Former FBI Director James Comey has declined a request to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to its ranking Democrat.
In a Friday afternoon interview with MSNBC, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said that Comey would not be appearing at a previously scheduled interview that had been set for next Tuesday. Warner said he hoped that the fired FBI chief would testify before the committee at a future date.
“I have enormous respect for Jim Comey, and I believe at the appropriate time and place, he will tell his side of the story,” Warner said. “And my hope is that will be in front of our committee.”
And per ABC News, there’s some rescheduling in the works:
On the other side of Congress, all 17 Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee have signed an open letter calling upon the GOP-controlled panel to hold hearings about Comey's termination.
Earlier on Friday President Donald Trump appeared to threaten his former FBI director with tape recordings of their past conversations.
"James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" Trump wrote.
Several Democrats in Congress have been trying to confirm that such recordings exist and White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked about them during a Friday afternoon briefing. "The president has nothing further to add," he repeated three times.
In an interview with Fox News' Jeanine Pirro on Friday, the president refused to further comment, adding only, "All I want is for Comey to be honest."
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