US President Donald Trump reportedly asked the previous FBI chief James Comey to end an inquiry into links between his ex-national security adviser and Russia.
The news comes soon amid a tumultuous week at the White House where Trump not only fired FBI chief Comey but also discussed national security information about Isis with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” said Trump, according to the memo.
The White House were quick to deny the report and said in a statement:
“While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that General Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn,” the statement said. “The president has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr. Comey.”
Democratic U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal said: “The memo is powerful evidence of obstruction of justice and certainly merits immediate and prompt investigation by an independent special prosecutor,”
Comey was fired last week by the President. Officials have provided differing reasons behind the FBI Chief’s dismissal. Trump has said that one of the reasons was because he believed “this Russia thing” was a “made-up story.”
Since Flynn stepped down, the Pentagon began an investigation into whether he failed to disclose payments from Turkish and Russian lobbyists for speeches and consulting work.
Following the Comey memo, the Republican National Committee have said that Trump was being victimised by an “unelected bureaucracy.”
“You already knew the media was out to get us,” the email said. “But sadly it’s not just the fake news… There are people within our own unelected bureaucracy that want to sabotage President Trump and our entire ‘America First’ movement.”