Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. (right) speaks on Capitol Hill on June 28, 2017 as the committee conducts a hearing on Russian intervention in European elections in light of revelations by American intelligence agencies that blame Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Burr: Senate panel to get Comey memos

The Senate Intelligence Committee has reached an agreement to receive memos written by former FBI Director James Comey detailing his interactions with President Donald Trump, Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) told POLITICO on Wednesday.

It had been an open question whether Congress would get access to the memos, which several committees in both the House and Senate have demanded to see.


Comey, who testified before Burr’s panel earlier this month, kept detailed memos about his meetings with Trump, including one in which he says Trump expressed a desire for the FBI to drop its investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Comey’s testimony on the topic led some Democrats to accuse Trump of attempting to obstruct justice by firing the FBI director when he would not close down the probe, an accusation the FBI is now reportedly investigating.

“I’ve got a commitment,” Burr said when asked whether his panel would get access to the documents. Asked who gave him that commitment, the senator responded: “I’m not going to tell you.”

He said he is “fairly certain of the timeline” for getting the memos and suggested it would be soon. “It does us no good later,” he quipped.

Burr’s panel does much of its work in secret, so it’s unlikely he would release the memos to the public.

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Burr and his panel’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, met earlier this month with special counsel Robert Mueller, who was tapped to oversee the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling after Trump fired Comey.

During his testimony, Comey acknowledged providing his memos to a friend — later identified as Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman — so that Richman could discuss them with a reporter.

Richman has since said he returned the memos to the FBI.