According to former FBI head, president complained about his first national security adviser, who was later fired

The US president, Donald Trump, told former FBI director James Comey he had serious concerns about the judgment of his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, according to memos maintained by Comey.

The 15 pages of documents contain new details about a series of interactions between Comey and Trump in the weeks before Comey’s May 2017 firing. In one of those encounters, a private Oval Office discussion, the former FBI head has claimed the president asked him to end an investigation into Flynn.

According to one memo, Trump complained about Flynn at a private January 2017 dinner with Comey, saying “the guy has serious judgment issues”. He then blamed Flynn for a delay in returning the congratulatory call of an international leader, telling Comey he would be upset if he had to wait six days for a returned phone call.

“I did not comment at any point during this topic and there was no mention or acknowledgment of any FBI interest in or contact with General Flynn,” Comey wrote.

At that point, the FBI had already interviewed Flynn about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and the Justice Department had already warned White House officials that they were concerned Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail.

Trump on Friday defended Flynn.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) So General Michael Flynn’s life can be totally destroyed while Shadey James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written). Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don’t think so!

Flynn was fired on 13 February, 2017, after White House officials said he had misled them about his Russian contacts during the transition period. In a separate memo, Comey says Trump cleared the Oval Office of other officials, encouraged him to let the investigation into Flynn go and called him a good guy.



The memos also reveal that days before Flynn’s firing, Trump’s then chief of staff, Reince Priebus, asked Comey if Flynn’s communications were being monitored under a secret surveillance warrant.

“Do you have a Fisa order on Mike Flynn?” Priebus asked Comey, according to the memos, referring to an order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Comey said he “paused for a few seconds and then said that I would answer here, but that this illustrated the kind of question that had been asked and answered through established channels”. Comey’s response is redacted on the unclassified memos.

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Comey has said publicly: “I knew there might come a day when I would need a record of what had happened, not just to defend myself, but to defend the FBI and our integrity as an institution and the independence of our investigative function.”

The memos were provided to Congress earlier on Thursday as House Republicans escalated criticism of the Justice Department, threatening to subpoena the documents and questioning officials.

Comey is on a publicity tour to promote his new book, A Higher Loyalty. He revealed last year that he had written the memos after conversations with Trump.

In a letter sent to three Republican House committee chairmen on Thursday evening, the assistant attorney general, Stephen Boyd, wrote that the department “consulted the relevant parties” and concluded that releasing the memos would not adversely affect any ongoing investigations. Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign as well as possible obstruction of justice by the president.

Boyd said the decision to allow the release of the memos “does not alter the department’s traditional obligation to protect from public disclosure witness statements and other documents obtained during an ongoing investigation.”

Comey said in an interview Thursday with CNN that he’s “fine” with the Justice Department turning his memos over to Congress.

“I think what folks will see if they get to see the memos is I’ve been consistent since the very beginning, right after my encounters with President Trump, and I’m consistent in the book and tried to be transparent in the book as well,” he said.

Last week, the GOP chairmen of three House committees demanded the memos by Monday. The Justice Department asked for more time, and the lawmakers agreed.