This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Former FBI director James Comey has reached a deal to testify privately to the House judiciary committee, his attorney said on Sunday.

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Comey, whose lawyers went to court to challenge a congressional subpoena, said in a tweet that it was “hard to protect my rights without being in contempt”.

He added: “Republicans agree I’m free to talk when done and transcript released in 24 hours. This is the closest I can get to public testimony.”

On Friday, Comey’s lawyers told a federal judge the interview should be done in a public setting because they feared statements would be selectively leaked as part of Republican efforts to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference and links between aides to Donald Trump and Moscow.

A lawyer for Congress argued that committees can conduct investigations however they please and Comey had no right to refuse a subpoena or demand a public hearing.

Comey is expected to be questioned about decisions made by the FBI in 2016, including a call not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server and the FBI’s investigation into potential coordination between Russia and Trump’s campaign. Trump fired Comey in May 2017.

The interview is scheduled for Friday and Comey will be “free to make any or all of that transcript public as he is free to share with the public any of the questions asked and testimony given during the interview”, said his attorney, David Kelley.

Because of the deal, Comey has agreed to withdraw his challenge to the subpoena. A judge had been set to rule on the matter on Monday. No federal district court has ever granted a request to quash a subpoena and suspend congressional proceedings.