Cummings Requests Documents on President’s Effort to Press NSA Director and DNI to Counter FBI’s Russia Probe

Washington, D.C. (May 30, 2017 )—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and a letter to National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers requesting “all documents, communications, memoranda, notes, and recordings” relating to their conversations with President Donald Trump relating to the ongoing counterintelligence, criminal, or congressional investigations involving Russia, the 2016 presidential election, or any individuals affiliated with the President’s campaign.

Cummings’ request comes on the heels of a Washington Post report that the President personally pressed Rogers and Coats “to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election” and “help him push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government.” The White House has not denied the report.

The Post reported that the President’s conversation with Rogers “was documented contemporaneously in an internal memo written by a senior NSA official.” Coats testified on May 23, 2017, that he would provide information about his conversation with the President to a congressional “investigatory committee.”

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives and may at “any time” investigate “any matter” as set forth in House Rule X.

Click here to read the letter to Director Coats.