Earlier this month, the House Intelligence Committee revealed that then-FBI director James Comey told lawmakers in March 2017 that bureau agents who questioned then-national security adviser Michael Flynn saw no signs that Flynn was lying.
Now, the Senate Judiciary Committee has revealed that Comey told them the same thing, at the same time. In a letter to the Department of Justice and the FBI, committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley wrote, "Director Comey specifically told us during that briefing that the FBI agents who interviewed Lt. General Michael Flynn, 'saw nothing that led them to believe [he was] lying.' Our own committee's staff's notes indicate that Mr. Comey said the 'agents saw no change in his demeanor or tone that would say he was being untruthful.'" The Flynn interview took place on January 24, 2017, four days into the Trump administration.
Grassley's letter went farther than the House report to say that Comey "led us to believe…that the Justice Department was unlikely to prosecute [Flynn] for false statements made in that interview."
Comey's comments left lawmakers surprised when, in late November 2017, after special counsel Robert Mueller had taken over the Russia investigation, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
The House interview was transcribed, and the House committee's report quoted Comey verbatim. The Senate interview was not transcribed, but Grassley referred to "notes taken by a career, non-partisan law enforcement officer who was present."
Comey's statements to the committee, Grassley noted, are "contrary to his public statements during his current book tour denying any memory of those comments." Indeed, during publicity interviews for his book, A Higher Loyalty, Comey has been asked several times whether he told lawmakers that the FBI agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe Flynn had lied.
"No," Comey told Fox News' Bret Baier. "I don't know what — maybe someone misunderstood something I said. I didn't believe that and didn't say that."
"Not true," Comey told NBC's Chuck Todd.
"I don't know where that's coming from," Comey told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "That — unless I'm — I said something that people misunderstood, I don't remember even intending to say that. So, my recollection is I never said that to anybody."
Grassley's new letter is officially a restatement of a Feb. 15, 2017 request to the Justice Department for a transcript of Flynn's December 2016 call with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak — the call that was the basis for the FBI interview that was the basis for the charge against Flynn. Back then, the Justice Department refused to give the Senate the transcript.
Noting that Flynn has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, Grassley asked for the transcript again — plus the agents' report, known as a 302, of the interview with Flynn.
Finally, Grassley asked that the FBI "make special agent Joe Pientka available for a transcribed interview" with the Judiciary Committee. Pientka is believed to be one of the two agents — along with the now-famous Peter Strzok — who interviewed Flynn.
The Grassley letter is a strong substantiation of the House Intelligence Committee's revelation about Comey — as if that revelation, based on a transcript of Comey's remarks, needed any substantiation. Grassley's letter also follows a pattern in which the Senate committee, working entirely separately from the House, has reached conclusions similar to those announced, sometimes amid great controversy, by the House.
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