Breaking: Rep. Chaffetz has important talk planned with James Comey

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the U.S. House Oversight Committee chairman, said Sunday that he plans to have a private talk with former FBI Director James Comey on Monday.

The two will discuss numerous issues, including the claim allegedly made by an associate of Comey’s to The New York Times last week that President Donald Trump once told Comey he’d like to see the investigation into Gen. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, dropped.

Chaffetz revealed the planned conversation on ABC’s “This Week,” hosted by George Stephanopoulos.

“It’s important to remember nobody’s actually seen these documents,” Chaffetz said on “This Week” in reference to the notes Comey reportedly kept of his conversations with Trump. “There’s been an awful lot written and said about it, but I don’t even know that the Department of Justice has them. Maybe Director Comey has them. I don’t know where they reside. I don’t know if there are documents. But we’re certainly pursuing them.”

Comey has already agreed to testify publicly before the Senate Intelligence Committee. According to the committee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Comey will testify after Memorial Day.

Since Comey was fired on May 9, the Trump administration has faced an onslaught of criticism and questions about the decision and whether it was made in whole or in part to stop or slow the FBI’s investigation into any potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives allegedly working to help Trump win the 2016 election.

So far, no evidence of collusion has been found, but multiple scandals have erupted related to the decision, the most recent of which being a report in The New York Times on Friday suggesting Trump told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that Comey is “crazy, a real nut job.” Trump also reportedly told Lavrov and Kislyak that removing Comey has “taken off” “great pressure.”