The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has refused to grant Congress' request to hand over the memos left by former Director James Comey, which entails detailed accounts of his interactions with US President Donald Trump. Comey was fired by Trump last month over mishandling of Hillary Clinton email scandal.
The New York Times, earlier this month, had reported that one of Comey's memos entailing his conversation with Trump stated that the US President had once asked the former FBI chief to drop the current investigations of Russia's links with Trump administration.
The House Oversight Committee and the Intelligence Committee had subsequently requested that the memos left by Comey be handed to them in early May. Comey's memo stated that Trump, after a dinner at the White House, had asked the ex-FBI director to end the investigations involving his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn's links with Russia.
The FBI's assistant director for congressional affairs, Gregory Brower, in a letter to Republican committee chairman Jason Chaffetz on Thursday said that the investigative agency cannot hand the memos to the Congress until it consults all its prospects with special counsel Robert Mueller, according to Efe News reports.
Mueller, the former FBI chief, has been appointed as a special counsel to head the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential elections.
Brower said that the FBI is conducting "appropriate consultations" to ensure that "all relevant interests implicated by your (Congress') request are properly evaluated." He also added that the bureau will update the committee about the progress "as soon as possible."
Chaffetz, however, responded to the letter on Thursday reiterating the committee's demand to be provided with the memos by 8 June.
"Congress and the American public have a right and a duty to examine this issue independently of the special counsel's investigation," Chaffetz said.
"I trust and hope you understand this and make the right decision - to produce these documents to the committee immediately and on a voluntary basis," he added.
