Chairman Bob Goodlatte subpoenaed both Comey and former attorney general Loretta Lynch. Comey is demanding a public hearing rather than a private deposition.

Former FBI director James Comey's attorney says he will fight the subpoena issued by the House Judiciary Committee to privately testify on events surrounding the bureau's investigation of the 2016 election.

CNN:

"Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans," Comey tweeted. "I'm still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a 'closed door' thing because I've seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Let's have a hearing and invite everyone to see." David Kelley, an attorney for Comey, said Thursday that his client will fight the order in court. "While the authority for congressional subpoenas is broad, it does not cover the right to misuse closed hearings as a political stunt to promote political as opposed to legislative agendas," Kelley said. Lynch has not yet commented publicly about the subpoenas. Before the committee officially subpoenaed Comey and Lynch, Rep. Jerry Nadler, the Democrat who is expected to chair the panel next year, criticized the move as "unfortunate." "Months ago, Director Comey and Attorney General Lynch both indicated their willingness to answer the Chairman's questions voluntarily. My understanding is that the Republicans have had no contact with either the director or the attorney general since," Nadler said last week.

"Political stunt"? What does Kelley think the Democrats want an open hearing for? As with the recent Kavanaugh hearing, Democrats want to posture, speechify, and tell the world how evil the Republicans are for questioning the integrity of the FBI investigation into Trump and Russian collusion. This isn't "political"?

There are few things in Washington more political than a committee hearing. The notion that Comey has a right to choose whether the hearing is open or closed is absurd.

Perhaps Comey is afraid that he can't defend the FBI and DoJ from charges of political bias in their investigation. The virulent, undeniable Trump-hatred expressed by everyone from Deputy Director Andrew McCabe down to the agents in charge of the investigation makes the claim that the probe was "professional" and unbiased ludicrous. Comey will keep insisting that the integrity of the investigation was not compromised – a claim that only Hillary Clinton partisans accept.

For Republicans, this is a last-gasp effort to investigate bias at the FBI and Justice Department. The Democrats will take over the House in January, at which point this will all disappear down a partisan rabbit hole.