Will the truth come out? Lindsey Graham invites James Comey to testify publicly

Sarah D. | 6:25 PM on May 16, 2017

Good. Needs to happen.

— Cheryl B (@Cheryl707) May 16, 2017

Timing is everything.

On the heels of the New York Times report that James Comey wrote in a memo that Donald Trump had asked him to end his investigation into former NatSec Adviser Michael Flynn comes this news:

Graham is inviting Comey to testify https://t.co/i5UE7baHs2

— Blake News (@blakehounshell) May 16, 2017

More from Politico:

Comey previously declined a request to testify on Tuesday in closed session before the Senate Intelligence Committee, but The New York Times reported Comey would be willing to testify in an open session.

“I’ve asked Comey to come before the Judiciary Committee to tell his side of the story,” Graham told reporters. “I think it would be good for him if he did. It would be good for the country.”

It was not clear whether Graham’s invitation was for a hearing before the full Judiciary Committee or the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, which has jurisdiction over the FBI and is chaired by Graham.

That may be the key to getting Comey to give his account of events, as Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr is putting the onus on the New York Times:

Burr says the "burden is on the New York Times" to produce the memos, not on Comey. Says there may be an effort to undermine the president.

— Sam Frizell (@Sam_Frizell) May 16, 2017

https://twitter.com/eschor/status/864599105502416897

More from the Washington Examiner:

“I actually believe the director might have told us that there’d been a request like that and it was never mentioned by him,” the North Carolina Republican told reporters. “So somebody’s going to have to do more than have anonymous sources on this one for me to believe that there’s something there.”

…

Burr was not impressed by the sourcing. “I could write something and I could read it over the phone and tell them that it came from [Comey],” he told reporters. “I think the burden is on the New York Times, if they’re reporting it and they’ve got somebody that’s got the document, they need to get the document and get it released.”

Burr, who is leading a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 elections with Virginia Democrat Mark Warner, noted that he met with Comey the day before Trump fired him. “The director of the FBI shared more information with Sen. Warner and myself than any director has ever shared,” he said. “I think something as material as that probably would have been something he would have shared, had it happened,” he said.