“Mr. Comey respectfully declines your request for a private interview,” former FBI director James Comey’s attorney David Kelley wrote in a response to the House Judiciary Committee’s request. “He would, however, welcome the opportunity to testify at a public hearing.” | Carsten Koall/Getty Images Legal Comey offers to testify in public about GOP's FBI bias claims



Former FBI Director James Comey has rejected a request by House Judiciary Committee Republicans to appear at a closed hearing as part of the GOP probe into allegations of political bias at the Justice Department and FBI.

However, Comey offered himself up for a public hearing instead, a prospect that could put the longtime critics of President Donald Trump in the spotlight at an explosive moment in the midterm campaign season.


“Mr. Comey respectfully declines your request for a private interview,” Comey’s attorney David Kelley wrote in a response to the committee’s request. “He would, however, welcome the opportunity to testify at a public hearing.”

Kelley noted that Comey “no longer has a security clearance” and said that should make his public testimony easier to arrange. He added that any questions about Comey’s tenure at the FBI would presumably be cleared with the bureau.

The Judiciary Committee, chaired by Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), doesn't appear to be interested in Comey's alternative proposal.

"We have invited Mr. Comey to come in for a transcribed interview and we are prepared to issue a subpoena to compel his appearance," an aide said, when asked about Comey's request for a public hearing.

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Comey has been a fierce defender of the FBI since Trump fired him in May 2017, and he accused Trump of pressuring him to end the bureau’s long-running Russia investigation. The episode and ensuing chaos resulted in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointing special counsel Robert Mueller to oversee the Russia probe.

Republicans, though, have hammered Comey as politically motivated to stop Trump. They suggested he oversaw a high-level breakdown that resulted in the FBI soft-pedaling its probe of Hillary Clinton’s email server and supercharging its investigation of the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia.

Goodlatte invited Comey to testify as part of a last-minute flurry of requests for high-profile Obama administration FBI and Justice Department leaders, including former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. He threatened to subpoena them if they didn’t come in voluntarily.

The committee has been investigating GOP-driven allegations of anti-Trump bias in the bureau since last year, an effort that Democrats and FBI defenders have argued is an attempt to shield Trump from the encroaching Mueller probe. The committee investigation has included testimony from top Justice Department and FBI officials, including Comey’s former deputy Andrew McCabe, as well as FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok.

