Senator Chuck Grassley.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley got a private briefing Monday about the FBI’s latest investigations of the White House.
FBI Director James Comey announced publicly Monday there is no evidence President Barack Obama had then-candidate Trump’s New York offices bugged and Comey adds, the bureau is investigating President Trump’s ties with Russia and that nation’s role in last year’s presidential election.
Grassley, a Republican, is no longer demanding Comey appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Grassley chairs. “We have him appearing before the two (House and Senate) intelligence committees in the next few weeks as well as yesterday, the oversight committee,” Grassley says. “I don’t want to lead anybody to believe we’re going to have a full committee investigation that might duplicate everything else.”
Grassley and the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, have been trying to get information from Comey for weeks. “Feinstein and I talked to him on the phone and he was going to get back to us. He didn’t get back to us, so then I threatened and I did hold up the nomination of the second-in-command of the Justice Department,” Grassley says. “I wasn’t going to schedule it until we got a briefing.”
Grassley says he and Feinstein are now satisfied with how the FBI director is communicating. “She and I got a secured briefing yesterday that, obviously, I can’t talk about and I think we’ll just feel our way along. Right now, I’m not planning a full committee hearing.”
Earlier this month, President Trump alleged in a tweet that the Obama administration tapped the phones at Trump Towers during the campaign.
Comey told the House panel on Monday there is no evidence to support that claim and confirmed, the FBI is looking into allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election, including alleged communications with the Trump campaign.