kissinger, former secretary of state and national security adviser under President Richard Nixon. __ 11: 20 a.m. The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says there’s no need for a special prosecutor to investigate Russia’s ties to the Trump campaign in the wake of the firing of the FBI director. GOP Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina says his committee has the jurisdiction and responsibility to continue its Russia investigation and “we are going to do that.” However Burr reiterated questions about President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. “The timing of this and the reasoning for it doesn’t make sense to me.” And, Burr said that the firing “made our task a little more difficult but it didn’t make it impossible so we’ll continue.
