[S]en. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, wants to know more about a request FBI Director James Comey made to beef up his agency’s probe of the president’s campaign before he was fired.
Comey requested additional money to investigate possible collusion between Russia and officials with President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Leahy co-wrote a letter Thursday to the Justice Department asking for more information about Comey’s request for funds. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, was the other signatory on the letter. Shaheen’s subcommittee oversees the annual budget for the FBI.
“The American people have a right to know, for the sake of our national security and sovereignty, whether and to what extent Russia interfered in the 2016 Presidential election,” the letter reads. The FBI and Department of Justice “should dedicate the needed personnel and resources to the investigation without hesitation.”
In the letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the investigation, Leahy and Shaheen requested specific details about the circumstances surrounding Comey’s request to expand the Russia probe. Just days afterward, Trump fired the FBI director.
Before Trump handed down that decision, Rosenstein delivered a Department of Justice memo to the White House castigating Comey for his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state.
“The director was wrong to usurp the Attorney General’s authority on July 5, 2016, and announce his conclusion that the case should be closed without prosecution,” Rosenstein wrote in the letter.
While the White House initially claimed the decision to dismiss Comey was based largely on Rosenstein’s memo, Trump acknowledged having long considered sacking the director.
The Leahy letter also seeks “the details of any request for increased resources made by the FBI to DOJ” as well as “how this request was communicated from the FBI to DOJ, and whether similar requests were made to the White House.”
The correspondence also requests information on “any other constraints that might limit the FBI in conducting a thorough investigation.”
Leahy voted for Rosenstein to be deputy attorney general, but he urged the career prosecutor to appoint a special prosecutor to the Russia investigation, if confirmed.
While Rosenstein made no such promise, he assured Leahy and other senators that the investigation would be unimpeded by improper political influence.
In written answers to Leahy’s supplemental question, Rosenstein promised to “do whatever is necessary to ensure an impartial investigation that is protected from political influence.”
“If I am the Acting Attorney General for a particular matter, I will review the facts and circumstances, consider the applicable law and regulations, and consult with law enforcement professionals before making a decision,” Rosenstein wrote.
Also on Thursday, Leahy led Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in calling on the Department of Justice’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to investigate Trump’s firing of Comey.
In a letter, Leahy asked the oversight office to “review the circumstances and any actions related to the dismissal, as well as the Justice Department’s recommendation that Director Comey be terminated.”
Leahy has called the Russia investigation “one of the most critical national security investigations in the history of our country” and has continued to question Trump’s motives for firing Comey. In a floor speech Wednesday, Leahy said Trump’s justification for firing Comey “does not pass the laugh test.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has also criticized Trump’s decision to get rid of Comey, though, unlike Leahy, Sanders had called for Comey to be fired in January.
