This was FBI Director James Comey's first public appearance since his decision shortly before the election to alert Congress he was re-opening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Comey won't say if FBI is investigating contacts between Moscow, Trump campaign

FBI Director James Comey declined Tuesday to say whether there was contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the presidential race, or whether the FBI was investigating the issue.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey said he could not comment publicly on the possibility of open investigations — a comment that raised some eyebrows among Democrats and led to a biting response from Sen. Angus King (I-Maine): “The irony of your making that statement here, I cannot avoid, but I’ll move on.”


This was Comey's first public appearance since his decision shortly before the presidential election to alert Congress he was re-opening the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails — a move that gave the Trump campaign momentum in the final stretch to Election Day.

“I would never comment on investigations, whether we have one or not, in an open forum like this,” Comey said. “So I really can’t answer it one way or another.”

Comey was pressed on the issue by Sen. Ron Wyden who pointed to past statements by a senior Russian diplomat that there were contacts between Moscow and the Trump campaign. The Oregon Democrat urged Comey to provide an unclassified response on the issue before Inauguration Day.

“I think the American people have a right to know this,” Wyden said. “And if there is a delay in declassifying this information and releasing it to the American people, and it doesn’t happen before January 20th, I’m not sure it’s going to happen.”

Comey indicated he likely would not be able to say anything publicly before then.

Earlier in the hearing, the Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner, said the panel's ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election should look into possible coordination between the presidential campaigns and the Russian government.

The Virginia senator said the committee probe should not seek to "re-litigate the results of the election" but that it must be "thorough."

"In my view, our committee investigation should focus on three broad areas," he said, before listing them: "The Russian hacking and release of stolen information; Russia's use of state-owned media and other means to amplify real and fake news to further their goal; and contact between the Russian government and its agents, and associates of any campaign and candidate."

Warner’s comments came at the top of a hearing with leaders of the intelligence community, including Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, on Russia's involvement in the November elections.

The intelligence community on Friday released a declassified version of its larger report on the issue, concluding Russia was behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee as part of a larger influence campaign aimed, at first, at undermining faith in democratic institutions and then at helping elect Donald Trump.

On Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested the intelligence community was already investigating possible coordination between the presidential campaigns and Moscow.

Asked whether there was such an investigation on NBC's "Meet the Press," the South Carolina Republican said: "I believe that it's happening. But you need to talk to them because I don't want to speak for them."